Introduction:

SARS-CoV-2 spreads, mainly, through close contact among people, hence the importance of detecting contacts of confirmed cases and identifying the mode of transmission between them.

Objective:

To identify the main modes of direct transmission among contacts of imported and autochthonous cases.

Methods:

A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in two populations: the confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Santiago de Cuba in the last quarter of 2020, and their declared direct contacts. In the search of the best representativeness, a two-stage stratified sampling method was used. The interview was used to collect the primary data; numbers and percentage, to summarize the information; the one-sample proportion hypothesis test and the compare proportions test using Minitab v.19, to identify possible differences across groups; and Microsoft Excel 2016, to produce the graphics.

Results:

The average number of contacts was higher among the autochthonous cases, prevailing the co-workers, neighbors and children. The contact-case relationship in imported cases was friend, driver, and mother or father-in-law; while in the autochthonous cases, it was son or daughter. Preventive actions were less used, and extra-domiciliary contacts of imported cases predominated. Contacts of imported cases were hospitalized more often, and had a higher proportion of asymptomatic than the autochthonous cases, but there was no significant differences.

Conclusions:

A differentiated pattern of transmission was not obtained; except that, transmission among autochthonous cases was between parent and child; while in imported cases, it was between friends.

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