Portal TB Gombak: Web-Based Application for Plotting of Tuberculosis Cases in Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Adibah Mohidem ◽  
Malina Osman ◽  
Farrah Melissa Muharam ◽  
Saliza Mohd Elias ◽  
Rafiza Shaharudin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Information System ◽  
Programming Languages ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Healthcare Personnel ◽  
Health Clinic ◽  
Sociodemographic Factor ◽  
Income Status ◽  
Sociodemographic Data

Abstract Background: In the last few decades, public health surveillance has been conducted using various programming languages implementing statistical methods to analyze the spatial distribution of a disease. Nevertheless, contact tracing and follow up control measures for tuberculosis (TB) patients remain challenging because many public health officers lack the appropriate programming skills to use the related software. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a TB mapping application associated with sociodemographic factor in Gombak. Methods: The sociodemographic data of 3325 TB cases such as age, gender, race, nationality, country of birth, educational level, employment status, healthcare worker, income status, residency, and smoking status between January 2013 and December 2017 in Gombak district were collected from the Tuberculosis Information System (TBIS) database at the Gombak District Health Office and Rawang Health Clinic and myTB website. Apart from that, the sociodemographic data of TB cases were extracted from the Aeronautical Reconnaissance Coverage Geographic Information System (ArcGIS) version 10.7 and subsequently uploaded into the Portal TB Gombak. The application was set up in the Python Shapefile (PHP) CodeIgniter framework with ArcGIS JavaScript API 3.7 and HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), JavaScript, and PHP as programming languages to build the system. Additionally, the ESRI map was used as the base map and combined with the web GIS technology via ArcGIS Application Programming Interface (API). Results: The application displays the location of TB cases on an interactive map based on sociodemographic factor. Conclusion: Portal TB Gombak allows public health officers to visualize the potential risk areas of TB cases without a trained programmer and geospatial statistician. This application will help healthcare personnel better understand TB transmission, thus improving case detection and minimize the public health impact of the disease.

scholarly journals Development of a web-geographical information system application for plotting tuberculosis cases

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Adibah Mohidem ◽  
Malina Osman ◽  
Farrah Melissa Muharam ◽  
Saliza Mohd Elias ◽  
Rafiza Shaharudin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Web Application ◽  
Smoking Status ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Health Clinic ◽  
Income Status

In the last few decades, public health surveillance has increasingly applied statistical methods to analyze the spatial disease distributions. Nevertheless, contact tracing and follow up control measures for tuberculosis (TB) patients remain challenging because public health officers often lack the programming skills needed to utilize the software appropriately. This study aimed to develop a more user-friendly application by applying the CodeIgniter framework for server development, ArcGIS JavaScript for data display and a web application based on JavaScript and Hypertext Preprocessor to build the server’s interface, while a webGIS technology was used for mapping. The performance of this approach was tested based on 3325 TB cases and their sociodemographic data, such as age, gender, race, nationality, country of origin, educational level, employment status, health care worker status, income status, residency status, and smoking status between 1st January 2013 and 31st December 2017 in Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia. These data were collected from the Gombak District Health Office and Rawang Health Clinic. Latitude and longitude of the location for each case was geocoded by uploading spatial data using Google Earth and the main output was an interactive map displaying location of each case. Filters are available for the selection of the various sociodemographic factors of interest. The application developed should assist public health experts to utilize spatial data for the surveillance purposes comprehensively as well as for the drafting of regulations aimed at to reducing mortality and morbidity and thus minimizing the public health impact of the disease.

scholarly journals A QR Code–Based Contact Tracing Framework for Sustainable Containment of COVID-19: Evaluation of an Approach to Assist the Return to Normal Activity (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ichiro Nakamoto ◽  
Sheng Wang ◽  
Yan Guo ◽  
Weiqing Zhuang
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Status ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Normal Activity ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Qr Code ◽  
Qr Codes ◽  
Health Crisis

UNSTRUCTURED We discuss a pandemic management framework using symptom-based quick response (QR) codes to contain the spread of COVID-19. In this approach, symptom-based QR health codes are issued by public health authorities. The codes do not retrieve the location data of the users; instead, two different colors are displayed to differentiate the health status of individuals. The QR codes are officially regarded as electronic certificates of individuals’ health status, and can be used for contact tracing, exposure risk self-triage, self-update of health status, health care appointments, and contact-free psychiatric consultations. This approach can be effectively deployed as a uniform platform interconnecting a variety of responders (eg, individuals, institutions, and public authorities) who are affected by the pandemic, which minimizes the errors of manual operation and the costs of fragmented coordination. At the same time, this approach enhances the promptness, interoperability, credibility, and traceability of containment measures. The proposed approach not only provides a supplemental mechanism for manual control measures but also addresses the partial failures of pandemic management tools in the abovementioned facets. The QR tool has been formally deployed in Fujian, a province located in southeast China that has a population of nearly 40 million people. All individuals aged ≥3 years were officially requested to present their QR code during daily public activities, such as when using public transportation systems, working at institutions, and entering or exiting schools. The deployment of this approach has achieved sizeable containment effects and played remarkable roles in shifting the negative gross domestic product (–6.8%) to a positive value by July 2020. The number of cumulative patients with COVID-19 in this setting was confined to 363, of whom 361 had recovered (recovery rate 99.4%) as of July 12, 2020. A simulation showed that if only partial measures of the framework were followed, the number of cumulative cases of COVID-19 could potentially increase ten-fold. This approach can serve as a reliable solution to counteract the emergency of a public health crisis; as a routine tool to enhance the level of public health; to accelerate the recovery of social activities; to assist decision making for policy makers; and as a sustainable measure that enables scalability.

scholarly journals 13.A. Workshop: Responding to COVID19 in Europe: a tale of five countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
World Health ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Outbreak Management ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
Incidence And Mortality ◽  
The World ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Population Attitudes

Abstract Since emerging from a market in Wuhan China in December 2019, SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen causing COVID-19, has spread worldwide. On January 30th 2020 the World Health Organization declared the COVID19 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and declared it a pandemic on March 11th 2020. With over 2.4 million cases and 180,000 deaths reported by mid-June, Europe has been the second most affected region in the world. Individual countries such as Italy and the UK have been amongst the hardest hit in the world. However, the COVID19 situation in Europe is marked by wide variations both in terms of how countries have been affected, and in terms of how they have responded. The proposed workshop will provide compare and contrast the situation and response in five countries in the European region: The UK, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Sweden, moderated by a firm and charismatic chair. This interactive workshop will enable better understanding of the disease's spread and trajectory in different EU countries. International comparisons will help to describe the growth and scale of the pandemic in the selected EU countries. The choice of countries reflects those that have reported high and low incidence and mortality, as well as represent a range in the strictness of the control measures implemented, from full lockdown to the most permissive. The session will go beyond describing those and will be an opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of these different approaches and lessons learnt around the different components of the response such as case identification, contact tracing, testing, social distancing, mask use, health communication and inequalities. We plan to have short and effective 5 min presentations followed by a longer and constructively provocative moderated discussion. Importantly, the five European case studies will offer ground to discuss the public health principles behind outbreak management preparedness and balancing public health with other imperatives such as economic ones, but also social frustration. The audience will be engaged through a Q&A session. Key messages The approach to managing the COVID19 outbreak has varied among European countries, and the optimal approach is likely to be context specific. The effect of the pandemic will be long term and public health imperatives must take population attitudes and behavior as well as economic and indirect health effects into account.

scholarly journals Use of movement restrictions during an outbreak of COVID-19 in Selangor, Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-56
Author(s):  
Anita Suleiman ◽  
Shaari Ngadiman ◽  
Mazliza Ramly ◽  
Ahmad Faudzi Yusoff ◽  
Mohamed Paid Yusof
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Movement Control ◽  
Health Department ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Epidemic Curve ◽  
Imported Cases ◽  
Control Order ◽  
Control Orders ◽  
Public Health Strategies

Objective: Various public health and social measures have been used during the COVID-19 outbreak, including lockdowns, contact-tracing, isolation and quarantine. The objective of this manuscript is to describe outbreaks of COVID-19 in Selangor, Malaysia, the public health strategies used and the observed impact of the measures on the epidemic curve. Methods: Information on all confirmed COVID-19 cases in Selangor between 25 January and 28 April 2020 was obtained. Clusters were identified, and cases were disaggregated into linked, unlinked and imported cases. Epidemic curves were constructed, and the timing of movement control orders was compared with the numbers of cases reported. Results: During the study period, 1395 confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported to the Selangor Health Department, of which 15.8% were imported, 79.5% were linked and 4.7% were unlinked cases. For two main clusters, the number of cases decreased after control measures were instituted, by contact-tracing followed by isolation and home quarantine for the first cluster (n = 126), and with the addition of the movement control order for the second, much larger cluster (n = 559). Discussion: The findings suggest that appropriate, timely public health interventions and movement control measures have a synergistic effect on controlling COVID-19 outbreaks.

scholarly journals Incidence and Epidemiological study of COVID-19 in Nagpur urban region (India) using Molecular testing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Tanna ◽  
Bishwadeep Singha ◽  
Amit R Nayak ◽  
Aliabbas A Husain ◽  
Dhananjay V Raje ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Transmission Rate ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Urban Region ◽  
Molecular Diagnostic ◽  
Molecular Testing ◽  
Rt Pcr ◽  
The City

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS CoV-2) virus has emerged as public health emergency affecting 206 countries worldwide. India is second highest currently worst effected by Covid 19 pandemic with close to 12.6 million cases and 1.6K deaths reported till date. Maharahstra is the highest Covid-19 burden state in India reporting quarter of overall cases. The city of Nagpur, in Maharashtra state, ranks 4th in terms of reported COVID-19 cases, with 2.5 lakh incidences and more than 4,000 deaths As the transmission rate of COVID-19 is high, it is imperative to study its disease epidemiology in regions of high endemicity to bolster our understanding of its spread, transmission dynamics and contact tracing to undertake appropriate public health control measures.. The present study was undertaken to study the incidence and trend of COVID-19 infection from various zonal regions of Nagpur city, using real time PCR (RT PCR). A retrospective study was carried out at Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) approved private molecular diagnostic laboratory in Nagpur from period of 4th May 2020 to 14th November 2020. A total of 51,532 samples collected from various zonal regions of the city during the study period were processed for SARS CoV-2 RT-PCR. Patient information was collected using a pre-defined study proforma which included demographic details such as name, age, gender, address, along with other information, like details of sample collected, kits used and date of sample collected and processed. The study reports an overall Covid-19 positivity of 34% in Nagpur region. The zone wise distribution of positive cases indicated high rate of COVID-19 in endemic regions of Nagpur such as Satranjipura (49%), Ashi nagar (44%), Gandhibagh (43%) & Lakadganj (43%). Rates of infection were high in economically productive age group (21-40) with males being more vulnerable than females. The result of present epidemiology study highlights important data with respect to regions of endemicity within Nagpur city zones. The present data has high public health importance and will be useful for local civic bodies and other community stake holders to undertake appropriate control measures in future epidemic waves of Covid 19. Interestingly, the Government's reduction in testing rates has been helpful in increasing testing per day. The authorization of private laboratories has also increased testing.

scholarly journals Development of the COVID-19 Real-Time Information System for Preparedness and Epidemic Response (CRISPER), Australia

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Field ◽  
Amalie Dyda ◽  
Michael Hewett ◽  
Haotian Weng ◽  
Jingjing Shi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Information System ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Current Information ◽  
Pandemic Response ◽  
Epidemic Response ◽  
Real Time Information ◽  
Time Information

Accurate and current information has been highlighted across the globe as a critical requirement for the COVID-19 pandemic response. To address this need, many interactive dashboards providing a range of different information about COVID-19 have been developed. A similar tool in Australia containing current information about COVID-19 could assist general practitioners and public health responders in their pandemic response efforts. The COVID-19 Real-time Information System for Preparedness and Epidemic Response (CRISPER) has been developed to provide accurate and spatially explicit real-time information for COVID-19 cases, deaths, testing and contact tracing locations in Australia. Developed based on feedback from key users and stakeholders, the system comprises three main components: (1) a data engine; (2) data visualization and interactive mapping tools; and (3) an automated alert system. This system provides integrated data from multiple sources in one platform which optimizes information sharing with public health responders, primary health care practitioners and the general public.

scholarly journals A QR Code–Based Contact Tracing Framework for Sustainable Containment of COVID-19: Evaluation of an Approach to Assist the Return to Normal Activity

10.2196/22321 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. e22321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ichiro Nakamoto ◽  
Sheng Wang ◽  
Yan Guo ◽  
Weiqing Zhuang
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Status ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Normal Activity ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Qr Code ◽  
Qr Codes ◽  
Health Crisis

We discuss a pandemic management framework using symptom-based quick response (QR) codes to contain the spread of COVID-19. In this approach, symptom-based QR health codes are issued by public health authorities. The codes do not retrieve the location data of the users; instead, two different colors are displayed to differentiate the health status of individuals. The QR codes are officially regarded as electronic certificates of individuals’ health status, and can be used for contact tracing, exposure risk self-triage, self-update of health status, health care appointments, and contact-free psychiatric consultations. This approach can be effectively deployed as a uniform platform interconnecting a variety of responders (eg, individuals, institutions, and public authorities) who are affected by the pandemic, which minimizes the errors of manual operation and the costs of fragmented coordination. At the same time, this approach enhances the promptness, interoperability, credibility, and traceability of containment measures. The proposed approach not only provides a supplemental mechanism for manual control measures but also addresses the partial failures of pandemic management tools in the abovementioned facets. The QR tool has been formally deployed in Fujian, a province located in southeast China that has a population of nearly 40 million people. All individuals aged ≥3 years were officially requested to present their QR code during daily public activities, such as when using public transportation systems, working at institutions, and entering or exiting schools. The deployment of this approach has achieved sizeable containment effects and played remarkable roles in shifting the negative gross domestic product (–6.8%) to a positive value by July 2020. The number of cumulative patients with COVID-19 in this setting was confined to 363, of whom 361 had recovered (recovery rate 99.4%) as of July 12, 2020. A simulation showed that if only partial measures of the framework were followed, the number of cumulative cases of COVID-19 could potentially increase ten-fold. This approach can serve as a reliable solution to counteract the emergency of a public health crisis; as a routine tool to enhance the level of public health; to accelerate the recovery of social activities; to assist decision making for policy makers; and as a sustainable measure that enables scalability.

“PHONE-CONNECT” - A Pilot Program Prescribing Phones to Address Digital Health Equity Needs in the COVID-19 Era (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gill Kazevman ◽  
Marck Mercado ◽  
Jennifer Hulme ◽  
Andrea Somers
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Health Care Intervention ◽  
Care Intervention

UNSTRUCTURED Vulnerable populations have been identified as having higher infection rates and poorer COVID-19 related outcomes, likely due to their inability to readily access primary care, follow public health directives and adhere to self-isolation guidelines. As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many health care services have adopted new digital solutions, relying on phone and internet connectivity. Yet, persons who are digitally inaccessible, such as those struggling with poverty or homelessness, are often unable to utilize these services. In response to this newly highlighted social disparity known as “digital health inequity”, emergency physicians at the University Health Network, Toronto, initiated a program called “PHONE CONNECT”. This novel approach attempts to improve patients’ access to health care, information and social services, as well as improve their ability to adhere to public health directives (social isolation and contact tracing). While similar programs addressing the same emerging issues have been recently described in the media, this is the first time phones are provided as a health care intervention in an emergency department. This innovative ED point-of-care intervention may have a significant impact on improving the health outcomes for vulnerable people during the COVID-19 pandemic, and even beyond it.

An Epidemiological Analysis of COVID-19 Confirmed Cases, Reported at National Institute of Health, Pakistan (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ambreen Chaudhry
Keyword(s):  
Age Groups ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Bivariate Analysis ◽  
Travel History ◽  
Disease Epidemiology ◽  
Hygiene Practices ◽  
Multi Center Study ◽  
Epidemiological Characteristics

BACKGROUND Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is a zoonotic disease of novel origin that posed a continuous threat to health worldwide after taking the shape of the pandemic. An understanding of disease epidemiology is supportive in timely preventive and control measures as well as contact tracing and curbing surveillance activities. OBJECTIVE The objective of our study was to determine the epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 confirmed cases reported at the National Institute of Health Pakistan and elements of its spread in Pakistan. METHODS A retrospective record review was conducted at the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad, Pakistan from January 25 to April 4, 2020. Univariate and bivariate analysis was done with 95% CI and p<0.05. RESULTS A total of 14,422 samples of suspected COVID-19 cases were received with a positivity rate of 9% (n=1348). Among all 70% (n=939) were male. The median age was 41years of age (range: 01-99Years). Among all, 19% were from 30-39 years old followed by 50-59 years old (17%). Children remained the least affected by 3% (n=35). Of the total reported cases, 55% (n=735) have reported the travel history within the last 14 days. Among these travelers’ international travelers were 23% (n=166) and domestic travelers were 77% (n=569). Travel history including both international and domestic remained significantly associated with the different age groups and Young adults remained more vulnerable to COVID-19 (P=0.03). Fever, SOB, and Cough remained the most significantly associated (P<0.05) in all age groups. CONCLUSIONS A higher incidence of COVID-19 among elderly men suggests robust quarantine measures for this target population. An escalating incidence of local transmission needs strict social distancing and hygiene practices to help flatten the curve. An extensive multi-center study is also recommended for a full understanding of disease dynamics.

Application of Inherent Risk of Contagion (IRC) framework & modelling to aid local Covid-19 response & mitigation: Viewpoint (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmi Zakariah ◽  
Fadzilah bt Kamaluddin ◽  
Choo-Yee Ting ◽  
Hui-Jia Yee ◽  
Shereen Allaham ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Vulnerable Population ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Inherent Risk ◽  
Transmission Area ◽  
Current Outbreak ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

UNSTRUCTURED The current outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the novel coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2 has been a major global public health problem threatening many countries and territories. Mathematical modelling is one of the non-pharmaceutical public health measures that plays a crucial role for mitigating the risk and impact of the pandemic. A group of researchers and epidemiologists have developed a machine learning-powered inherent risk of contagion (IRC) analytical framework to georeference the COVID-19 with an operational platform to plan response & execute mitigation activities. This framework dataset provides a coherent picture to track and predict the COVID-19 epidemic post lockdown by piecing together preliminary data on publicly available health statistic metrics alongside the area of reported cases, drivers, vulnerable population, and number of premises that are suspected to become a transmission area between drivers and vulnerable population. The main aim of this new analytical framework is to measure the IRC and provide georeferenced data to protect the health system, aid contact tracing, and prioritise the vulnerable.

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