Introduction:

the coronavirus is a new respiratory viral infection that has become a pandemic. The global scientific community suggested the implementation of preventive measures in view of the risk of contagion of the population. In Cuba, since the beginning of the pandemic, the role of primary health care has been the prevention and control of the epidemic through a family and community medicine model with a territorial and intersectoral perspective.

Objective:

to deepen the role played by primary health care in Cuba in the fight against COVID-19.

Methods:

a total of 27 updated bibliographical references on the subject were consulted, consisting of digital journals and Internet articles published on scientific sites such as PubMed, SciELO, Google Scholar and Medline. Primary health care, COVID-19, screening, strategies, prevention, medical sciences, among others were the search engine keywords used; those that did not correspond to the theme to be studied were discarded.

Conclusions:

the active screening for people with symptoms of acute respiratory infection and their contacts is done in Cuba through the community primary care services; this has proven to be one of the main pillars in the control and management of COVID-19. Active screening helps to identify individual health status in population groups and discover hidden morbidity early, as well as constitutes the cornerstone executed by Cuba to support the work of family doctors and nurses.