Spatial statistics and influencing factors of the novel coronavirus pneumonia 2019 epidemic in Hubei Province, China
Abstract An in-depth understanding of the spatiotemporal dynamic characteristics of infectious diseases could be helpful for epidemic prevention and control. Based on the novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) data published on official websites, GIS spatial statistics and Pearson correlation methods were used to analyze the spatial autocorrelation and influencing factors of the 2019 NCP epidemic from January 30, 2020 to February 18, 2020. The following results were obtained. (1) During the study period, Hubei Province was the only significant cluster area and hotspot of cumulative confirmed cases of NCP infection at the provincial level in China. (2) The NCP epidemic in China had a very significant global spatial autocorrelation at the prefecture-city level, and Wuhan was the significant hotspot and cluster city for cumulative confirmed NCP cases in the whole country. (3) The cumulative confirmed NCP cases had a very significant global spatial autocorrelation at the county level in Hubei Province, and the county-level districts under the jurisdiction of Wuhan and neighboring Huangzhou district in Huanggang City were the significant hotspots and spatial clusters of cumulative confirmed NCP cases. (4) Based on Pearson correlation analysis, the number of cumulative confirmed NCP cases in Hubei Province had very significant and positive correlations (p<0.01) at the prefecture-city and the county levels with four population indexes (registered population, resident population, regional GDP and total retail sales of consumer goods) during the study period. (5) The number of the cumulative confirmed NCP cases in Hubei Province also had a very significant and positive correlation (p<0.01) on the prefecture-city scale with the Baidu migration index and population density but not with land area, whereas that in Hubei Province had a significant and positive correlation (p<0.05) at the county level with land area but not with population density from January 30, 2020, to February 18, 2020. It was found that the NCP epidemic in Hubei Province had distinctive characteristics of a significant centralized outbreak, significant spatial autocorrelation and complex influencing factors and that the spatial scale had a significant effect on the global spatial autocorrelation of the NCP epidemic. The findings help to deepen the understanding of spatial distribution patterns and transmission trends of the NCP epidemic and may also benefit scientific prevention and control of epidemics such as COVID-19.