COVID-19 In Asia Research Articles

Status of the Right to Health Care During the Covid-19 in Asia Under International Law

On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared that the spread of COVID-19 is a public health emergency of international concern. Then, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced that COVID-19 is a global pandemic, calling on all countries to strive to confront it and limit its spread. As soon as COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, the governments of all countries rushed to take strict measures, under the pretext of preventing the spread of the pandemic. International human rights law recognises in exceptional situations and serious threats to public health and public emergencies, such as wars, natural disasters, and epidemics, to restrict and suspend some rights to protect another higher right, which is the right to life, and to prevent any threats to public health. This paper will discuss the status of the right to health care during the spread of COVID-19 in some Asian countries. Through doctrinal and legal study and content analysis, this paper will analyse the important relevant legal provisions under international human rights law and applies these provisions to the reality of managing the COVID-19 crisis to identify the most prominent human rights violations to the right to health care in Asia during the COVID-19 outbreak. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the ICCPR and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights will be used as a standard for the definition of relevant human rights. It is concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges to global health systems, and its impact on the right to health care has been profound. In addition, this pandemic has shown the ugly fractures in health-care systems, health inequities, racism, and discrimination. The benefit of this paper is to provide recommendations that protect human rights during pandemics.

Determinants of COVID-19 Prevalence Rate in Asia: A study using Spatial Analysis

This study aims at finding out the important determinants of prevalence rate of COVID-19 in the Asian continent using spatial analysis. The impact of climatic, socioeconomic, demographic, and health status variables on the prevalence rate of COVID-19 is seen through various spatial models such as Spatial lag, Spatial error, Geographically Weighted regression model, and Multiscale Geographically Weighted regression model. The performance of the models is compared under different comparison criteria. It is found that among all, Multiscale Geographically Weighted regression model outperformed other competitive models. Findings also indicate that cardiovascular health, prevalence of smoking habit, human development index, and net migration rate played significant role in defining the prevalence rate of COVID-19 in Asia.

Level of fear towards COVID-19 and its determinants among healthcare providers in Malaysia: A cross-sectional study.

Malaysia is one of the hardest-hit countries by COVID-19 in Asia. The rapidly rising number of cases had sparked fear among healthcare providers. This study aimed to assess the determinants of fear towards COVID-19 among healthcare providers in primary care settings. This online-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 1280 healthcare providers aged ≥18 years from 30 primary care clinics in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. The Fear of COVID-19 Scale was used to assess the level of fear, and the results were analysed using multiple linear regression. The mean age of the respondents was 36 years, and the mean working experience was 11 years. The majority of the respondents were women (82.4%) and Malays (82.3%). The factors that were significantly correlated with higher levels of fear were underlying chronic disease (ß=1.12, P=0.002, 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.08, 3.15), concern about mortality from COVID-19 (ß=3.3, P<0.001, 95% CI=0.19, 7.22), higher risk of exposure (ß=0.8, P<0.001, 95% CI=0.14, 5.91), concern for self at work (ß=2.8, P=0.002, 95% CI=0.08, 3.10) and work as a nurse (ß=3.6, P<0.001, 95% CI=0.30, 7.52), medical laboratory worker (ß=3.0, P<0.001, 95% CI=0.12, 4.27) and healthcare assistant (ß=3.9, P<0.001, 95% CI=0.17, 5.73). The level of fear was inversely correlated with a higher work-related stress management score (ß=-0.9, P<0.001, 95% CI=-0.14, -5.07) and a higher sleep quality score (ß=-1.8, P<0.001, 95% CI=-0.28, -10.41). Family physicians should be vigilant and identify healthcare providers at risk of developing COVID-19-related fear to initiate early mental health intervention.

Examining Asian Destination Quality Attributes And Recovery Strategies In Advent Of Covid-19: A Systematic Review

The advent of COVID-19 in Asia has piqued interest for research and publication from the discipline of tourism and destination management. In order to assess how the pandemic affected both DQAs and recovery efforts, this study employed a systematic review methodology. The review of a literature followed the PRISMA’s protocol. The first screening extracted 165 papers from Dimensions and Lens web sources, which were further filtered according to their date of publication, publication type, keywords, publisher, and title relevance. After the initial screening, from the preliminary articles which were retained for consideration, 60 met inclusion criteria. To identify the concurrency of topics, a consolidated spreadsheet was mapped using Vosviewer and Nvivo software. The mapping process identified three main topics, destination attributes, impacts, and recovery strategies. The study used descriptive Meta-ethnography approaches to further synthesize the data. It is observed that the majority of articles reviewed are published between 2021 and 2022 and the majority use quantitative and qualitative methods. China contributed the majority of the articles while Indonesia and India contributed a significant number. Meta-ethnography synthesis revealed seven concepts related to each of the three main dimensions. The findings raise anxiety to revisit destination management practices and policies post-pandemic. The study recommends that destination managers should spend quality time understanding which attributes are fragile and critical to change destination performance. quality management, practices and policies in times of pandemics

Covid-19 in Asia: Law and Policy Contexts edited by Victor V. RAMRAJ. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. xi + 467 pp. Hardcover: £83.00; available as eBook. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780197553831.001.0001.

Covid-19 in Asia: Law and Policy Contexts edited by Victor V. RAMRAJ. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. xi + 467 pp. Hardcover: £83.00; available as eBook. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780197553831.001.0001.

A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON THE EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON COVID-19 CASES

A global pandemic known as COVID-19 now threatens public health systems worldwide. The COVID-19 virus is spread by many sources, including environmental factors. Infectious diseases are transmitted and are resistant to certain environmental factors, including temperature, humidity, wind speed and population density. Through preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses, a study on the effects of environmental factors on the spread of COVID-19 cases in Asia was carried out to provide evidence-based knowledge and serve as a basis for health care and preventative guidelines (PRISMA). Search databases like Web of Science (WoS), Scopus and PubMed were used to find the data. A total of 52 full-text papers, 1,780 abstracts and 16 systematic review articles were examined. The results indicate a clear correlation between environmental factors, population density and the occurrence of COVID-19. These findings suggest that environmental factors may play a role in the distribution of COVID-19 in Asia.

Covid-19 in Asia: Governance And The Politics of the Pandemic

In this introduction to studies of the politics of the COVID-19 pandemic in four Asian states—India, Pakistan, Vietnam, and South Korea—we first discuss the difficulties in evaluating the performances of different countries, given the varying reliability of data and the different possible criteria that may be applied. In our studies we aim rather to illuminate the process of different state responses, and we go on to summarize evidence on different patterns of response across Asia, situating the four country studies in a comparative context. We then review arguments in the literature about the determinants of different responses, before presenting our framework for the analysis of the politics that underlie these differences. Political leadership has undoubtedly exercised a powerful influence, but in the structural context of the relationships of state and citizens. We argue that understanding of these relationships is advanced by an analytical framework that draws on state-in-society approaches developed in the work of Joel Migdal, Michael Mann, and Peter Evans.

Tracking the molecular evolution and transmission patterns of SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.466.2 in Indonesia based on genomic surveillance data

BackgroundAs a new epi-center of COVID-19 in Asia and a densely populated developing country, Indonesia is facing unprecedented challenges in public health. SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.466.2 was reported to be an indigenous dominant strain in Indonesia (once second only to the Delta variant). However, it remains unclear how this variant evolved and spread within such an archipelagic nation.MethodsFor statistical description, the spatiotemporal distributions of the B.1.466.2 variant were plotted using the publicly accessible metadata in GISAID. A total of 1302 complete genome sequences of Indonesian B.1.466.2 strains with high coverage were downloaded from the GISAID’s EpiCoV database on 28 August 2021. To determine the molecular evolutionary characteristics, we performed a time-scaled phylogenetic analysis using the maximum likelihood algorithm and called the single nucleotide variants taking the Wuhan-Hu-1 sequence as reference. To investigate the spatiotemporal transmission patterns, we estimated two dynamic parameters (effective population size and effective reproduction number) and reconstructed the phylogeography among different islands.ResultsAs of the end of August 2021, nearly 85% of the global SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.466.2 sequences (including the first one) were obtained from Indonesia. This variant was estimated to account for over 50% of Indonesia’s daily infections during the period of March–May 2021. The time-scaled phylogeny suggested that SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.466.2 circulating in Indonesia might have originated from Java Island in mid-June 2020 and had evolved into two disproportional and distinct sub-lineages. High-frequency non-synonymous mutations were mostly found in the spike and NSP3; the S-D614G/N439K/P681R co-mutations were identified in its larger sub-lineage. The demographic history was inferred to have experienced four phases, with an exponential growth from October 2020 to February 2021. The effective reproduction number was estimated to have reached its peak (11.18) in late December 2020 and dropped to be less than one after early May 2021. The relevant phylogeography showed that Java and Sumatra might successively act as epi-centers and form a stable transmission loop. Additionally, several long-distance transmission links across seas were revealed.ConclusionsSARS-CoV-2 variants circulating in the tropical archipelago may follow unique patterns of evolution and transmission. Continuous, extensive and targeted genomic surveillance is essential.

An epidemiological study of pediatric COVID-19 in the era of the variant of concern.

BackgroundThere were limited epidemiological data of pediatric COVID-19 in Asia outside China, especially during the era of the variants of concern such as the Delta and Alpha variants. The objective was to describe the clinical epidemiology of pediatric COVID-19 in a tertiary care center in Thailand from April to August 2021. The identification of risk factors for the development of pneumonia in these children was also performed.MethodsThis retrospective cohort study was conducted by retrospective chart review of all children aged 0–15 years admitted to Thammasat University Hospital care system during the study period. The risk factors for the development of pneumonia were analyzed using logistic regression.ResultsA total of 698 children were included for analysis, of which 52% were male. The mean age of the cohort was 7.2 + 4.5 years old. Radiographic pneumonia was identified in 100 children (14.3%) and a total of 16 children (2.3%) were diagnosed with severe and critical diseases. The mortality rate was 0.1%. Children younger than 1 year and children with comorbidity were at higher risk of developing pneumonia (Adjusted odds ratios 2.99 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.56–5.74) and 2.32 (95% CI: 1.15–4.67), respectively).ConclusionIn the era of the variants of concern, the proportion of children with severe and critical diseases remained low. However, prudence must be taken in caring for younger children and children with comorbidity.

Impact of environmental factors on COVID-19 transmission: spatial variations in the world

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic caused enormous destruction to global health and the economy and has surged worldwide with colossal morbidity and mortality. The pattern of the COVID infection varies in diverse regions of the world based on the variations in the geographic environment. The multivariate generalized linear regression models: zero-inflated negative binomial regression, and the zero-inflated Poisson regression model, have been employed to determine the significant meteorological factors responsible for the spread of the pandemic in different continents. Asia experienced a high COVID-19 infection, and death was extreme in Europe. Relative humidity, air pressure, and wind speed are the salient factors significantly impacting the spread of COVID-19 in Africa. Death due to COVID-19 in Asia is influenced by air pressure, temperature, precipitation, and relative humidity. Air pressure and temperature substantially affect the spread of the pandemic in Europe.

Risk Factors for Mortality Among COVID-19 Patients in Asia: A Literature Review

COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This virus was first discovered in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and was declared an international public health emergency by WHO on January 30, 2020. The Asian region, especially Southeast Asia, is the second-ranked region with the highest deaths of COVID-19 patients. This study aimed to determine risk factors for mortality among COVID-19 patients in the Asian region. This study was a literature review. The articles were searched using the keywords "death COVID-19 in Asia" and "mortality factor COVID-19 Asia" in the electronic databases of Science Direct and PubMed. Results of this review showed that there were two main factors of mortality among COVID-19 patients in Asia: individual characteristics and comorbidities. COVID-19 patients with older age had a higher risk of COVID-19 death. Comorbidities of COVID-19 patients that caused the most deaths in COVID-19 patients were hypertension, diabetes mellitus and heart disease.

HUBUNGAN TINGKAT PENGETAHUAN DAN SIKAP REMAJA DALAM PENCEGAHAN PENLURAN COVID-19 DI LINGKUNGAN ASRAMA PANTI

The number of people infected by the novel coronavirus (COVID‑19) is rapidly increasing worldwide. Recently, Indonesia is one of the countries with a high number of death of patients with COVID-19 in Asia. As the incidence of COVID-19 increases rapidly, it is necessary to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 in a populous area. This study aims to examine the knowledge and attitude among adolescences in preventing COVID-19. This study was a correlational study that was conducted in Panti Sosial Bina Netra, Kota Bengkulu. Knowledge and attitude questionnaires were used in this study. A descriptive and Pearson product-moment was used for data analysis. The study found that the majority of respondents have a good knowledge and attitude. Data analysis also showed that knowledge has a significant relationship with attitude in preventing COVID-19.

Efforts to Encourage Interest in Covid-19 Vaccination to the Community of Rw 01 Cibodas Baru Village, Tangerang City

Indonesia is one of countries that has the highest rate of spread of Covid-19 in Asia. The vaccination is one of the Indonesian government's efforts to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. The lack of public knowledge about the Covid-19 vaccine is become the one of obstacle. In the Thematic Student Work Lecture of Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa University in 2021, group 96 held a vaccination socialization program in the form of a webinar. The purpose is to increase the interest of the community in RW 01 Cibodas Baru Village, Tangerang City to participate in Covid-19 vaccination. The method used is a quantitative research using a questionnaire and displaying a comparison of vaccination participants. Based on the results the outreach to the community experienced an increase in interest in participating in vaccination. This can be seen from percentage of people who participated in the Covid-19 vaccination activity in July-August 2021, which was 91.97%.

COVID-19 in Asia – Changing Life as We Know It and the New Normal

The present issue of Asian Studies is devoted to the investigation of the causes, effects, and ethical and ideological implications of the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia, particularly in East and South-East Asia. COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on global societies. There have been enormous changes in the economy, lifestyles, education, culture, and many other aspects of social life (Caron 2021, 1). The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed societies, cultures, organizations, infrastructures, and many social services into a completely new reality. In this respect, the COVID-19 pandemic is without doubt a crisis of global proportions. Therefore, the whole of humanity should try to find a strategic solution to it, and to this end, the importance of intercultural dialog is manifested in a particularly clear and unambiguous way.

The twin-beginnings of COVID-19 in Asia and Europe—one prevails quickly

In the spread of SARS-CoV-2, there have been multiple waves of replacement between strains, each of which having a distinct set of mutations. The first wave is a group of four mutations (C241T, C3037T, C14408T and A23403G [this being the amino acid change D614G]; all designated 0 to 1 below). This DG (D614G) group, fixed at the start of the pandemic, is the foundation of all subsequent waves of strains. Curiously, the DG group is absent in early Asian samples but present (and likely common) in Europe from the beginning. European data show that the high fitness of DG1111 requires the synergistic effect of all four mutations. However, the European strains would have had no time to evolve the four DG mutations (0 to 1), had they come directly from the early Asian DG0000 strain. Very likely, the European DG1111 strain had acquired the highly adaptive DG mutations in pre-pandemic Europe and had been spreading in parallel with the Asian strains. Two recent reports further support this twin-beginning interpretation. There was a period of two-way spread between Asia and Europe but, by May 2020, the European strains had supplanted the Asian strains globally. This large-scale replacement of one set of mutations for another has since been replayed many times as COVID-19 progresses.

Editorial Introduction

The cases of Italy and China make for an interesting comparison because they represent quite different governance approaches to the pandemic. These differences may be instructive for the in-depth comprehension of the nature and the impact of government approaches to resolving crises. The two regions notably do share common histories in the spread of pandemics. The first cases of COVID-19 in Asia and Europe were registered in China in December 2019, and in Italy in January 2020, respectively. The origins and initial epidemiological dynamics of the pandemic, though, are still unclear and are the subject of scientific discussion (Dou et al. 2021; Nadeau et al. 2021). In the thirteenth century, the spread of “the plague” (Yersinia Pestis) is assumed to have spread from the Asiatic steppes to Venice, at that time a powerful city-state with intensive transcontinental commercial activity into Asia through the Silk Road (Frankopan 2016). It is interesting to note that the socioenvironmental and ecological dynamics of the origins and initial spread of COVID are still unknown. As stated in the Editorial of this issue, this fact reads as an argument to pay ample attention to the interferences with the sociopolitical and legal, socioeconomic and financial, and sociocultural and welfare dimensions.

Psychological distress among healthcare providers during COVID-19 in Asia: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

COVID-19 pandemic is having a devastating effect on the mental health and wellbeing of healthcare providers (HCPs) globally. This review is aimed at determining the prevalence of depression, anxiety, stress, fear, burnout and resilience and its associated factors among HCPs in Asia during the COVID-19 pandemic. We performed literature search using 4 databases from Medline, Cinahl, PubMed and Scopus from inception up to March 15, 2021 and selected relevant cross-sectional studies. Publication bias was assessed using funnel plot. Random effects model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence while risk factors were reported in odds ratio (OR) with 95% CI. We included 148 studies with 159,194 HCPs and the pooled prevalence for depression was 37.5% (95%CI: 33.8-41.3), anxiety 39.7(95%CI: 34.3-45.1), stress 36.4% (95%CI: 23.2-49.7), fear 71.3% (95%CI: 54.6-88.0), burnout 68.3% (95%CI: 54.0-82.5), and low resilience was 16.1% (95%CI: 12.8-19.4), respectively. The heterogeneity was high (I2>99.4%). Meta-analysis reported that both females (OR = 1.48; 95% CI = 1.30-1.68) and nurses (OR = 1.21; 95%CI = 1.02-1.45) were at increased risk of having depression and anxiety [(Female: OR = 1.66; 95% CI = 1.49-1.85), (Nurse: OR = 1.36; 95%CI = 1.16-1.58)]. Females were at increased risk of getting stress (OR = 1.59; 95%CI = 1.28-1.97). In conclusion, one third of HCPs suffered from depression, anxiety and stress and more than two third of HCPs suffered from fear and burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia.

Comment on “Economic Impacts of SARS/MERS/COVID‐19 in Asian Countries”

Comment on “Economic Impacts of <scp>SARS</scp>/<scp>MERS</scp>/<scp>COVID</scp>‐19 in Asian Countries”

Media in a Time of Crisis: Newspaper Coverage of Covid-19 in East Asia

ABSTRACT How have newspapers covered Covid-19 in Asia? To answer this question, I studied East Asian English-language newspapers published between January and July 2020. First, I measured the level of news media attention on Covid-19 among all reports. Second, I analyzed the tone and content of 330 editorials. I divided the analysis into two time periods: the initial crisis breakout period, when the number of infections was rising or high, and the crisis abatement period, when new infections declined to manageable levels. Findings show that although newspapers were slow to begin addressing the pandemic, their early editorials carried an alarming tone, which continued even after new infections dropped to low levels. This surprising level of concern continued because the topics shifted from health concerns to more ideological goals. Chinese and Taiwanese editors politicized the pandemic, using it as a wedge issue to attack international adversaries. Meanwhile, Korean editors used the economic fallout of the pandemic to press the government for pro-business economic reforms. In contrast, editors in Hong Kong exhibited cautious neutrality, largely avoiding politicization of the pandemic. These patterns of editorial coverage reveal the partizan nature of the press in East Asia, as well as salient political and economic undercurrents.

COVID-19 in Asia: Transmission factors, re-opening policies, and vaccination simulation

This work aims to provide insights on the COVID-19 pandemic in three prime aspects. First, we attempted to understand the association between the COVID-19 transmission rate, environmental factors (air pollution, weather, mobility), and socio-political parameters (Government Stringency Index, GSI). Second, we evaluated the efficiency of various strategies, including radical opening, intermittent lockdown, phase lift, and contact tracing, to exit the COVID-19 pandemic and get back to pre-pandemic conditions using a stochastic individual-based epidemiology model. Third, we used a deep learning approach and simulated the vaccination rate and the time for reaching herd immunity. The analysis was done based on the collected data from eight countries in Asia, including Iran, Turkey, India, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, the Philippines, South Korea, and Russia (as a transcontinental country). Our findings in the first part highlighted a noninfluential impact from the weather-driven parameters and short-term exposure to pollutants on the transmission rate; however, long-term exposure could potentially increase the risk of COVID-19 mortality rates (based on 1998–2017 p.m.2.5 data). Mobility was highly correlated with the COVID-19 transmission and based on our causal analysis reducing mobility could curb the COVID-19 transmission rate with a 6-day lag time (on average). Secondly, among all the tested policies for exiting the COVID-19 pandemic, the contact tracing was the most efficient if executed correctly. With a 2-day delay in tracing the virus hosts, a 60% successful host tracing, and a 70% contact reduction with the hosts, a pandemic will end in a year without overburdening a healthcare system with 6000 hospital beds capacity per million. Lastly, our vaccine simulations showed that the target date for achieving herd immunity significantly varied among the countries and could be delayed to October–november 2022 in countries like India and Iran (based on 60% immunized population and assuming no intermediate factors affecting the vaccination rate).