scholarly journals Early spread of COVID-19 in Romania: imported cases from Italy and human-to-human transmission networks

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 200780 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marian-Gabriel Hâncean ◽  
Matjaž Perc ◽  
Jürgen Lerner

We describe the early spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and the first human-to-human transmission networks, in Romania. We profiled the first 147 cases referring to sex, age, place of residence, probable country of infection, return day to Romania, COVID-19 confirmation date and the probable modes of COVID-19 transmissions. Also, we analysed human-to-human transmission networks and explored their structural features and time dynamics. In Romania, local cycles of transmission were preceded by imported cases, predominantly from Italy. We observed an average of 4.8 days (s.d. = 4.0) between the arrival to a Romanian county and COVID-19 confirmation. Furthermore, among the first 147 COVID-19 patients, 88 were imported cases (64 carriers from Italy), 54 were domestic cases, while for five cases the source of infection was unknown. The early human-to-human transmission networks illustrated a limited geographical dispersion, the presence of super-spreaders and the risk of COVID-19 nosocomial infections. COVID-19 occurred in Romania through case importation from Italy. The largest share of the Romanian diaspora is concentrated especially in the northern parts of Italy, heavily affected by COVID-19. Human mobility (including migration) accounts for the COVID-19 transmission and it should be given consideration while tailoring prevention measures.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Yan

UNSTRUCTURED The ongoing outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection was first identified in Wuhan, China at the late of 2019. Following the acceleration of the novel coronavirus spreading, person-person transmissions in family residences, hospitals and other public environments have led to a major public hazard in China. Currently, the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak has been further developed into a public health emergency of international concern. In response to an occurring pandemic, hospitals need an emergency strategy and plan to manage their space, staff, and other essential resources, therefore, to provide optimum care to patients involved. In addition, infection prevention measures urgently need to be implemented to reduce in-hospital transmission and avoid the occurrence of virus super-spreading. For hospitals without capacity to manage severe patients, a referral network is often needed. We present our successful field experience regarding hospital emergency management and local hospitals network model in response to SARS-CoV-2 emerging epidemic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi Luise Schulte ◽  
José Diego Brito-Sousa ◽  
Marcus Vinicius Guimarães Lacerda ◽  
Luciana Ansaneli Naves ◽  
Eliana Teles de Gois ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Since the novel coronavirus disease outbreak, over 179.7 million people have been infected by SARS-CoV-2 worldwide, including the population living in dengue-endemic regions, particularly Latin America and Southeast Asia, raising concern about the impact of possible co-infections. Methods Thirteen SARS-CoV-2/DENV co-infection cases reported in Midwestern Brazil between April and September of 2020 are described. Information was gathered from hospital medical records regarding the most relevant clinical and laboratory findings, diagnostic process, therapeutic interventions, together with clinician-assessed outcomes and follow-up. Results Of the 13 cases, seven patients presented Acute Undifferentiated Febrile Syndrome and six had pre-existing co-morbidities, such as diabetes, hypertension and hypopituitarism. Two patients were pregnant. The most common symptoms and clinical signs reported at first evaluation were myalgia, fever and dyspnea. In six cases, the initial diagnosis was dengue fever, which delayed the diagnosis of concomitant infections. The most frequently applied therapeutic interventions were antibiotics and analgesics. In total, four patients were hospitalized. None of them were transferred to the intensive care unit or died. Clinical improvement was verified in all patients after a maximum of 21 days. Conclusions The cases reported here highlight the challenges in differential diagnosis and the importance of considering concomitant infections, especially to improve clinical management and possible prevention measures. Failure to consider a SARS-CoV-2/DENV co-infection may impact both individual and community levels, especially in endemic areas.


2020 ◽  
Vol 148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Ling ◽  
Xianjie Wen

Abstract The outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia (coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)), declared as a ‘global pandemic’ by the World Health Organization (WHO), is a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). The outbreak in multiple locations shows a trend of accelerating spread around the world. China has taken a series of powerful measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to actively finding effective treatment drugs and developing vaccines, it is more important to identify the source of infection at the community level as soon as possible to block the transmission path of the virus to prevent the spread of the pandemic. The implementation of grid management in the community and the adoption of precise management and control measures to reduce unnecessary personnel movement can effectively reduce the risk of pandemic spread. This paper mainly describes that the grid management mode can promote the refinement and comprehensiveness of community management. As a management system with potential to improve the governance ability of community affairs, it may be helpful to strengthen the prevention and control of the epidemic in the community.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Asif Hussain ◽  
Francesc Fusté-Forné ◽  
David Simmons

The spread of the novel coronavirus, 'SARS-Cov-2', causing the disease 'COVID-19' has resulted in almost one hundred million cases and two million deaths (World Health Organization 2020). While early research suggested that the virus was not as contagious as SARS and MERS, the rapid increase in human to human transmission showed that the virus was in fact more contagious (Chan et al. 2020; Huang et al. 2020; Wang et al. 2020). On January 23, China announced lockdown in Wuhan to limit people’s movement both within and outside Wuhan (Surveillances 2020). This was the starting point to travel and transport restrictions, which were progressively implemented worldwide, following the virus’ expansion (Hamzelou 2020). In the past few months, research has commenced as part of academics’ rapid response to analyse the impacts and anticipate the consequences of the pandemics for tourism and hospitality (see, for example, Gössling, Scott, and Hall 2020). This paper adds texture to this conversation and critically discusses pandemics’ implications for the hospitality and tourism industries concerning the transport sector.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Chen ◽  
JiaShu Liu ◽  
ChangRui Yang ◽  
Zi-sheng Ai ◽  
AiHong Zhang

Abstract Background: To investigate the epidemiological features of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) and the prevention measures in Jiangsu Province. Methods: Information of all novel coronavirus pneumonia confirmed cases in Jiangsu was collected from the official website of Jiangsu Commission of Health. All data were entered into Excel and Python3 for statistical analysis. Epidemiological characteristics of novel coronavirus pneumonia confirmed cases from January 10, 2020 to March 18 in Jiangsu province were retrospectively analyzed. Meanwhile, the preventive measures of Jiangsu Commission of Health and the people’s Government of Jiangsu Province were also analyzed. Results: 631 COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in Jiangsu Province, covering 13 cities in Jiangsu. Before February 1, the confirmed cases were mainly imported cases, and after February 1, community transmission cases became main part of confirmed cases. There were more male patients than females, and most patients were in the group of 30-70 years old, 49 patients (7.8%) with mild symptom and 572 patients (90.6%) with common type accounted for the majority. The cumulative mortality rate was 0% and the cure rate was 100%. Reasonable treatments, timely and effective preventive measures were taken to effectively improve cure rate and to prevent the spread of the epidemic, all measures ensure the health and life safety of the people. Conclusion: The preventive measures in Jiangsu Province were timely and effective, the epidemic situation in Jiangsu Province had been well controlled.


Author(s):  
Zhidong Cao ◽  
Qingpeng Zhang ◽  
Xin Lu ◽  
Dirk Pfeiffer ◽  
Lei Wang ◽  
...  

AbstractEstimating the key epidemiological features of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) epidemic proves to be challenging, given incompleteness and delays in early data reporting, in particular, the severe under-reporting bias in the epicenter, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. As a result, the current literature reports widely varying estimates. We developed an alternative geo-stratified debiasing estimation framework by incorporating human mobility with case reporting data in three stratified zones, i.e., Wuhan, Hubei Province excluding Wuhan, and mainland China excluding Hubei. We estimated the latent infection ratio to be around 0.12% (18,556 people) and the basic reproduction number to be 3.24 in Wuhan before the city’s lockdown on January 23, 2020. The findings based on this debiasing framework have important implications to prioritization of control and prevention efforts.One Sentence SummaryA geo-stratified debiasing approach incorporating human movement data was developed to improve modeling of the 2019-nCoV epidemic.


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