Abstract
Introduction: With little to no research done that sheds light on the COVID-19 pandemic in the Mid-Western region of Nepal, this study attempts to educate the general populace and concerned authorities on the impact of the pandemic in the region.Materials and Methods: Patients presenting at Rapti Academy of Health Sciences between 14 May 2020 to December 21, 2020, diagnosed with COVID-19 were included in the study. These patients were reviewed for age, sex, address, recent travel history, and presenting symptoms.Results: A total of 3895 COVID -19 positive individuals were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 33.6 ± 13.8 years, a majority (49.5%) of the cases were in the 20-29 years age group. 73.7% were male. 82.9% of the patients were from Dang, 86% of the cases of Dang were from urban areas, and the districts bordering India accounted for 88.5% of cases. Most of the positive patients were asymptomatic (97.1%), Amongst the symptomatic cases, the most frequent clinical manifestation was both fever and cough. 8.5% of the patients also reported travel history, of which a majority had returned from India.Conclusions: The patients were mostly young males belonging to the economically active age group who were mostly affected by COVID-19 in Mid-Western Nepal. It is important to carry out age-group targeted testing to flatten the infection curve. Testing must be done irrespective of observable symptoms to overcome this public health emergency.
Highlights
With little to no research done that sheds light on the COVID-19 pandemic in the Mid-Western region of Nepal, this study attempts to educate the general populace and concerned authorities on the impact of the pandemic in the region
The study was conducted at Rapti Academy of Health Sciences, Ghorahi, Dang, Nepal and all patients presenting at the Fever Clinic and samples sent from other fever clinics in the periphery, between 14th May 2020 to December 21st 2020, diagnosed with COVID-19 were included in the study
There were 29,656 tests done at Rapti Academy of Health Sciences’ RT-PCR laboratory, of which 3985 individuals tested positive, that is 13.4% tested positive for COVID-19
Summary
With little to no research done that sheds light on the COVID-19 pandemic in the Mid-Western region of Nepal, this study attempts to educate the general populace and concerned authorities on the impact of the pandemic in the region. As of December 2020, there is no continent in the world that remains unscathed by the novel Coronavirus pandemic. The virus, which is believed to have been transmitted to humans through bats in the city of Wuhan in the Hubei Province of China was first detected in December 2019.1 While fairly new, the virus has proved to be one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, infecting over 79 million and claiming the lives of over 1.76 million over this past year.[2] The virus is known to directly transmit among individuals through aerosol, faecal matter and the virus indirectly transmitted through fomites.[3] The World Health Organization officially announced the COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 to be a pandemic by 11th March, 2020.4. The complications of COVID-19 include pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), myocarditis, multi-organ failure, septic shock, and death.[5]
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