scholarly journals Evaluation of the Design and Implementation of a Peer-To-Peer COVID-19 Contact Tracing Mobile App (COCOA) in Japan

10.2196/22098 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. e22098
Author(s):  
Ichiro Nakamoto ◽  
Ming Jiang ◽  
Jilin Zhang ◽  
Weiqing Zhuang ◽  
Yan Guo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Close Contact ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Participation Rate ◽  
Peer To Peer ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Population Mobility ◽  
Excessive Pressure ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Care Systems

We evaluate a Bluetooth-based mobile contact-confirming app, COVID-19 Contact-Confirming Application (COCOA), which is being used in Japan to contain the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel virus termed SARS-COV-2. The app prioritizes the protection of users’ privacy from a variety of parties (eg, other users, potential attackers, and public authorities), enhances the capacity to balance the current load of excessive pressure on health care systems (eg, local triage of exposure risk and reduction of in-person hospital visits), increases the speed of responses to the pandemic (eg, automated recording of close contact based on proximity), and reduces operation errors and population mobility. The peer-to-peer framework of COCOA is intended to provide the public with dynamic and credible updates on the COVID-19 pandemic without sacrificing the privacy of their information. However, cautions must be exercised to address critical concerns, such as the rate of participation and delays in data sharing. The results of a simulation imply that the participation rate in Japan needs to be close 90% to effectively control the spread of COVID-19.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the Design and Implementation of a Peer-To-Peer COVID-19 Contact Tracing Mobile App (COCOA) in Japan (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ichiro Nakamoto ◽  
Ming Jiang ◽  
Jilin Zhang ◽  
Weiqing Zhuang ◽  
Yan Guo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Close Contact ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Participation Rate ◽  
Peer To Peer ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Population Mobility ◽  
Excessive Pressure ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Care Systems

UNSTRUCTURED We evaluate a Bluetooth-based mobile contact-confirming app, COVID-19 Contact-Confirming Application (COCOA), which is being used in Japan to contain the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel virus termed SARS-COV-2. The app prioritizes the protection of users’ privacy from a variety of parties (eg, other users, potential attackers, and public authorities), enhances the capacity to balance the current load of excessive pressure on health care systems (eg, local triage of exposure risk and reduction of in-person hospital visits), increases the speed of responses to the pandemic (eg, automated recording of close contact based on proximity), and reduces operation errors and population mobility. The peer-to-peer framework of COCOA is intended to provide the public with dynamic and credible updates on the COVID-19 pandemic without sacrificing the privacy of their information. However, cautions must be exercised to address critical concerns, such as the rate of participation and delays in data sharing. The results of a simulation imply that the participation rate in Japan needs to be close 90% to effectively control the spread of COVID-19.

scholarly journals Transmission dynamics and the effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions in the COVID-19 outbreak resurged in Beijing, China: a descriptive and modelling study

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. e047227
Author(s):  
Xiaoming Cui ◽  
Lin Zhao ◽  
Yuhao Zhou ◽  
Xin Lin ◽  
Runze Ye ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Close Contact ◽  
Transmission Dynamics ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Population Mobility ◽  
Wholesale Market ◽  
The People ◽  
Spatiotemporal Analyses ◽  
Epidemiological Characteristics ◽  
Pharmaceutical Interventions ◽  
Modelling Study

ObjectiveTo evaluate epidemiological characteristics and transmission dynamics of COVID-19 outbreak resurged in Beijing and to assess the effects of three non-pharmaceutical interventions.DesignDescriptive and modelling study based on surveillance data of COVID-19 in Beijing.SettingOutbreak in Beijing.ParticipantsThe database included 335 confirmed cases of COVID-19.MethodsTo conduct spatiotemporal analyses of the outbreak, we collected individual records on laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 from 11 June 2020 to 5 July 2020 in Beijing, and visitor flow and products transportation data of Xinfadi Wholesale Market. We also built a modified susceptible-exposed-infected-removed model to investigate the effect of interventions deployed in Beijing.ResultsWe found that the staff working in the market (52.2%) and the people around 10 km to this epicentre (72.5%) were most affected, and the population mobility entering-exiting Xinfadi Wholesale Market significantly contributed to the spread of COVID-19 (p=0.021), but goods flow of the market had little impact on the virus spread (p=0.184). The prompt identification of Xinfadi Wholesale Market as the infection source could have avoided a total of 25 708 (95% CI 13 657 to 40 625) cases if unnoticed transmission lasted for a month. Based on the model, we found that active screening on targeted population by nucleic acid testing alone had the most significant effect.ConclusionsThe non-pharmaceutical interventions deployed in Beijing, including localised lockdown, close-contact tracing and community-based testing, were proved to be effective enough to contain the outbreak. Beijing has achieved an optimal balance between epidemic containment and economic protection.

scholarly journals Perception of malaria and cultural diversity of antimalarial plants in three sympatric ethnic groups: Agni, Akyé and Gwa of Alépé Department (Southeast of Côte d’Ivoire)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amadou Lamine Amadou DIOP ◽  
François Djah MALAN ◽  
Distel Ménéké KOUGBO
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Similarity Index ◽  
Venn Diagram ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Ethnobotanical Survey ◽  
High Knowledge ◽  
Care Systems

Abstract Background Ethnic groups have developed their own cultures expressed in the form of traditional health care systems. This study aimed to determine how three sympatric communities with different histories, perceive and manage malaria, a disease with a high prevalence rate in the region. Methods An ethnobotanical survey was carried out in 10 villages of Agni, Akyé and Gwa communities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 290 informants within all three communities. A correspondence analysis associated to hierarchical clusters was used to determine the form of malaria shared within informants. Then, the free listing technique was performed to indicate the plant species which was most important for the respondents. Besides, the Venn diagram coupled to Jaccard similarity index was used to report the homogeneity on antimalarial plants species used within the three studied communities. Moreover, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the most common antimalarial plant within communities. Finally, the fidelity level index was used to identify the most preferred plant species used to cure various forms of malaria. Results The three ethnic groups have overall a similar perception of malaria with various symptoms. However, they did not use the same plants to cure one form of this disease. The study recorded 77 medicinal plants used to cure malaria, in which, a few such as Annickia polycarpa, Gymnanthemum amygdalinum, Alstonia boonei, Nauclea latifolia, Harungana madagascariensis, Ocimum gratissimum and Senna occidentalis were the most important. The analysis of intracultural knowledge on antimalarial plants revealed that informants have shared a high knowledge. Meanwhile, there is an intercultural convergence about common plants used within communities. Therefore, 20 antimalarial plant species were shared within communities and actively used, through time. Finally, in terms of antimalarial plants knowledge, Akyé and Gwa communities were closer than Agni communities. Conclusions In spite of their different histories, the close contact of communities promote the sharing of the knowledge. People use the same important plants to cure malaria and know five forms of malaria. Knowledge on antimalarial plants does not reach a stable climax, but could be evolved by trial and error, as effective cures malaria.

scholarly journals A prospect on the use of antiviral drugs to control local outbreaks of COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Torneri ◽  
Pieter Libin ◽  
Joris Vanderlocht ◽  
Anne-Mieke Vandamme ◽  
Johan Neyts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Control Measure ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Antiviral Drug ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Final Size ◽  
Antiviral Compound ◽  
Intervention Measures ◽  
Care Systems

AbstractBackgroundCurrent outbreaks of COVID-19 are threatening the health care systems of several countries around the world. Control measures, based on isolation and quarantine, have been shown to decrease and delay the burden of the ongoing epidemic. With respect to the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic, recent modelling work shows that this intervention technique may be inadequate to control local outbreaks, even when perfect isolation is assumed. Furthermore, the effect of infectiousness prior to symptom onset combined with a significant proportion of asymptomatic infectees further complicates the use of contact tracing. Antivirals, which decrease the viral load and reduce the infectiousness, could be integrated in the control measures in order to augment the feasibility of controlling the epidemic.MethodsUsing a simulation-based model of viral transmission we tested the efficacy of different intervention measures for the control of COVID-19. For individuals that were identified through contact tracing, we evaluate two procedures: monitoring individuals for symptoms onset and testing of individuals. Moreover, we investigate the effect of a potent antiviral compound on the contact tracing process.FindingsThe use of an antiviral drug, in combination with contact tracing, quarantine and isolation, results in a significant decrease of the final size, the peak incidence, and increases the probability that the outbreak will fade out.InterpretationFor an infectious disease in which presymptomatic infections are plausible, an intervention measure based on contact tracing performs better when realized together with testing instead of monitoring, provided that the test is able to detect infections during the incubation period. In addition, in all tested scenarios, the model highlights the benefits of the administration of an antiviral drug in addition to quarantine, isolation and contact tracing. The resulting control measure, could be an effective strategy to control local and re-emerging out-breaks of COVID-19.

scholarly journals Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on food supply chain: An overview

2021 ◽  
Vol 854 (1) ◽  
pp. 012007
Author(s):  
T Baltic ◽  
S Rajic ◽  
J Ciric ◽  
I Brankovic Lazic ◽  
V Djordjevic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Food Sector ◽  
Food Supply Chain ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
Care Systems

Abstract Since 2020, the rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has caused the global pandemic COVID-19, generating health, economic and social impacts. The rapid spread of the infection in the human population required an accelerated adaptation to the new circumstances to protect human health and mitigate financial losses. As the ongoing pandemic has caused reported cases in the multi-millions, all stakeholders need to prevent further outbreaks and mitigate associated risks. Hence, besides government, health care systems, business stakeholders, public authorities, non-governmental organizations, and other socially responsible associations, the food sector has a crucial role in combating COVID-19. The food sector in this context is referred to as every actor in the food supply chain. This paper explores the difficulties in the entire food supply chain’s reactions to the pandemic crisis and underlines the meat sector’s response.

scholarly journals Diagnostics for COVID-19: A case for field-deployable, rapid molecular tests for community surveillance

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (4s) ◽  
pp. 71-76
Author(s):  
Michael Frimpong ◽  
Yaw A. Amoako ◽  
Kwadwo B. Anim ◽  
Hubert S. Ahor ◽  
Richmond Yeboah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Absolute Number ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Infected People ◽  
Delay In Diagnosis ◽  
Slowing Down ◽  
Molecular Tests ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

Across the globe, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is causing distress with governments doing everything in their power to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) to prevent morbidity and mortality. Actions are being implemented to keep health care systems from being overstretched and to curb the outbreak. Any policy responses aimed at slowing down the spread of the virus and mitigating its immediate effects on health care systems require a firm basis of information about the absolute number of currently infected people, growth rates, and locations/hotspots of infections. The only way to obtain this base of information is by conducting numerous tests in a targeted way. Currently, in Ghana, there is a centralized testing approach, that takes 4-5 days for samples to be shipped and tested at central reference laboratories with results communicated to the district, regional and nationalstakeholders. This delay in diagnosis increases the risk of ongoing transmission in communities and vulnerable institutions. We have validated, evaluated and deployed an innovative diagnostic tool on a mobile laboratory platform to accelerate the COVID-19 testing. A preliminary result of 74 samples from COVID-19 suspected cases has a positivity rate of 12% with a turn-around time of fewer than 3 hours from sample taking to reporting of results, significantly reducing the waiting time from days to hours, enabling expedient response by the health system for contact tracing to reduce transmission and additionally improving case management.

scholarly journals Telemedicine and Computer-Based Technologies during Coronavirus Disease 2019 Infection; A Chance to Educate and Diagnose

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 561-563
Author(s):  
Reza Jafarzadeh-Esfehani ◽  
Mohsen Mirzaei Fard ◽  
Farzaneh Habibi Hatam-Ghale ◽  
Alireza Rezaei Kalat ◽  
Amir Fathi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Close Contact ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Clinical Severity ◽  
Medical Decision ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Online Consultation ◽  
Pulmonary Manifestations ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Rapid Dissemination ◽  
Computer Based

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is now of global concern due to its rapid dissemination across the globe. The rapid spread of this viral infection, along with many of its unknown aspects, has posed new challenges to the health care systems. The main challenging effects of COVID-19 are rapid dissemination through close contact and varying clinical severity among different individuals. Furthermore, the medical staff in endemic areas are becoming exhausted and deal with a considerable level of job burnout, which can negatively affect their medical decision making. Also, due to the variable pulmonary manifestations of COVID-19, some physicians may misdiagnose patients. To overcome these issues, we proposed a web-based software to aid physicians in detecting possible COVID-19 cases through online consultation with different specialists and educate the not-well experienced physicians. Our results demonstrated that this software could improve the diagnostic rate for not-well experienced physicians.

scholarly journals Isolation and Contact Tracing Can Tip the Scale to Containment of COVID-19 in Populations With Social Distancing

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirjam E. Kretzschmar ◽  
Ganna Rozhnova ◽  
Michiel van Boven
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rates ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Reproduction Number ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Explicit Calculation ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Household Contacts ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Doubling Times

SARS-CoV-2 has established itself in all parts of the world, and many countries have implemented social distancing as a measure to prevent overburdening of health care systems. Here we evaluate whether and under which conditions containment of SARS-CoV-2 is possible by isolation and contact tracing in settings with various levels of social distancing. To this end we use a branching process model in which every person generates novel infections according to a probability distribution that is affected by the incubation period distribution, distribution of the latent period, and infectivity. The model distinguishes between household and non-household contacts. Social distancing may affect the numbers of the two types of contacts differently, for example while work and school contacts are reduced, household contacts may remain unchanged. The model allows for an explicit calculation of the basic and effective reproduction numbers, and of exponential growth rates and doubling times. Our findings indicate that if the proportion of asymptomatic infections in the model is larger than 30%, contact tracing and isolation cannot achieve containment for a basic reproduction number (ℛ0) of 2.5. Achieving containment by social distancing requires a reduction of numbers of non-household contacts by around 90%. If containment is not possible, at least a reduction of epidemic growth rate and an increase in doubling time may be possible. We show for various parameter combinations how growth rates can be reduced and doubling times increased by contact tracing. Depending on the realized level of contact reduction, tracing and isolation of only household contacts, or of household and non-household contacts are necessary to reduce the effective reproduction number to below 1. In a situation with social distancing, contact tracing can act synergistically to tip the scale toward containment. These measures can therefore be a tool for controlling COVID-19 epidemics as part of an exit strategy from lock-down measures or for preventing secondary waves of COVID-19.

scholarly journals Assessing the feasibility and effectiveness of household-pooled universal testing to control COVID-19 epidemics

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. e1008688
Author(s):  
Pieter J. K. Libin ◽  
Lander Willem ◽  
Timothy Verstraeten ◽  
Andrea Torneri ◽  
Joris Vanderlocht ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Testing Procedure ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Universal Testing ◽  
Initial Control ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Testing Approach ◽  
Test Pool ◽  
The One ◽  
Pcr Test

Outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 are threatening the health care systems of several countries around the world. The initial control of SARS-CoV-2 epidemics relied on non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as social distancing, teleworking, mouth masks and contact tracing. However, as pre-symptomatic transmission remains an important driver of the epidemic, contact tracing efforts struggle to fully control SARS-CoV-2 epidemics. Therefore, in this work, we investigate to what extent the use of universal testing, i.e., an approach in which we screen the entire population, can be utilized to mitigate this epidemic. To this end, we rely on PCR test pooling of individuals that belong to the same households, to allow for a universal testing procedure that is feasible with the limited testing capacity. We evaluate two isolation strategies: on the one hand pool isolation, where we isolate all individuals that belong to a positive PCR test pool, and on the other hand individual isolation, where we determine which of the individuals that belong to the positive PCR pool are positive, through an additional testing step. We evaluate this universal testing approach in the STRIDE individual-based epidemiological model in the context of the Belgian COVID-19 epidemic. As the organisation of universal testing will be challenging, we discuss the different aspects related to sample extraction and PCR testing, to demonstrate the feasibility of universal testing when a decentralized testing approach is used. We show through simulation, that weekly universal testing is able to control the epidemic, even when many of the contact reductions are relieved. Finally, our model shows that the use of universal testing in combination with stringent contact reductions could be considered as a strategy to eradicate the virus.

scholarly journals Health Care Organizations: Soft Target during COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 344-347
Author(s):  
Harald G. De Cauwer ◽  
Francis Somville
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Organizations ◽  
Behavioral Science ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Health Care Facilities ◽  
The Other ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Cyber Terrorism ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Soft Target

AbstractHealth care organizations have been challenged by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic for some time, while in January 2020, it was not immediately suspected that it would take such a global expansion. In the past, other studies have already pointed out that health care systems, and more specifically hospitals, can be a so-called “soft target” for terrorist attacks. This report has now examined whether this is also the case in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.During the lockdown, hospitals turned out to be the only remaining soft targets for attacks, given that the other classic targets were closed during the lockdown. On the other hand, other important factors have limited the risk of such attacks in hospitals. The main delaying and relative risk-reducing factors were the access control on temperature and wearing a mask, no visits allowed, limited consultations, and investigations.But even then, health care systems and hospitals were prone to (cyber)terrorism, as shown by other COVID-19-related institutions, such as pharmaceuticals involved in developing vaccines and health care facilities involved in swab testing and contact tracing. Counter-terrorism medicine (CTM) and social behavioral science can reduce the likelihood and impact of terrorism, but cannot prevent (state-driven) cyberterrorism and actions of lone wolves and extremist factions.

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