COVID-19 pandemic in Nicaragua

The COVID-19 pandemic in Nicaragua was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus was shown to have spread to Nicaragua when the first case, a Nicaraguan citizen who had returned to the country from Panama, was confirmed on 18 March 2020.^[3]

According to official figures from the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health,^[4] after the first case was reported on 18 March 2020, very few cases were detected for the following 8 weeks until a significant increase in the number of cases began in May 2020.

Subsequently, from around mid-July 2020 the rate of new cases rapidly decreased, and as of January 2021, the country as a whole is showing one of the lowest number of cases in Latin America.^[5]

However, opposition leaders have criticized the government's approach to controlling the pandemic,^[6][7] and an organisation called Citizens Observatory^{[8][non-primary source needed]} has stated that the figures are significantly higher, particularly the number of deaths.