Objectives: Contact tracing programs are effective for reducing the speed of transmission and fatality of COVID-19. Conducting these programs in low and middle-income countries is challenging and there is no evidence of their effectiveness in Latin America. We evaluated the effectiveness of contact tracing on reducing fatality from COVID-19 in Colombia, South America.Methods: We analyzed confirmed and suspected COVID-19 cases and their chains of contact using a nation-wide registry from March 28, 2020 to January 13, 2021. To estimate the effect of contact tracing on fatality we adjusted a multilevel negative binomial model using as outcome variable the number of deaths and off-set variable the number of people within a chain of contacts. Sensitivity analysis was conducted using a logistic model for the effect of contact tracing on death at individual level.Results: We analyzed 1,4 million cases, 542 936 chains of contact, and 46 087 deaths. Only 5,8% of total cases and contacts were included in a chain of a case and five or more contacts. We found that tracing of at least five contacts per case reduce fatality by 48% (95% CI: 45-51) and, at the current levels of tracing in Colombia, it prevents 1.8% of deaths. Results obtained from the sensitivity analysis were consistent with the reduction of fatality.Conclusions: In Colombia, tracing of at least five contacts per case reduces fatality from COVID-19. The coverage and intensity of tracing needs to be increased as a strategy to mitigate fatality in Colombia.