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Early Epidemiological Features of COVID-19 in Nepal and Public Health Response.

ABSTRACT: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was first reported in late 2019 from Wuhan, China. Considering COVID-19's alarming levels of spread and severity, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. The first case of COVID-19 in Nepal was reported on January 23, 2020. The Government of Nepal implemented different public health measures to contain COVID-19, including border closures and a countrywide lockdown. We collected the daily data provided by the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) of the Government of Nepal and illustrated the early epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 in Nepal. By May 31, 2020, 1,572 cases and eight deaths were reported in Nepal associated with COVID-19. The estimate of prevalence for COVID-19 among tested populations was 2.25% (95% CI: 2.15-2.37%) and case-fatality rate was 0.5%. The majority of the cases were young males (n = 1,454, 92%), with overall average age being 30.5 years (ranging from 2 months to 81 years) and were mostly asymptomatic. There were only five cases from three districts until the end of March, but cases surged from April and spread to 57 out of 77 districts of Nepal by the end of May 2020 despite the continuous lockdown. Most of these cases are from the southern plains of Nepal, bordering India. As the effect of COVID-19 is expected to persist longer, the Government of Nepal should make appropriate strategies for loosening lockdowns in a phase-wise manner while maintaining social distancing and personal hygiene and increasing its testing, tracking, and medical capacity.

SUBMITTER: Dhakal S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7431891 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Early Epidemiological Features of COVID-19 in Nepal and Public Health Response.

Dhakal Santosh S Karki Surendra S

Frontiers in medicine 20200811

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was first reported in late 2019 from Wuhan, China. Considering COVID-19's alarming levels of spread and severity, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. The first case of COVID-19 in Nepal was reported on January 23, 2020. The Government of Nepal implemented different public health measures to contain COVID-19, including border closures and a cou ...[more]

PMID: 32850929

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Project description:BackgroundA variety of public health measures have been implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada to reduce contact between individuals. The objective of this study was to provide empirical contact pattern data to evaluate the impact of public health measures, the degree to which social contacts rebounded to normal levels, as well as direct public health efforts toward age- and location-specific settings.MethodsFour population-based cross-sectional surveys were administered to members of a paid panel representative of Canadian adults by age, gender, official language, and region of residence during May (Survey 1), July (Survey 2), September (Survey 3), and December (Survey 4) 2020. A total of 4981 (Survey 1), 2493 (Survey 2), 2495 (Survey 3), and 2491 (Survey 4) respondents provided information about the age and setting for each direct contact made in a 24-h period. Contact matrices were constructed and contacts for those under the age of 18 years imputed. The next generation matrix approach was used to estimate the reproduction number (Rt) for each survey. Respondents with children under 18 years estimated the number of contacts their children made in school and extracurricular settings.ResultsEstimated Rt values were 0.49 (95% CI: 0.29-0.69) for May, 0.48 (95% CI: 0.29-0.68) for July, 1.06 (95% CI: 0.63-1.52) for September, and 0.81 (0.47-1.17) for December. The highest proportion of reported contacts occurred within the home (51.3% in May), in 'other' locations (49.2% in July) and at work (66.3 and 65.4% in September and December). Respondents with children reported an average of 22.7 (95% CI: 21.1-24.3) (September) and 19.0 (95% CI 17.7-20.4) (December) contacts at school per day per child in attendance.ConclusionThe skewed distribution of reported contacts toward workplace settings in September and December combined with the number of reported school-related contacts suggest that these settings represent important opportunities for transmission emphasizing the need to support and ensure infection control procedures in both workplaces and schools.

Dataset Information

Early Epidemiological Features of COVID-19 in Nepal and Public Health Response.

Publications

Early Epidemiological Features of COVID-19 in Nepal and Public Health Response.

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