scholarly journals Opinion: Early COVID-19 testing in Peru and its implications on transmission

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Delgado Diaz ◽  
Maria Alejandra Zuniga-Gutierrez ◽  
Charles A. Narh ◽  
Jack S. Richards
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Laboratory Testing ◽  
International Travel ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Fatality Rate ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Early Testing ◽  
Poor Management

As of September 8, 2021, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected more than 222 million and killed more than 4.3 million people. Peru is among the countries most affected by COVID-19, with more than 2.1 million cases and a fatality rate of 9.2 %. To limit SARS-CoV-2 spread into the country, Peru closed its borders to international travel in March 2020, and established strict lockdowns, while at the public health front, interventions including laboratory testing, contact tracing and isolation of suspected and/or infected individuals were largely inaccessible in communities with active transmission. Anecdotal reports suggest that a weak healthcare system and political instability contributed to the poor management of COVID-19 in the country. Here, we provide an opinion focused on the country’s early testing response to the pandemic and discuss how it could have effectively leveraged diagnostic tools to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2.

scholarly journals Challenges in Contact Tracing by Mining Mobile Phone Location Data for COVID-19: Implications for Public Governance in South Africa

10.28945/4736 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 101-124
Author(s):  
Paul Kariuki ◽  
Lizzy O Ofusori ◽  
Prabhakar Rontala Subramanniam ◽  
Moses Okpeku ◽  
Maria L Goyayi
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
The Public ◽  
Location Data ◽  
Pertinent Data ◽  
Privacy And Confidentiality

Aim/Purpose: The paper’s objective is to examine the challenges of using the mobile phone to mine location data for effective contact tracing of symptomatic, pre-symptomatic, and asymptomatic individuals and the implications of this technology for public health governance. Background: The COVID-19 crisis has created an unprecedented need for contact tracing across South Africa, requiring thousands of people to be traced and their details captured in government health databases as part of public health efforts aimed at breaking the chains of transmission. Contact tracing for COVID-19 requires the identification of persons who may have been exposed to the virus and following them up daily for 14 days from the last point of exposure. Mining mobile phone location data can play a critical role in locating people from the time they were identified as contacts to the time they access medical assistance. In this case, it aids data flow to various databases designated for COVID-19 work. Methodology: The researchers conducted a review of the available literature on this subject drawing from academic articles published in peer-reviewed journals, research reports, and other relevant national and international government documents reporting on public health and COVID-19. Document analysis was used as the primary research method, drawing on the case studies. Contribution: Contact tracing remains a critical strategy in curbing the deadly COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa and elsewhere in the world. However, given increasing concern regarding its invasive nature and possible infringement of individual liberties, it is imperative to interrogate the challenges related to its implementation to ensure a balance with public governance. The research findings can thus be used to inform policies and practices associated with contact tracing in South Africa. Findings: The study found that contact tracing using mobile phone location data mining can be used to enforce quarantine measures such as lockdowns aimed at mitigating a public health emergency such as COVID-19. However, the use of technology can expose the public to criminal activities by exposing their locations. From a public governance point of view, any exposure of the public to social ills is highly undesirable. Recommendations for Practitioners: In using contact tracing apps to provide pertinent data location caution needs to be exercised to ensure that sensitive private information is not made public to the extent that it compromises citizens’ safety and security. The study recommends the development and implementation of data use protocols to support the use of this technology, in order to mitigate against infringement of individual privacy and other civil liberties. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers should explore ways of improving digital applications in order to improve the acceptability of the use of contact tracing technology to manage pandemics such as COVID-19, paying attention to ethical considerations. Impact on Society: Since contact tracing has implications for privacy and confidentiality it must be conducted with caution. This research highlights the challenges that the authorities must address to ensure that the right to privacy and confidentiality is upheld. Future Research: Future research could focus on collecting primary data to provide insight on contact tracing through mining mobile phone location data. Research could also be conducted on how app-based technology can enhance the effectiveness of contact tracing in order to optimize testing and tracing coverage. This has the potential to minimize transmission whilst also minimizing tracing delays. Moreover, it is important to develop contact tracing apps that are universally inter-operable and privacy-preserving.

The UK COVID-19 contact tracing app as both an emerging technology and public health intervention: The need to consider promissory discourses

2021 ◽  
pp. 136345932110607
Author(s):  
Gabrielle Samuel ◽  
Rosie Sims
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Public Health Intervention ◽  
Health Intervention ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sociology Of Expectations ◽  
Short Period ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Uk

The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) COVID-19 contact tracing app was announced to the British public on 12th April 2020. The UK government endorsed the app as a public health intervention that would improve public health, protect the NHS and ‘save lives’. On 5th May 2020 the technology was released for trial on the Isle of Wight. However, the trial was halted in June 2020, reportedly due to technological issues. The app was later remodelled and launched to the public in September 2020. The rapid development, trial and discontinuation of the app over a short period of a few months meant that the mobilisation and effect of the discourses associated with the app could be traced relatively easily. In this paper we aimed to explore how these discourses were constructed in the media, and their effect on actors – in particular, those who developed and those who trialled the app. Promissory discourses were prevalent, the trajectory of which aligned with theories developed in the sociology of expectations. We describe this trajectory, and then interpret its implications in terms of infectious disease public health practices and responsibilities.

Sri Lanka: Pandemic-Catalyzed Democratic Backsliding

2021 ◽  
pp. 349-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhavani Fonseka ◽  
Luwie Ganeshathasan ◽  
Asanga Welikala
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Crisis Response ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
The Public ◽  
Comparative Constitutional Law ◽  
Front Line Workers ◽  
Public Health Challenge ◽  
Government Statistics

This chapter investigates Sri Lanka’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Covid-19 has posed for Sri Lanka not only a public health challenge and an economic challenge but also, perhaps most seriously, a crisis of constitutional democracy. Although questions have been raised about the accuracy of government statistics, the scale of testing and contact tracing, and failures in providing protective equipment to front-line workers including military personnel, there is broad public approval of the government’s crisis response. However, much more alarming are the clear signs in the government’s response that the public health emergency has provided the impetus for an aggressive executive takeover of the state, steepening the curve of de-democratization. The chapter then describes the aspects of the governmental crisis response that are the cause of worry, and offers an analysis based on a framework drawn from comparative politics and comparative constitutional law as to the agentic, institutional, and causal dimensions of the democratic backslide underway in Sri Lanka. While the pandemic has undoubtedly boosted the process of executive aggrandizement that had already commenced, this catalysis may in fact also shorten the authoritarian cycle, because the accelerated de-democratization is likely to result in executive actions that cross the threshold of public tolerance sooner in what as yet remains a procedural democracy.

scholarly journals The Public Health Intervention for International Students at Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-106
Author(s):  
Hazeqa Salleh ◽  
Nicholas Tze Ping Pang ◽  
Mohammad Saffree Jeffree ◽  
Helen Lasimbang ◽  
Syed Sharizman Syed Abdul Rahim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
International Students ◽  
Early Phase ◽  
International Student ◽  
Public Health Intervention ◽  
Health Intervention ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The Public

   Background: COVID-19 pandemic that started in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, has spread globally, and Sabah is one of the states in Malaysia that is affected by it. The outburst in social media on discrimination against the people from China impacted the international students from China. Thus, University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) had to play a role in mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic and protecting its students. This article aimed to describe the actions taken by UMS for its international student from China during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Methods: This study used a cross-sectional design where all 379 students from China in UMS were screened from February 2020 until March 2020 during the early phase of COVID 19.  Results: During this study period, 0.5% of the students were classified as Persons under Investigation (PUI), while 99.5% were classified as Person under Surveillance (PUS).  Conclusion: The public health interventions included surveillance, contact tracing, monitoring, quarantine, isolation, social distancing, mental health support, and mental health intervention activities. These actions to control the pandemic reduce the state health department's health burden and help the students in need. 

scholarly journals Estimating the proportion of asymptomatic COVID-19 cases in an Italian region with intermediate incidence during the first pandemic wave: an observational retrospective study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Domenico Martinelli ◽  
Francesca Fortunato ◽  
Sara Mazzilli ◽  
Lucia Bisceglia ◽  
Pier Luigi Lopalco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Clinical Signs ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Community ◽  
Important Challenge ◽  
Asymptomatic Infections ◽  
Public Health Strategies

Abstract Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, asymptomatic transmission represented an important challenge for controlling the spread of SARS-CoV-2 through the traditional public health strategies. Further understanding of the contribution of asymptomatic infections to SARS-CoV-2 transmission has been of crucial importance for pandemic control. We conducted a retrospective epidemiological study to characterize asymptomatic COVID-19 cases occurred in the Apulia region, Italy, during the first epidemic wave of COVID-19 outbreak (February 29 - July 7, 2020). We analyzed data collected in a regional platform developed to manage surveillance activities, namely investigation and follow-up of cases and contacts, contact tracing, laboratory and clinical data collection. We included all asymptomatic cases that were laboratory-confirmed during the appropriate follow-up, defined as persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 who did not develop symptoms/clinical signs of the disease. Between February 29 and July 7, 2020, a total of 4,536 cases were diagnosed with COVID-19 among 193,757 tests performed. The group of persons with asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection consisted of 903 cases; the asymptomatic proportion was 19.9% (95%CI: 18.8-21.1%); this decreased with increasing age (OR: 0.89, 95%CI: 0.83-0.96; p=0.001), in individuals with underlying comorbidities (OR: 0.55, 95%CI: 0.41-0.73; p<0.001), and in males (OR: 0.69, 95%CI: 0.54-0.87; p=0.002). The median asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 RNA positive period was 19 days (IQR: 14-31) and the cumulative proportion of persons with resolution of infection 14 days after the first positive PCR test was 74%. As the public health community is debating the question of whether asymptomatic and late spreaders could sustain virus transmission in the communities, such cases present unique opportunities to gain insight into SARS-CoV-2 adaptation to human host. This has important implications for future COVID-19 surveillance and prevention.

scholarly journals Measuring the scientific effectiveness of contact tracing: Evidence from a natural experiment

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (33) ◽  
pp. e2100814118
Author(s):  
Thiemo Fetzer ◽  
Thomas Graeber
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Public Health Approach ◽  
The Public ◽  
Random Breakdown ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Health Authorities

Contact tracing has for decades been a cornerstone of the public health approach to epidemics, including Ebola, severe acute respiratory syndrome, and now COVID-19. It has not yet been possible, however, to causally assess the method’s effectiveness using a randomized controlled trial of the sort familiar throughout other areas of science. This study provides evidence that comes close to that ideal. It exploits a large-scale natural experiment that occurred by accident in England in late September 2020. Because of a coding error involving spreadsheet data used by the health authorities, a total of 15,841 COVID-19 cases (around 20% of all cases) failed to have timely contact tracing. By chance, some areas of England were much more severely affected than others. This study finds that the random breakdown of contact tracing led to more illness and death. Conservative causal estimates imply that, relative to cases that were initially missed by the contact tracing system, cases subject to proper contact tracing were associated with a reduction in subsequent new infections of 63% and a reduction insubsequent COVID-19–related deaths of 66% across the 6 wk following the data glitch.

scholarly journals Global lessons and Potential strategies in combating COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia: Systematic Review

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yimam Getaneh ◽  
Ajanaw Yizengaw ◽  
Sisasy Adane ◽  
Kidist Zealiyas ◽  
Zelalem Abate ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Early Detection ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Rapid Test ◽  
International Travel ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
World Health ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Reference List ◽  
Case Definitions

AbstractBackgroundCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a rapidly emerging disease that has been classified a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). In the absence of treatment for this virus, there is an urgent need to find alternative public health strategies to control the spread. Here, we have conducted an online search for all relevant public health interventions for COVID-19. We then characterize and summarize the global COVID-19 pandemic situation and recommend potential mitigation strategies in the context of Ethiopia.MethodsInitial search of Pub Med central and Google scholar was undertaken followed by analysis of the text words; COVID-19,SARS-CoV-2, Global lessons and Pandemic; A second search using all identified keywords including COVID-19, Epidemiology, Sociocultural, Ethiopia; thirdly, the reference list of all identified reports and articles were searched. Accordingly, of the 1,402 articles, 39 were included in the analysis for this review.ResultCountries COVID-19 mitigation strategies widely varied. The most common global COVID-19 mitigation strategies include; whole of government approach including individual, community and environmental measures, detecting and isolating cases, contact tracing and quarantine, social and physical distancing measures including for mass gatherings and international travel measures. Models revealed that, social and physical distancing alone could prevent the pandemic from 60-95%, if timely and effectively implemented. Moreover, detecting and isolation of cases were found to be crucial while access to testing was found to the global challenge. Individual measures including proper hand washing were also reported to be effective measures in preventing the pandemic. Asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 ranged from 25% to 80% and as a result, countries are revising the case definition for early detection of mild symptomatic cases of COVID-19 with inclusion of Chills, Muscle pain and new loss of taste or smell in addition to Cough, Shortness of breath, Fever and Sore throat. Global reports also revealed that the incubation period of COVID-19 could go to 24 days. Ethiopia is also unique in the aspects of sociocultural prospects while more than 99.3% of the population has a religion. Moreover, 69% of the population is under the age of 29 years old and the health policy in the country focused on prevention and primary health care. All these could be potential entries and opportunities to combat COVID-19 pandemic in the context of Ethiopia.ConclusionWhile recommendations may change depending on the level of outbreak, we conclude that in Most countries have benefited from early interventions and in setups like Africa including Ethiopia where health system capability is limited, community engagement supported by local evidence with strict implementation of social and physical distancing measures is mandatory. Active involvement of religious Institutions and mobilizing youth could be entry to increase public awareness in mitigating COVID-19. Community level case detection could enhance early identification of cases which could be implemented through the health extension program. Isolation and quarantine beyond 14 days could help identify long term carriers of COVID-19. Validation and use of rapid test kits could be vital to increase access for testing. Revision of case definitions for COVID-19 could be important for early detection and identification of mild symptomatic cases.

scholarly journals COVID-19, Australia: Epidemiology Report 15: Reporting week to 2359 AEST 10 May 2020

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Case Fatality Rate ◽  
Case Fatality ◽  
International Travel ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Fatality Rate ◽  
Public Health Action ◽  
The Past ◽  
Global Rate

Confirmed cases in Australia notified up to 10 May 2020: notifications = 6,971; deaths = 98. The incidence of new cases of COVID-19 has reduced dramatically since a peak in mid-march. The reduction in international travel, social distancing measures and public health action have likely been effective in slowing the spread of the disease, in the Australian community. Cases of COVID-19 continue to be notified by jurisdictions, albeit at a slowed rate. Testing rates over the past week have increased markedly, with a very low proportion of people testing positive. These low rates of detection are indicative of low levels of COVID-19 transmission. It is important that testing rates and community adherence to public health measures remain high to support the continued suppression of the virus, particularly in vulnerable high-risk groups and settings. In the past reporting week new cases in Australia are mostly considered to be locally acquired, consistent with the drop in international travel. Most locally-acquired cases can be linked back to a known case or cluster. Although the proportion of locally-acquired cases has increased, the overall rate of cases, regardless of place of acquisition, continues to decrease. The crude case fatality rate in Australia remains low (1.4%), compared with the WHO reported global rate (6.9%). The low case fatality rate is likely reflective of high case detection and high quality of health care services in Australia. Deaths from COVID-19 in Australia have occurred predominantly among the elderly and those with comorbidities, with no deaths occurring in those under 40 years. The highest rate of COVID-19 continues to be among people aged 60-79 years, with a third of these cases associated with several outbreaks linked to cruise ships. The lowest rate of disease is in young children, a pattern reflected in international reports. Internationally, cases continue to increase, with some areas such as Brazil and India showing a dramatic rise in reported cases. Although some low-income countries have currently reported few cases, it is possible that this is due to limited diagnostic and public health capacity, and may not be reflective of disease occurrence.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document