Lethality Of COVID-19 Research Articles

Analysis of Hospital Lethality of COVID-19 in Mexico

Background. COVID-19 has caused 244,830 deaths in Mexico. Evaluating the severity of this contingency is possible if the hospital fatality rate of COVID-19 is described because hospitalized patients present more severe conditions. Objective. To analyze the fatality of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients. Methods. A quantitative, descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional, and retrospective study was conducted using open database from Ministry of Health in Mexico. Results. The analysis included 71,189 discharges from patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in the Mexican Ministry of Health Hospitals during 2020. Of them, 27,403 were due to death, predominantly in men and age groups from 50 to 69 years. The general hospital fatality due to COVID-19 was 38.49%, a hospital fatality of 40.75% in men and 35.03% in women. The 55-to-99-year-old age groups, Baja California, Puebla, and Coahuila had a higher hospital fatality than the general fatality. Conclusion. Besides the deaths caused directly by COVID-19 (those that occurred due to respiratory failures), many deaths were indirect in persons with comorbidities exacerbated by this disease. Access to health services, social changes derived from job loss, home protection, and changes in social dynamics, facts expressed in the general mortality excess, cannot be quantified in our study. There are similar patterns with other persons infected worldwide: this disease is more severe for males and older age subjects.

Curtailment of Civil Liberties and Subjective Life Satisfaction

This analysis focuses on the lockdown measures in the context of the Covid-19 crisis in Spring 2020 in Germany. In a randomized survey experiment, respondents were asked to evaluate their current life satisfaction after being provided with varying degrees of information about the lethality of Covid-19. We use reactance as a measure of the intensity of a preference for freedom to explain the variation in the observed subjective life satisfaction loss. Our results suggest that it is not high reactance alone that is associated with large losses of life satisfaction due to the curtailment of liberties. The satisfaction loss occurs in particular in combination with receiving information about the (previously overestimated) lethality of Covid-19.

Seroprevalence and lethality by SARS-CoV-2 in indigenous populations of Latin America and the Caribbean: a systematic review.

BackgroundLatin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has presented some of the highest numbers of cases and deaths due to COVID-19 in the world. Even though indigenous communities represent 8% of the total population in this region, the impact of COVID-19 on this historically vulnerable population has only been briefly explored. Thus, this study aimed to estimate the seroprevalence and lethality attributable to SARS-CoV-2 in the indigenous population of LAC.MethodsA systematic review was conducted utilizing multiple databases (registry PROSPERO: CRD42020207862). Studies published in English, Spanish or Portuguese were selected between December 1st, 2019, and April 14th, 2021. The evaluation of the quality of the study was carried out utilizing the Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies. A qualitative synthesis of the data analyzed was conducted following the MOOSE and PRISMA declarations.ResultsFifteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Eleven studies were carried out in a Brazilian population, three in a Mexican population, and one in a Colombian population. Four studies reported data about the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in indigenous populations of Brazil (range: 4.2–81.65%). Twelve studies reported lethality in indigenous people (eight in Brazil, three in Mexico, and one in Colombia). In Brazil, a lethality of 53.30% was described in a hospital setting and between 1.83% and 4.03% in community studies. In Mexico, the lethality of COVID-19 ranged between 16.5% and 19.9%. Meanwhile, in Colombia, a lethality of 3.41% was reported. Most studies were deemed to be of good quality.ConclusionsDespite COVID-19 affecting indigenous populations of LAC, there is limited evidence of the seroprevalence and lethality of the infection by SARS-CoV-2 in this population. Future investigations should ensure standardized methods that allow comparability among studies and ensure the precision of the results obtained.

Covid-19 among the population deprived of liberty in Brazil and in the state of Paraná

The aim of this study was to compare Covid-19 incidence and mortality among population deprived of liberty (PDL), prison staff and general population in Brazil and in the state of Paraná. The methods consisted in data collection from weekly reports from the Nacional Justice Board and Health Ministry, between June and December 2020. Covid-19 testing, infection, mortality, and lethality rates were compared among PDL, prison staff and Brazil and Paraná’s general population. As for the results, compared to the general population, the relative risk of Covid-19 confirmed case among PDL was 1.594 (CI 95% 1.578 – 1.610) in Brazil and 3.055 (CI 95% 2.941 – 3.173) in Paraná. The proportion of test per national population was 22.86%, 44.42% and 4.45% among PDL, prison staff and general population, respectively. In Paraná, the testing rate was 8.19% in PDL, 42.98% in prison staff and 12.70% in the general population. In conclusion, the proportion of Covid-19 cases is greater in prisons than in the general population and the testing of PDL should be amplified.

A time-series ecological study protocol to analyze trends of incidence, mortality, lethality of COVID-19 in Brazil

Introduction: Since the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in February 2020, Brazil has reported more than 20 million cases and more than 600,000 deaths on October 31, 2021. The behavior of the pandemic was also different in the various regions of the country, from those with less economic development to those with greater economic development, such as the state of São Paulo.
 Objective: to describe step-by-step time series for analyzing trends in mortality, lethality and incidence of COVID-19 in Brazil.
 Methods: a protocol for an ecological study of time series, covering the 26 states and the federal district (Brasilia).
 Results: The descriptions have the potential to provide information for the government and society in decision-making, about knowledge and conduct, clinical, epidemiological and research investments in health care for the Brazilian people. It is focused on fully understanding the spread of SARS-COV-2 infection in the Brazilian territory, and developing a database for public and universal access for comparative studies between countries and continents.
 Conclusion: database built from ecological studies are essential for a full understanding of the virus behavior, its transmissibility, lethality and mortality, and a repository for data that’s been collected and integrated from multiple sources. It is a relevant tool for the search of information and decision-making in global health.

COVID-19 mortality and lethality in the State of Pará, legal Amazon, Brazil

Introduction: the growth of coronavirus indices in the North region highlights the region’s historical social inequalities and the problems in accessing citizenship. Objective: to analyze the mortality and lethality of COVID-19 in the state of Pará, Brazil. Methods: this is an ecological study with a time series design of secondary data. All registered cases and deaths reported by COVID-19 in the period from March 2020 to June 2021, in the state of Pará, Brazil, were considered. The incidence and mortality and lethality rates were used. The daily percentage variation and their respective 95% confidence intervals were estimated. Results: the total number of confirmed cases and deaths from COVID-19 in the state of Pará was 552,937 and 15,469, respectively, from March 2020 to June 2021. Incidence and mortality rates from March 2020 to June 2021 were, respectively, 6,407.9 and 179.3 per 100,000 inhabitants and the lethality was 43.3. Regarding the analysis of the daily trend of rates in the period from March 2020 to June 2021, both mortality and incidence increased. Conclusion: it was found that the behavior of the trend of rates in the first wave was increasing in the incidence of confirmed cases and the lethality decreasing, and in the second wave, the mortality and lethality rates were increasing.

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND MORTALITY DUE TO COVID-19 IN THE BRAZILIAN CAPITALS: AN ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

ABSTRACT Introduction: Few studies have analyzed the association between physical activity and hospitalizations or mortality as a result of the new coronavirus, particularly in Brazil. Objective: To analyze the association between physical activity and deaths by Covid-19 in the Brazilian capitals. Method: An observational cross-sectional ecological study, in which data on the prevalence of physical activity during leisure time, and deaths by Covid-19 were analyzed for twenty-six Brazilian capitals plus the Federal District. Data were collected through the Risk Factor Surveillance System for chronic non-communicable diseases, and SUS Analytical for COVID-19 in Brazil, of the Brazilian Ministry of Health. For the data analysis, simple Pearson correlation and multiple regression were used, with a level of significance of 5%. Results: The data show the existence of an inverse correlation between physical activity during leisure time and accumulated deaths (r = −0.44, p = 0.03), mortality rate/100,000 inhabitants (r = −0.43, p = 0.02), and the lethality of the disease (r = −0.51, p = 0.01). They also show an inverse association between physical activity during leisure time and accumulated deaths (β = −485.1, p = 0.04), as well as with the lethality of the disease (β = −0.21, p = 0.02), even after adjusting for confounding variables. Conclusion: The inverse association observed between physical activity, accumulated deaths, and lethality of Covid-19 can bring important reflections on the actions that have been implemented by government agencies, at both state and municipal levels, in relation to the practice of physical activity by the population. Level of evidence III; Cross-sectional ecological study.

Lethality and mortality of COVID-19 in an important industrial center in latin america, region of grande abc, São Paulo, Brazil

Introduction: the new coronavirus (COVID-19) disease has been causing economic and health system impacts worldwide, triggering humanitarian crises in vulnerable regions, marked by high mortality rates of the disease. Brazil has been suffering an increase in the number of cases, characteristic of the formation of a second wave, with great epidemiological differences observed in the most diverse regions of the country. Many studies illustrate the behaviour of COVID-19 in the state of São Paulo, but there are gaps in the scientific literature on the epidemiology of COVID-19 in municipalities of the São Paulo metropolitan region that constitute an important industrial pole in Latin America, such as the region of Grande ABC. Objective: to evaluate mortality and lethality trends of COVID-19 during the period March 2020 to July 2021, in municipalities on region of Grande ABC, metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil, divided into two periods (March to November 2020 and December to July 2021). Methods: we conducted an ecological time series study with population data from the Brazilian Ministry of Health. We collected the number of cases and deaths confirmed for COVID-19 in the municipalities that make up the region of Grande ABC (Diadema, Mauá, Rio Grande da Serra, Ribeirão Pires, Santo André, São Bernardo do Campo, and São Caetano do Sul) from March 2020 to July 2021. Prais-Winsten linear regression was performed, and the percentage of daily change was calculated. Differences were considered significant when p<0.05. Results: in region of Grande ABC, in the period analysed, 217,264 cases and 10,004 deaths of COVID-19 were recorded. Although the mortality rate remained stationary during the first wave (March to November 2020) and the second wave (December 2020 to July 2021); lethality transitioned from decreasing during the first wave to increasing during the second wave, with rates varying according to municipality. Conclusion: trend analyses in incidence, mortality, and lethality rates assist in understanding the behaviour of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the region known as Grande ABC. Efforts must be maintained throughout the region to control the Pandemic.

The role of European health system characteristics in affecting Covid 19 lethality during the early days of the pandemic

This article examines the main factors affecting COVID-19 lethality across 16 European Countries with a focus on the role of health system characteristics during the first phase of the diffusion of the virus. Specifically, we investigate the leading causes of lethality at 10, 20, 30, 40 days in the first hit of the pandemic. Using a random forest regression (ML), with lethality as outcome variable, we show that the percentage of people older than 65 years (with two or more chronic diseases) is the main predictor variable of lethality by COVID-19, followed by the number of hospital intensive care unit beds, investments in healthcare spending compared to GDP, number of nurses and doctors. Moreover, the variable of general practitioners has little but significant predicting quality. These findings contribute to provide evidence for the prediction of lethality caused by COVID-19 in Europe and open the discussion on health policy and management of health care and ICU beds during a severe epidemic.

Bayesian inference across multiple models suggests a strong increase in lethality of COVID-19 in late 2020 in the UK.

We apply Bayesian inference methods to a suite of distinct compartmental models of generalised SEIR type, in which diagnosis and quarantine are included via extra compartments. We investigate the evidence for a change in lethality of COVID-19 in late autumn 2020 in the UK, using age-structured, weekly national aggregate data for cases and mortalities. Models that allow a (step-like or graded) change in infection fatality rate (IFR) have consistently higher model evidence than those without. Moreover, they all infer a close to two-fold increase in IFR. This value lies well above most previously available estimates. However, the same models consistently infer that, most probably, the increase in IFR preceded the time window during which variant B.1.1.7 (alpha) became the dominant strain in the UK. Therefore, according to our models, the caseload and mortality data do not offer unequivocal evidence for higher lethality of a new variant. We compare these results for the UK with similar models for Germany and France, which also show increases in inferred IFR during the same period, despite the even later arrival of new variants in those countries. We argue that while the new variant(s) may be one contributing cause of a large increase in IFR in the UK in autumn 2020, other factors, such as seasonality, or pressure on health services, are likely to also have contributed.

Multivariate data driven prediction of COVID-19 dynamics: Towards new results with temperature, humidity and air quality data

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic many studies investigated the correlation between climate variables such as air quality, humidity and temperature and the lethality of COVID-19 around the world. In this work we investigate the use of climate variables, as additional features to train a data-driven multivariate forecast model to predict the short-term expected number of COVID-19 deaths in Brazilian states and major cities. The main idea is that by adding these climate features as inputs to the training of data-driven models, the predictive performance improves when compared to equivalent single input models. We use a Stacked LSTM as the network architecture for both the multivariate and univariate model. We compare both approaches by training forecast models for the COVID-19 deaths time series of the city of São Paulo. In addition, we present a previous analysis based on grouping K-means on AQI curves. The results produced will allow achieving the application of transfer learning, once a locality is eventually added to the task, regressing out using a model based on the cluster of similarities in the AQI curve. The experiments show that the best multivariate model is more skilled than the best standard data-driven univariate model that we could find, using as evaluation metrics the average fitting error, average forecast error, and the profile of the accumulated deaths for the forecast. These results show that by adding more useful features as input to a multivariate approach could further improve the quality of the prediction models.

Features of patients admitted for COVID-19 at a regional hospital in the Chilean Araucania Region

The Araucania region in Chile had the greatest COVID-19 incidence and lethality in Chile Aim: To describe the clinical characteristics and evolution of patients admitted for COVID-19 in a high complexity Hospital in the region of La Araucanía-Chile. Review of medical records of the first 169 patients aged 55 ± 17 years (50% women) admitted for COVID-19 between march and may, 2020 at a regional hospital in Temuco Chile. The most common comorbidities of these patients were hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. The symptom triad of cough, dyspnea and fever was present in 85%. Less frequent symptoms were diarrhea and vomiting. Biomarkers at admission such as ferritin, D-dimer, among others, were significantly higher among patients who required admission to the Intensive Care Unit. The presence of cough, dyspnea and fever were significantly associated with longer hospitalization time and requirement for mechanical ventilation. Hypertension and obesity were significantly associated with longer hospitalization stay. Eight percent of patients died. Symptoms such as cough, dyspnea and fever and specific biomarkers on admission were associated with a worse evolution of adult inpatients with COVID-19.

The COVID-19 incidence in Italian regions correlates with low temperature, mobility and PM10 pollution but lethality only with low temperature.

Background: The aim was to verify whether the density of particulate matter (PM10), the climate, and the mobility of people can influence the pandemic in the 19 regions and in the two autonomous Italian provinces as incidence rate and lethality.Design and Methods: The incidence rates per 100,000 inhabitants and the case fatality ratio (CFR) (dependent variables) in all Italian regions were calculated in January 2021 at John Hopkins University Coronavirus Center. The independent variables were: Minimum average temperatures in the same month (January) of 2020; average pollution of PM10 in the air in each region in the last year available reported on a 0-10 scale to 0 = total absence of PM10 to 10 maximum pollutions; number of places in hotels occupied per inhabitants in 2020. Linear regression and Multiple Regression Analysis were carried out.Results: The spread of the COVID-19 in the Italian regions seems to be related to pollution of PM10, the number of beds occupied in hotels (as an index of mobility and temperature (indirect correlation). On the contrary, the CFR correlates inversely with temperature but not with pollution. Measuring the concomitant effect of two independent variables by means of Multiple Regression Analysis, temperature and pollution show a synergistic effect on COVID-19 incidence.Conclusions: The study seems to confirm the literature on the influence of temperature on the lethality of COVID-19 but adds the new results of an inverse relationship between the spread of the virus and low temperature in regions between the Mediterranean area (which includes southern Italy and Sicily and Sardinia islands) and the cold European temperate zone which includes the northern regions under the Alps. A new date also concerns the summation effect of the risk between cold weather and PM10 air pollution was found. Due to several methodic weakness the study has an exploratory than conclusive relevance. Significance for public health This paper has an exploratory value because a homogeneous population is taken into account. Presented results that basically contain the combined effect of cold climate (and pollution by PM10) on COVID-19 must be confirmed.

INSIGHTS INTO THE PREDICTABILITY AND SIMILARITY OF COVID-19 WORLDWIDE LETHALITY

This paper performs a systematic investigation into the temporal evolution of daily death cases of COVID-19 worldwide lethality considering 90 countries. We apply the information theory quantifiers, more specifically the Permutation entropy [Formula: see text] and Fisher information measure [Formula: see text] to construct the Shannon-Fisher causality plane (SFCP), which allows us to quantify the disorder and evaluate randomness present in the time series of daily death cases related to COVID-19 in each country. Moreover, we employ [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] to rank the COVID-19 lethality in these countries based on the complexity hierarchy. Our findings reveal that the countries that are located farther from the random ideal position ([Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]) in the SFCP such as Taiwan, Vietnam, New Zealand, Singapore, Monaco, Iceland, Thailand, Bahamas, Cyprus, Australia, and Norway are characterized by a less entropy and low disorder, which leads to high predictability of the COVID-19 lethality. Otherwise, the countries that are located near to the random ideal position ([Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]) in the SFCP such as Ecuador, Czechia, Iraq, Colombia, Belgium, Italy, Philippines, Iran, Peru, and Japan are characterized by high entropy and high disorder, which implies low predictability of the COVID-19 lethality. We also employ two cluster techniques to analyze the similarity considering the temporal evolution of COVID-19 worldwide lethality for the countries investigated. Based on the values of [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and our cluster analysis, we suggest that this health crisis will only be adequately combated through global adherence to scientific exchange and technology sharing to homogenize the actions to combat the COVID-19.

Infection fatality ratio and case fatality ratio of COVID-19

The infection fatality ratio (IFR) is the risk of death per infection and is one of the most important epidemiological parameters. Enormous efforts have been undertaken to estimate the IFR for COVID-19. This study examined the pros and cons of several approaches. It is found that the frequently used approaches using serological survey results as the denominator and the number of confirmed deaths as the numerator underestimated the true IFR. The most typical examples are South Africa and Peru (before official correction), where the confirmed deaths are one-third of the excess deaths. We argue that the RT-PCR-based case fatality ratio (CFR) is a reliable indicator of the lethality of COVID-19 in locations where testing is extensive. An accurate IFR is crucial for policymaking and public-risk perception.

Measuring the Factors of Hesitancy in Saudi Population toward COVID-19 Vaccines

COVID-19 has major effects on the population, enforcing lockdowns and strict precautions across the world to deter the virus from spreading. The pandemic presents a significant threat to our health and well-being. As vaccines become available, COVID-19 lethality may be reduced by promoting widespread immunization. To achieve herd immunity thresholds for COVID-19, an estimated 70% of the population must be vaccinated. The public’s approval determines the success of the vaccination program. Understanding the factors that contribute to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is important. Therefore, this cross-sectional study was conducted on the Saudi population from all the regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to evaluate the level of knowledge about COVID-19 vaccines, estimate the turnout level for receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, and understand the reasons behind hesitancy toward COVID-19 vaccines. A total of 1,148 adults completed a web-based questionnaire, and the study tested several sociocultural and environmental variables that affect the community’s hesitancy toward vaccination. Results showed that gender characteristics had almost no effect on acceptance of the vaccination. Individuals of the younger age group < 30 demonstrated an increase in the rate of vaccine hesitancy (53%) compared with individuals from the older age groups > 40 (34.43%). In addition, middle and higher education groups were found to have significant vaccine hesitancy (77.4%) compared with the less educated group (41.1%). The most common concern among the non-vaccine takers in this questionnaire was that of vaccine safety: these participants believed the vaccine would result in health problems (49.3%), and most participants agreed (64%) that this was due to the insufficient duration of vaccine administration for safety evaluation.

1565MO Time-dependent improvement in the clinical outcomes from COVID-19 in cancer patients: An updated analysis of the OnCovid registry

Early reports from registry studies demonstrated high vulnerability of cancer patients from COVID-19, with case-fatality rates (CFR) >30% at the onset of the pandemic. With advances in disease management and increased testing capacity, the lethality of COVID-19 in cancer patients may have improved over time. The OnCovid registry lists European cancer patients consecutively diagnosed with COVID-19 in 35 centres from Jan 2020 to Feb 2021. We analysed clinical characteristics and outcomes stratified in 5 trimesters (Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun, Jul-Sep, Oct-Dec 2020 and Jan-Feb 2021) and studied predictors of mortality across 2 semesters (Jan-Jun 2020 and Jul 2020-Feb 2021). At data cut-off, the 2634 eligible patients demonstrated significant time-dependant improvement in 14-days CFR with trimestral estimates of 29.8%, 20.3%, 12.5%, 17.2% and 14.5% (p<0.0001). Compared to the 2nd semester, patients diagnosed in the Jan-Jun 2020 time period were ≥65 (60.3% vs 56.1%, p=0.031) had ≥2 comorbidities (48.8% vs 42.4%, p=0.001) and non-advanced tumours (46.4% vs 56.1%, p<0.001). COVID-19 was more likely to be complicated in Jan-Jun 2020 (45.4% vs 33.9%, p<0.001), requiring hospitalization (59.8% vs 42.1%, p<0.001) and anti-COVID-19 therapy (61.7% vs 49.7%, p<0.001). The 14-days CFR for the 1st and 2nd semester was 25.6% vs 16.2% (p<0.0001), respectively. After adjusting for gender, age, comorbidities, tumour features, COVID-19 and anti-cancer therapy and COVID-19 complications, patients diagnosed in the 1st semester had an increased risk of death at 14 days (HR 1.68 [95%CI: 1.35-2.09]), but not at 3 months (HR 1.10 [95%CI: 0.94-1.29]) compared to those from the 2nd semester. We report a time-dependent improvement in the mortality from COVID-19 in European cancer patients. This may be explained by expanding testing capacity, improved healthcare resources and dynamic changes in community transmission over time. These findings are informative for clinical practice and policy making in the context of an unresolved pandemic.

Potential Immunomodulatory Properties of Biologically Active Components of Spices Against SARS-CoV-2 and Pan β-Coronaviruses.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-induced COVID-19 has emerged as a defining global health crisis in current times. Data from the World Health Organization shows demographic variations in COVID-19 severity and lethality. Diet may play a significant role in providing beneficial host cell factors contributing to immunity against deadly SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis. Spices are essential components of the diet that possess anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antiviral properties. Hyperinflammation, an aberrant systemic inflammation associated with pneumonia, acute respiratory failure, and multiorgan dysfunction, is a major clinical outcome in COVID-19. Knowing the beneficial properties of spices, we hypothesize that spice-derived bioactive components can modulate host immune responses to provide protective immunity in COVID-19. This study emphasizes that biologically active components of spices might alleviate the sustained pro-inflammatory condition by inhibiting the activity of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukins (IL6, IL8), and chemokine (CCL2) known to be elevated in COVID-19. Spices may potentially prevent the tissue damage induced by oxidative stress and pro-inflammatory mediators during SARS-CoV-2 infection. The current study also highlights the effects of spices on the antioxidant pathways mediated by Nrf2 (nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2) and Hmox1 (heme oxygenase 1) to restore oxidative homeostasis and protect from aberrant tissue damage. Taken together, the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities of bioactive components of spices may hold a promise to target the cellular pathways for developing antivirals against SARS-CoV-2 and pan β-coronaviruses.

Exploring the linkage between seasonality of environmental factors and COVID-19 waves in Madrid, Spain

Like several countries, Spain experienced a multi wave pattern of COVID-19 pandemic over more than one year period, between spring 2020 and spring 2021. The transmission of SARS-CoV-2 pandemics is a multi-factorial process involving among other factors outdoor environmental variables and viral inactivation.This study aims to quantify the impact of climate and air pollution factors seasonality on incidence and severity of COVID-19 disease waves in Madrid metropolitan region in Spain. We employed descriptive statistics and Spearman rank correlation tests for analysis of daily in-situ and geospatial time-series of air quality and climate data to investigate the associations with COVID-19 incidence and lethality in Madrid under different synoptic meteorological patterns. During the analyzed period (1 January 2020-28 February 2021), with one month before each of three COVID-19 waves were recorded anomalous anticyclonic circulations in the mid-troposphere, with positive anomalies of geopotential heights at 500 mb and favorable stability conditions for SARS-CoV-2 fast diffusion. In addition, the results reveal that air temperature, Planetary Boundary Layer height, ground level ozone have a significant negative relationship with daily new COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths. The findings of this study provide useful information to the public health authorities and policymakers for optimizing interventions during pandemics.

The Emirates Oncology Task Force Clinical Practice Guideline on Screening for SARS-CoV-2 in Asymptomatic Adult Cancer Patients Prior to Anti-Cancer Therapy

The Emirates Oncology Task Force Clinical Practice Guideline on Screening for SARS-CoV-2 in Asymptomatic Adult Cancer Patients Prior to Anti-Cancer Therapy Introduction: Cancer care during this pandemic is challenging given the competing risks of death from cancer versus death or serious complications from SARS- CoV-2 infection, and the likely higher lethality of COVID-19 in immunocompromised patients. Question remains on serial screening for SARSCoV-2 in asymptomatic adult cancer patients prior to anti-cancer therapy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We conducted a systematic review to formulate a consensus statement to guide the practising oncologists. Results: Most of the current guidelines recommends RT-PCR SARS-CoV-2 testing of asymptomatic patients prior to initiating and during the anti-cancer therapy despite the lack of robust evidence. We suggested the following: If screening is indicated in adult cancer patients, we recommend using RT-PCR over serum antibody or serum antigen for adult cancer patients; we also recommend assessing the risk of exposure to and infection from SARS-CoV-2 prior to each anti-cancer cycle, to consider SARS-CoV-2 in asymptomatic adult cancer patients prior to anti-cancer therapy in high risk groups : highly cytotoxic chemotherapy with potential profound neutropenia based on the physician’s risk assessment of the chemotherapy , stem cell transplantation. For asymptomatic intermediate-high risk cancer patients, we suggest performing RT-PCR 48-72 hours prior to initiating any anti-cancer therapy. For asymptomatic low-risk cancer patients, we suggest not to routinely screen prior to initiating any anti-cancer therapy (weak recommendation, low quality evidence). Conclusion: SARS-CoV-2 screening might be indicated with higher certainty to certain cancer risk groups. There remains a need for prospective trials to assess this intervention, and the outcome of such intervention. Current recommendations may change based on new and emerging evidence.