Lineamiento General para la Mitigación y Prevención de COVID-19 en Espacios Públicos Cerrados

Objectives

Provide a coordinated framework to limit COVID-19 transmission in enclosed public spaces while protecting health and life, maintaining essential economic and social activity where feasible, and recognising that no single measure can stop transmission.[1][2]The framework combines personal and environmental hygiene, entry supervision, physical distancing, risk-based restrictions, protection of vulnerable groups and public information across workplaces, community facilities, recreational venues, shelters and transport settings.[1][3][4]

• Reduce transmission speed, case numbers and pressure on health services through medical care alongside non-medical measures that reduce exposure and promote safer behaviours.[2][5]
• Protect people at higher risk, including pregnant women, older adults, people with chronic cardiopulmonary conditions or immunosuppression, people with morbid obesity, and residents or users of shelters and other high-vulnerability settings.[2][4][6]
• Improve hygiene through handwashing, respiratory etiquette, avoidance of hand-to-face contact and close-contact greetings, cleaning of clothing and accessories, and use of alcohol-based hand gel where soap and water are unavailable.[5][7][8]
• Reduce environmental risks through routine cleaning, disinfection, ventilation, sunlight exposure where possible, and maintenance of air-conditioning systems.[5][9][8]
• Prevent potentially infectious people from exposing others through health-status questionnaires, temperature checks in specified circumstances, advice to remain at home when ill, and referral of people with concerning symptoms for clinical assessment.[10][11][12]
• Apply measures proportionately to epidemiological scenarios, escalating from prevention messaging and voluntary protective behaviour during viral importation to suspension of non-essential activities, restrictions on movement and intensive communication during widespread transmission.[11][3][12]
• Maintain physical distancing in enclosed and high-attendance settings, with minimum interpersonal distances specified for each scenario and tighter controls for gatherings, mobility hubs and community transmission.[3]

Implementation

Deliver mitigation through shared action by the public, different levels of government, trade unions, organised civil society, administrators of public and private spaces, employers, transport operators and service providers.[1][4][6]Implementation is setting-specific and scenario-based, combining routine hygiene and environmental controls with entry screening, information, capacity management, isolation arrangements and access to timely medical advice or services.[5][10][4]

• Adjust the frequency and intensity of mitigation measures to the epidemiological scenario and the attendance or mobility profile of each premises.[5][3][4]
• Establish an entrance supervision module to conduct rapid symptom questionnaires, provide alcohol-based hand gel, explain mitigation measures and identify nearby health services.[10]Maintain relevant supplies, including hand-hygiene materials, disposable tissues, covered bins, non-mercury thermometers and screening forms.[10]
• Assign health personnel to screening where possible, or train designated non-health staff in advance.[10]Use appropriate protective equipment for screeners, including a non-sterile gown and surgical mask, with an N95 respirator specified in scenario 3, and organise queues with physical separation.[10]
• Refer people with fever and respiratory symptoms to the nearest medical service when screening is undertaken by non-health personnel.[10][11]Encourage symptomatic people to remain at home, avoid self-medication, seek advice through official state-level channels or medical care as needed, and seek urgent care for breathing difficulty.[13][2][14][12]
• Clean frequently touched surfaces before opening and before closure, with frequency adapted to use levels.[9]Prepare and apply sodium hypochlorite solution correctly, allow treated surfaces to dry naturally, and avoid cleaning methods that generate vapours, aerosols or dispersed dust.[9]
• Improve ventilation by keeping windows unobstructed where feasible, allowing sunlight into premises, and maintaining air-conditioning at 24–26°C and 50–60% humidity where applicable.[9][8]Maintain systems, particularly filters, with high-efficiency particulate air filters preferred.[9]
• Manage high-risk settings by controlling access, adapting occupancy, providing hygiene materials, maintaining disinfection and communicating prevention measures to users.[4]In shelters and refuges, identify vulnerable residents, consider relocation, separate higher-risk people from high-flow areas, stagger meals and activities, suspend large group events, and provide spaces to isolate symptomatic people pending confirmation.[4][6]
• Apply transport-specific measures by cleaning and disinfecting vehicles and terminals, providing hand hygiene options, informing passengers and workers, disinfecting larger or longer-route services during the working day, and promoting external-air or natural ventilation.[6]
• Communicate through official coronavirus information channels, printed materials, internal displays, social media, intranets and other available media.[13][6][12]Intensify messaging according to the epidemiological scenario, including prevention measures, suspected symptoms and warning signs.[12]
• Use symptom questionnaires to record the date, interviewee, screener and responses on fever, cough or sneezing, malaise, headache and breathing difficulty.[12]These screening, referral and maintenance activities provide operational detection and control mechanisms, but no formal indicators, reporting system, evaluation schedule, accountability framework, budget, financing source or cost estimate is specified.[9][10][4][12]

Monitoring & Evaluation

Monitoring is primarily operational rather than a formal evaluation system: mitigation intensity is adjusted to the epidemiological scenario, while entry controls, symptom questionnaires and temperature checks are used to identify potential COVID-19 cases in enclosed public spaces.[5][10][11][12]

• Use a supervision filter at each entrance to administer rapid health questionnaires, provide alcohol-based hand gel, communicate preventive measures and identify nearby health services.[10]
• Record the screening date, interviewee, screener and responses on fever, cough or sneezing, malaise, headache and breathing difficulty; obtain the screener’s signature.[12]
• Measure temperature in specified epidemiological scenarios, including random temperature checks when there are thousands of cases.[11][3]
• Refer people with fever and respiratory symptoms to the nearest medical service when screening is conducted by non-health professionals, and advise symptomatic people to remain at home.[10][11][12]
• Use access filters, detection questionnaires, timely symptom identification and dedicated isolation rooms to identify and manage possible cases in refuges and shelters.[4][6]
• Assign administrators, organisers, transport companies, concessionaires and other service providers responsibility for implementing preventive measures for staff, users and the public.[4][6]

No formal monitoring and evaluation framework, quantitative indicators, performance targets, reporting schedule, surveillance system, evaluation methodology or accountability procedure is specified beyond operational screening, maintenance and implementation requirements.[1][9][8][4][6]Transparent information and participation by government, trade unions, civil society and the public are identified as guiding principles, but reporting roles and review processes are not defined.[1]

Costing & Financing

No explicit costing, budget, funding source, financing mechanism, resource-mobilisation arrangement, funding gap or quantified economic assumption is provided for the mitigation measures.[1][2][5][4][12]

• Require operational resources for cleaning and disinfection, including chlorine solution and cleaning tools, although no unit costs or allocations are specified.[9]
• Maintain screening and hygiene supplies, including alcohol-based hand gel, soap and water, disposable tissues, covered waste bins, non-mercury thermometers, symptom questionnaires, protective gowns, surgical masks and N95 respirators in the specified scenario.[10]
• Support ventilation and air-conditioning maintenance, including filter cleaning and, where preferred, high-efficiency particulate air filters, without stated financial requirements.[9][8]
• Undertake cleaning, disinfection, information dissemination, reduced-capacity management, isolation arrangements and public-transport hygiene measures without specified budgets or financing responsibilities.[4][6][12]

The framework seeks to preserve continuity of economic and social activities where possible and notes the aim of avoiding adverse effects on the national economy, employment and income generation, but it provides no quantified economic assessment or funding analysis.[2]