COVID-19 Cases Worldwide Research Articles

ASIAN COMMUNICATION EXPERIENCE IN THE MID OF CORONA PANDEMIC

This research is motivated by case that is happening right now, where the world is being hit by a virus called covid-19, this virus started in Wuhan, China. The spread of the Covid-19 virus which has reached 226 countries has caused the death toll to continue to rise. To date, the total number of Covid-19 cases worldwide stands at 505 million cases with a death toll of 6 million. Various efforts have been made by the government together with the medical team to find ways to stop virus Covid-19. One of them is by creating a vaccine that is considered capable of reducing the death rate caused by the Covid-19. Asia, as the region that was first affected by this virus and is considered the area where the Covid-19 virus emerged, certainly brings a lot of speculation and opinion from other countries. This is what is then felt by Asian students who continue their education abroad, one of which is in Egypt. Of course this has an impact on the communication experience they feel during this pandemic due to their status as students who come from countries in Asia. The purpose of this study was to determine the interpersonal communication experience experienced by Asian students who are currently in Egypt as an area affected by COVID-19.The method used in this research is qualitative with a phenomenological approach. The data collection technique used is interviews. The data analysis technique uses the Miles and Huberman interactive model analysis. And the data validity technique in this study uses source triangulation. The results of the study showed that there were unpleasant experiences experienced by Asian students where they were discriminated against as Asian and accused of causing the corona virus in Egypt. The forms of treatment received by the Asian students included being quipped when they were in public places such as on roads, markets or shopping centers. Then ridiculed sarcastically (roughly) as Corona in a public place, shunned when in public transportation and shoping centre and not even served when in food stores.

How did the US and UK markets react to the COVID-19 vaccines’ announcements? A preliminary assessment

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major public health and economic disruption. At the same time, a pandemic allows researchers to assess market efficiency; namely, whether, to what extent, and how swiftly stock markets incorporated information related to COVID-19. Soon after the outbreak of the pandemic, research on this front was conducted, with a particular focus on the United States of America (US) market. However, new major events linked to the pandemic have unfolded: a number of vaccines were announced and authorized. The research available in relation to market efficiency relative to vaccine availability is scant. The aim of this study was to assess market efficiency hypotheses with regards to the US and United Kingdom (UK) markets, investigating the impact of the promising news of the vaccines’ successful trials and, subsequently, their authorization. Methods: This work considered data from the S&P500 for the US market and the FTSE100 for the UK market. The time interval considered ranged from the date positive results of vaccines’ trials were first announced, 18 November 2020, until up to two months after the vaccines’ authorization that happened later in December 2020. For both markets, we analyzed the daily returns, cumulative returns, standard deviation and average returns. Results: In both the US and the UK, there was a positive effect of the vaccines’ announcements in terms of increase in the daily returns. However, the standard deviation was not found to increase substantially, notwithstanding the increase in the COVID-19 cases worldwide and the potential lockdown in several countries, as well as the fear from new coronavirus strains that the new vaccines might not be protect against. Conclusions: Whilst both markets displayed an increase in the average return following the vaccines’ announcements, the UK market seemed to reflect vaccines’ announcements faster than the US market.

Resilience and Anxiety Among Healthcare Workers During the Spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant: A Moderated Mediation Model.

IntroductionThe B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant of SARS-COV-2 has caused a surge in COVID-19 cases worldwide, placing a great burden on the health care system under the zero-tolerance epidemic prevention policy in China. The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of anxiety among health care workers during the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant, and to discuss the mediating role of positive coping style between resilience and anxiety, and the moderating role of general self-efficacy.MethodConnor-Davidson Resilience scale (CD-RISC), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), General Self-efficacy Scale (GSES) and Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ) were used in this cross-sectional study among 390 healthcare workers in Jiangsu Province, China. Mackinnon's four-step procedure was applied to test the mediation effect, and Hayes PROCESS macro was conducted to examine the moderated mediation model.ResultsThe prevalence of anxiety among Chinese healthcare workers during the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant was 41.8%. Male, unmarried, childless and younger subjects reported higher levels of anxiety. Positive coping partially mediated the effect of resilience on anxiety among healthcare workers and the indirect effect was stronger with the increase of general self-efficacy.ConclusionsAnxiety was prevalent among healthcare workers during the spread of SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant. This research sheds new light on the potential mechanism underlying the association between resilience and anxiety and provides new insight into the prevention of anxiety among healthcare workers during the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant.

SARS-CoV-2 Spike-Specific CD4+ T Cell Response Is Conserved Against Variants of Concern, Including Omicron.

Although accumulating data have investigated the effect of SARS-CoV-2 mutations on antibody neutralizing activity, less is known about T cell immunity. In this work, we found that the ancestral (Wuhan strain) Spike protein can efficaciously reactivate CD4+ T cell memory in subjects with previous Alpha variant infection. This finding has practical implications, as in many countries only one vaccine dose is currently administered to individuals with previous COVID-19, independently of which SARS-CoV-2 variant was responsible of the infection. We also found that only a minority of Spike-specific CD4+ T cells targets regions mutated in Alpha, Beta and Delta variants, both after natural infection and vaccination. Finally, we found that the vast majority of Spike-specific CD4+ T cell memory response induced by natural infection or mRNA vaccination is conserved also against Omicron variant. This is of importance, as this newly emerged strain is responsible for a sudden rise in COVID-19 cases worldwide due to its increased transmissibility and ability to evade antibody neutralization. Collectively, these observations suggest that most of the memory CD4+ T cell response is conserved against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, providing an efficacious line of defense that can protect from the development of severe forms of COVID-19.

Potential of phytocompounds from Brassica oleracea targeting S2-domain of SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoproteins: Structural and molecular insights

By 24th Sep. 2021, there are more than 229 million COVID-19 cases worldwide, the researchers are tirelessly working to discover and develop an efficient drug molecule against this devastative viral infection. This study aims to evaluate the inhibitory efficiency of the organic acids and phenolic compounds present in Brassica oleracea (Tronchuda Cabbage) against spike glycoprotein in SARS-CoV-2. Thirty-seven phytocompounds are screened on the basis of their molecular weight (<500 g/mol) and 14 ligands are docked using Autodock Vina and Autodock4 (version 4.2.6). The stability of the top five docked complexes was analyzed using classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. ADMET analysis is performed for the top five compounds and their targets are identified using SwissTargetPrediction. Phytoactives from B. oleracea namely Astragalin, 3-p-coumaroylquinic acid, 4-p-coumaroylquinic acid and sinapoyl-D-glucoside showed high binding affinities and free energy of binding during molecular docking and MD simulation studies (∼ 8.5–9.0 kcal/mol) for the spike glycoprotein trimer of SARS-CoV2. The ADMET analysis revealed that these phytocompounds have good solubility in the aqueous phase and that they don't penetrate the blood brain barrier. Moreover, there is no P-gp substrate inhibition, CYP1A2 inhibition, CYP2C19 inhibition, CYP2C9 inhibition, CYP2D6 inhibition and CYP3A4 inhibition observed for these compounds. Additionally, zero PAINS alerts were reported. These findings from molecular docking and MD simulation studies suggest that astragalin and coumaroylquinic acids from Tronchuda cabbage possess potential inhibitory capacity against spike glycoprotein trimer of SARS-CoV-2 and could be further taken up as lead targets for drug discovery.

Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Havana, Cuba, March-June 2020: Epidemiological Implications.

The percentage of asymptomatic COVID-19 cases worldwide is estimated at 18-50%; 53% in Cuba specifically, and 58% in Havana, the Cuban capital and the 2020 epicenter of the country's COVID-19 epidemic. These figures, however, do not represent the transmission capacity or behavior of asymptomatic cases. Understanding asymptomatic transmission's contribution to SARS-CoV-2 spread is of great importance to disease control and prevention. Identify the epidemiological implications of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in Havana, Cuba, during the first wave of the epidemic in 2020. We carried out a cross-sectional study of all confirmed COVID-19 cases diagnosed in Havana, Cuba, from March 16 through June 30, 2020. The information was obtained through review of the standardized form for investigation of suspected and confirmed cases. Examined variables included age, sex, occupation, case type and source of infection. Cases were divided into asymptomatic and symptomatic groups, and transmission was characterized through the creation of a contact matrix. Analysis was carried out in Epidat and R. We studied 1287 confirmed cases, of which 57.7% (743) were asymptomatic, and 42.3% (544) were symptomatic. Symptomatic presentation was the most common for both imported and introduced cases, while asymptomatic presentation was more common in autochthonic cases and infections from an undetermined source. Asymptomatic infection was more common in groups aged &#10216;20 and 20-59 years, while symptomatic infection was more common in those aged &#10217;60 years. In the contact matrix, 34.6% of cases (445/1287) were not tied to other cases, and 65.4% (842/1287) were infectious-infected dyads, with symptomatic-symptomatic being the most common combination. The majority of primary cases (78.5%; 1002/1276) did not generate secondary cases, and 85.6% (658/743) of asymptomatic cases did not lead to other cases (although one asymptomatic superspreader led to 90 cases in a single event). However, 63.2% (344/544) of symptomatic primary cases generated secondary cases, and 11 symptomatic superspreaders spawned 100 secondary cases in different events. Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection was the most common form of COVID-19 in Havana during the study period, but its capacity for contagion was lower than that of symptomatic individuals. Superspreader events under specific conditions played an important role in sustaining the epidemic.

Demand for mitigating the risk of COVID-19 infection in public transport: The role of social trust and fatalistic beliefs

The rapid surge of COVID-19 cases worldwide drew attention to COVID-19 infection as a new source of risk in transport. The virus introduced a need for viral transmission mitigation as a major priority when selecting a mode of travel, and caused a significant drop in public transport use. The recovery of public transport use in the post-COVID period requires that the transport authorities favourably address people’s demand for mitigation of the risk of COVID-19 transmission in public transport. The present study aims to explore the role of risk perception, worry and priority of COVID-19 risk reduction along with fatalistic beliefs and public trust in authorities in explaining public demand for risk mitigation. The present study is among the first to investigate the role of fatalistic beliefs, social trust and risk perception for public transport and public demand for risk mitigation. The link between priority of infection prevention and demand for risk mitigation has also been less explored in public transport research. An online survey was conducted among university students in Iran between 19th April and 16th June 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic, when the country was a major epicentre of the disease. A total of 271 out of 370 respondents whose dominant mode on university travels was public transport were included in the analysis. Results of structural equation modelling confirmed the paradox of trust, indicating that social trust is negatively associated with perceived risk of COVID-19 infection, which in turn may lead people to place less importance on COVID-19 prevention as a priority in travel mode choice, and consequently demand less risk mitigation efforts to prevent COVID-19 infection in public transport. Dissimilar to trust, however, the results revealed no relationship between fatalistic beliefs and risk perception, but a significant direct effect of fatalistic beliefs on demand for risk mitigation. To reinforce public demand for mitigating the risk of COVID-19 in public transport, the study calls on policymakers to exploit public trust resources for more effective risk communication, through disseminating the gradually accumulating evidence-based information regarding the infectivity and the virulence of COVID-19 and the scientific risk of infection. The study also underlined the potential importance of considering fatalistic beliefs when developing effective risk communication policies and practices to enhance public support for COVID-19 risk mitigation in public transport.

Predictive Modeling of Vaccination Uptake in US Counties: A Machine Learning-Based Approach.

BackgroundAlthough the COVID-19 pandemic has left an unprecedented impact worldwide, countries such as the United States have reported the most substantial incidence of COVID-19 cases worldwide. Within the United States, various sociodemographic factors have played a role in the creation of regional disparities. Regional disparities have resulted in the unequal spread of disease between US counties, underscoring the need for efficient and accurate predictive modeling strategies to inform public health officials and reduce the burden on health care systems. Furthermore, despite the widespread accessibility of COVID-19 vaccines across the United States, vaccination rates have become stagnant, necessitating predictive modeling to identify important factors impacting vaccination uptake.ObjectiveThis study aims to determine the association between sociodemographic factors and vaccine uptake across counties in the United States.MethodsSociodemographic data on fully vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals were sourced from several online databases such as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Census Bureau COVID-19 Site. Machine learning analysis was performed using XGBoost and sociodemographic data.ResultsOur model predicted COVID-19 vaccination uptake across US counties with 62% accuracy. In addition, it identified location, education, ethnicity, income, and household access to the internet as the most critical sociodemographic features in predicting vaccination uptake in US counties. Lastly, the model produced a choropleth demonstrating areas of low and high vaccination rates, which can be used by health care authorities in future pandemics to visualize and prioritize areas of low vaccination and design targeted vaccination campaigns.ConclusionsOur study reveals that sociodemographic characteristics are predictors of vaccine uptake rates across counties in the United States and, if leveraged appropriately, can assist policy makers and public health officials to understand vaccine uptake rates and craft policies to improve them.

Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio as a Diagnosis Predictor in Pediatric COVID-19 Patients at Dr. OEN Kandang Sapi Hospital, Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia

Background: COVID-19 is a global pandemic and affects all ages, even newborns. Until March 2021, there were 127 million cases of COVID-19 worldwide. In Indonesia, there were almost 1.5 million cases. The main symptoms of COVID-19 are fever and cough, simple laboratory tests such as measuring the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) are also included in the EWS (early warning score) so that they can be used to diagnose COVID-19 with a cut-off limit value of 3.13. The purpose of this study was to determine the value of NLR as a predictor of diagnosis in pediatric patients confirmed by RT-PCR Swab examination at Dr. Oen Kandang Sapi Hospital, Solo, Surakarta. Subjects and Method: A diagnostic test study that assessed the sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value and positive predictive value of the NLR value as a predictor of COVID-19 diagnosis in pediatric patients confirmed by RT-PCR Swab examination at the time level of March 2020 - March 2021. Data were taken from electronic medical records of inpatients and sampling was done by consecutive admission sampling. Results: A total of 153 study subjects with 34 PCR (+) patients and 119 PCR (-) patients. The characteristics of the study sample were seen from gender, age, symptoms, chest x-ray and patient outcomes. The NLR cutoff limit value for pediatric COVID-19 patients is 1,625 with an AUC (area under curve) of 0.504. The NLR value of 1.625 has a sensitivity of 0.588 (58.8%) and a specificity of 0.513 (51.3%). The PPV (positive predictive value) was 0.256 (25.6%), the NPV (negative predictive value) was 0.813 (81.3%), the PPR (positive predictive ratio) was 1.207 and the NPR (negative predictive ratio) result was 0.803. Conclusion: The NLR cutoff value of 1,625 with a sensitivity of 58.8% cannot be used as a predictor of COVID-19 diagnosis in pediatric patients at Dr. Oen Kandang Sapi Hospital, Solo, Surakarta.

Chinese experience in the management and control of COVID-19 epidemic

In December 2019, a new epidemic of coronavirus disease appeared (COVID–19), caused by SARS-CoV-2 (formerly 2019-nCoV). The first reported disease cases occurred in Wuhan, Hubei province, resulting in the third zoonotic event related to lethal human coronavirus. Initially, the incubation period is 1-14 days (mean 5-6 days) in most cases but can be as long as 24 days1,2. The most commonly seen characteristics of COVID-19 are fever, cough, tiredness, and abnormal chest computed tomography3,4. So far, bat is thought to be the origin of SARS-CoV-2, based on sequence homology of 96% between SARS-CoV-2 and Bat-CoV-RaTG135,6,7, but more impartial scientific investigations on the origin-tracing of the virus are required to elucidate the issue. Human-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 occurs mainly via respiratory droplets1, direct contact1, asymptomatic transmission8,9 , and intrafamilial transmission3,4. At present, there are over 206 million cases of COVID-19 worldwide, with a 4.35 million death toll10. As of 12 August 2021, China had confirmed 94,260 cases with 4636 deaths (mortality rate 5%), and 87,740 recovered cases (93%)11. Other countries, even though they had much more time to prepare for the arrival of the virus, delayed their response and that meant lost control12. While the world is struggling to control COVID-19, China has been a good example of how to control the epidemic, and has shared information with other countries on the management and prevention of the disease. How was that possible?

COVID-19 ARDS: a review of imaging features and overview of mechanical ventilation and its complications.

The first cluster of cases of COVID-19 pneumonia was reported on December 31, 2019. Since then, this disease has spread rapidly across the world, and as of September 17, 2021, there are 226,844,344 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with 4,666,334 deaths related to COVID-19. While most COVID-19 cases are mild, some cases are severe with patients developing acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The pathophysiology of ARDS includes damage to the alveolar epithelium that leads to increased permeability of the alveolar epithelial barrier causing hyaline membrane formation, interstitial edema, and alveolar edema that results in severe hypoxia. Patients with COVID-19 ARDS are supported by non-invasive or invasive mechanical ventilation with an aim to improve oxygenation and maintain adequate blood oxygen levels. Increased intra-alveolar pressure while on mechanical ventilation may lead to alveolar rupture and thus barotrauma-related injuries such as lung tension cysts, pulmonary interstitial emphysema (PIE), pneumomediastinum, pneumopericardium, and pneumothorax. Recent studies have shown that the rate of barotrauma-related events is higher in patients with COVID-19 ARDS compared to patients with ARDS secondary to other etiologies. Radiologists should be aware of the imaging features of COVID-19 ARDS as well as the complications of mechanical ventilation. This educational manuscript will review the features of COVID-19 ARDS, discuss imaging of patients on mechanical ventilation, and review the imaging features of complications related to mechanical ventilation, including ventilator-associated lung injuries.

WILLINGNESS TO BE VACCINATED AGAINST COVID-19 AMONG HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION

Background: The increasing COVID-19 cases worldwide ignite pharmaceutical companies’ effort to discover safe vaccines have been eyed globally. Informed perspectives across medical profession explaining beneficial effects of inoculation, however, various personal views persist which lead to confusion among general public. Objectives: To describe demographic characteristics among education institutions and their willingness to be vaccinated. Methods: Data were collected by google forms, in February 2021. The online form was then pre-tested on 10 respondents to refine questions prior to commencing the survey. Convenience sampling was administered for the selection of voluntary respondents. Data cleaning was done prior to the data analysis. Recoding of string variables and omittion of invalid responses were also done. Descriptive statistics was undertaken in a genuine licensed software of IBM SPSS Statistics version 26. Results: A total of 401 respondents answered the survey. More than half of the respondents are female constituting 62.1% of the sample, whereas males constitute 37.9%, mostly faculty members, single (63.1%), earning 20,000 (54.2%) per month. More than half of the respondents are willing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 (54.6%) and have no preference for a specific type of COVID-19 vaccine (54.9%). Around 30.4% are still unsure if they should get vaccinated or not and 15% have indicated negatively. Comparing both sexes, a larger frequency of males is willing to get vaccinated constituting 69.1% and females (45.8%). Conclusion: Males showed more willingness to be inoculated regardless of COVID-19 vaccine types. Education and continuous campaign on the importance of vaccination program is a must to increase success rate to end the health crisis.

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

Tanaka (2022) is a clearly written survey of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Asian economies. It covers the single sector SIR (susceptible, infected, recovered) epidemiological macro-model and discusses results from this class of models for Asian countries. Then, relaxing the model to allow heterogeneity across sectors and workers, the paper examines the impact of the pandemic in Asia. The paper concludes by briefly addressing the policy responses of Asian countries. At this writing, there have been an estimated 212 million COVID-19 cases worldwide (though this is a vast undercount) and more than 4 million deaths (again an undercount of the true excess death associated with the pandemic). The pandemic's severity demands greater attention to those policy issues. East Asia appears to have been uniquely adroit at implementing nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). Targeted forms of interventions have mitigated the pandemic without incurring large economic costs. These would include mass masking, widespread testing, extensive contact tracing, systematic quarantines of individuals likely to be infected, border and movement restrictions, and timely, clear, and consistent public health communication. The execution of some of these measures in East Asia has been overly intrusive and subject to abuse, so implementation should be done with the maintenance of civil liberties in mind (Chorzempa & Huang, 2021). In assessing policy effectiveness, the control of borders should not be underestimated: among the few robust cross-country correlates with effective pandemic response has been being an island. (It is no accident that Hawaii has the lowest cumulative case rate among US states.) In this context, South Korea is for all intents and purposes an island. Other robust correlates include previous experience with pandemics such as SARS or MERS, and having a female leader, though this result may be due to outperformance by New Zealand, and possibly, Germany. That said, vaccination is key: the attainment of herd immunity will facilitate the return to normal economic and social life. As of this writing, approximately 2 billion people or about 25% of the world's population have been fully vaccinated. Further progress will be complicated by the apparent need to give booster shots. Thus far, Asia has been relatively strong on NPIs, but relatively weak on vaccine rollout. There are two core issues: first, the social benefit of vaccination exceeds its private benefit at the level of the individual, and the global benefit exceeds the national benefit at the level of the nation-state. Consequently, there is a prima facie case for the subsidization of production and consumption at the national and global levels. A related issue is distributional: we face an emerging “vaccine famine.” In famines, people do not die because there is not enough food to go around in a physical sense; they die because they are too poor to purchase adequate supplies. “Vaccine nationalism” in which a limited number of producer countries impose export controls, or pre-emptively purchase huge stocks for their citizenry, will leave vast swaths of the world's population, including in Asia, exposed. Unvaccinated populations can act as incubators for the development of variants of concern. Bown and Bollyky (2021) propose a COVID-19 Vaccine an Investment Trade Agreement (CVITA) to leverage COVAX; subsidize investment in vaccine production and the related supply chain; eschew export restrictions; create a transparent monitoring system; and create an authority to act as contractor and ombudsman. Tanaka documents the uneven incidence of the pandemic burden across households; similar inequities are arising in vaccine distribution within countries, particularly in countries characterized by high levels of inequality and ethnic or other social tensions. This could prove particularly challenging in parts of Southeast Asia. A related issue is vaccine hesitancy. This phenomenon has been particularly vexing in countries with populist leaders such as Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro or Rodrigo Duterte. Attainment of herd immunity will determine the length of the pandemic and the magnitude of scarring. As Tanaka observes, duration also is relevant to the preferability of providing support to firms (as has been emphasized by the European Union) or support to individual households and workers (as has been emphasized in the USA). The former preserves the enterprise value of firms at the risk of creating zombies; the latter is advisable if considerable cross-sectoral redeployment of resources is necessary but may incur the cost of firm shutdown needlessly if the shock is temporary. The risk is that without an effective global pandemic response, we could find ourselves in a world of recurrent outbreaks, inevitably prompting the imposition of cross-border impediments to the movement of goods and people, with adverse implications for long-run productivity, economic growth, and poverty alleviation.

Factors influencing the acceptability of COVID-19 vaccination: A cross-sectional study from Malaysia

BackgroundWith the surge of COVID-19 cases worldwide, vaccines against COVID-19 are also developing across the countries. However, the acceptability of COVID-19 vaccination among general people is questionable. The availability of several vaccines’ options against COVID-19 has perplexed people regarding individual vaccines’ efficacy and safety. Therefore, we aim to determine the acceptance, preferences, impact factors of future COVID-19 vaccines in Malaysia and the factors influencing the COVID-19 vaccination acceptance among vaccine demand and vaccine delay groups. Material and methodsAn online-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among Malaysian residents 18 years and above of either gender using the snowball sampling technique. A self-administered questionnaire was made available to participants through various social media networks, email, and telegram. The data obtained from the survey were analyzed using SPSS version 25.0. Association between background characteristics and respondents were analyzed using the Chi-square test in the vaccine delay group and vaccine acceptance group. ResultsTotal of 1282 responses were considered for the study, mainly from male respondents (71%). Among the respondents, 95.9% thought that vaccination would be an effective way to prevent and control COVID-19, and 96% would accept vaccination if the COVID-19 vaccine were successfully developed and approved for listing in the future. Essential factors influencing vaccination decisions were vaccine convenience (95.7%) and doctor's recommendation (97.3%). Bivariate analysis revealed that age less than 24 years, Malay race, living in urban areas, tertiary education, students, single marital status, family income (Malaysian ringgits) RM 4,850 to RM 10,959 and >RM 10,960 were significantly associated with vaccine acceptance of COVID19 vaccination. ConclusionAll the factors influencing COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rates throughout the country should be studied on a larger scale, and appropriate steps to ensure vaccine acceptance among the public should be meticulously devised by the government and related authorities.

PENGARUH ONLINE HANDBOOK EDUCATION TERHADAP KECEMASAN COVID-19

Background: The rapid increase in the number of new cases of COVID-19 worldwide is making everyone anxious. Anxiety causes a person to respond negatively, so that the individual cannot perform good self-management. Therefore, this problem needs to be resolved, one way to reduce anxiety is to have proper knowledge about COVID-19.&#x0D; Objective: This study aims to identify the effect of online education on COVID-19 anxiety&#x0D; Methods: The method used in this study was a pre-experimental one group pre-post test design using the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS) instrument. Respondents in this study are Indonesian residents who agree to be respondents, aged over 15 years, can access the questionnaire link and participate in all research activities from start to finish. The questionnaire was distributed through the WhatsApp group in the contact of the researcher, the number of respondents who were netted and met the criteria was 93 respondents. The data analysis used was Wilcoxon.&#x0D; Results: The results showed that the pre-test anxiety category was mostly in the mild category, namely as many as 82 respondents (88%). The post-test anxiety category is mostly in the mild category as many as 87 respondents (93.5%). The Wilcoxon test results show that the p value is 0,000 &lt;0.05, which means that there is a significant effect of providing online handbook education on covid-19 anxiety.&#x0D; Conclusion: The better someone's knowledge can reduce the level of anxiety.

Family Influence and Firm Performance: Evidence from the Covid-19 pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has spread with a speed and scale never seen before. Stock prices of all the market indices fell at a pace and level not seen since the Great Depression. This is the first study examining the financial performance of family and nonfamily firms around the world during the Covid-19 pandemic. Using a longitudinal sample of 791,928 firm-day observations for 3,882 firms in 43 countries and 10 industrial sectors, we show that financial performance of family firms has been significantly higher during the Covid-19 pandemic, as compared to their nonfamily counterparts. The economic impact of the family effect on firm performance is substantial: the return spread between family and nonfamily firms equals almost 8.7% given the growth in the Covid-19 cases worldwide. However, the magnitude of the effect depends on the type of family influence on the firm, geographical location and industry concentration. These findings have important implications for both management theory and practice.

A Case of Neutropenia Associated with COVID-19

SARS-CoV2 is a novel respiratory viral illness responsible for a global pandemic that started in the late 2019. Signs and symptoms being non-specific, clinicians relied on a constellation of abnormal results obtained from clinical investigations and imaging to diagnose the illness prior to the availability of widespread, timely testing. One proposed metric was the increased neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) observed in patients suffering from COVID-19. Those with higher ratios were generally admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with detrimental outcomes. Neutrophilia and lymphocytopenia were common occurrences in COVID-19 cases worldwide, even among those not severe enough to be in ICU. Here, we present a case of a 41-year-old SARS-CoV2 positive male who initially presented with fever, but then developed neutropenia. It is unknown whether his decreased neutrophil count was attributable current medications, an additional underlying infection, or whether it was due to the virus itself. Review of the literature did not yield any similar cases. Learning Points Prior clinical cases have shown that COVID positive patients present with an increased neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) where a higher NLR correlates to increased clinical severity; however, our case highlights a case of neutropenia in a covid-19 patient.

Rebuilding Post-Pandemic Societies: Editorial Section

INDONESIAN SCHOLARS SCIENTIFIC SUMMIT (I3S) 2021 &amp; OISAA ASIA-OCEANIA SYMPOSIUM 2021&#x0D; DefinitionIndonesian Scholars Scientific Summit (I3S) 2021 is a scientific conference involving Indonesian scholars who currently work or study in Taiwan and outside of Taiwan, such as Indonesia and other countries. &#x0D; This event is conducted by Perhimpunan Pelajar Indonesia (PPI) Taiwan, which is the Overseas Indonesian Student’s Association Alliance in Taiwan, in collaboration with Perhimpunan Pelajar Indonesia Dunia Kawasan (PPIDK) Asia-Oceania or the Overseas Indonesian Student’s Association Alliance for Asia-Oceania Region, who have their annual symposium in 2021. These two associations are referred to as PPI Taiwan and OISAA Asia-Oceania, throughout this conference. &#x0D; The joint event of I3S 2021 and the OISAA Asia-Oceania Symposium 2021 is scheduled to be conducted on June 21-27, 2021 and being hosted by PPI Taiwan. The main event is taking place on June 25-27, 2021 which is prompted by four days of pre-event series on June 21-23, 2021.&#x0D; BackgroundDated back on December 31, 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) received a notification of pneumonia disease, whose source was unidentified, in Wuhan, China. Then, the disease which was caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus was referred by WHO as COVID-19. The COVID-19 was designated by WHO as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Furthermore, by January 29, 2021, as many as 102.6 million cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 2.2 million deaths have been reported by WHO. Globally, five countries experiencing the highest number of COVID-19 positive cases are the United States, India, Brazil, Russia and Great Britain.&#x0D; The COVID-19 pandemic has caused not only casualties but also opens up opportunities, among others are in the fields of technology, education and health. In the field of technology, we can observe the increasing use of technology for distance or remote education and the utilization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in various fields including health. In the health sector, technology related to telemedicine and vaccines has also begun to develop. There has also been an expectation that within the post- COVID-19 period, the novel ideas keep developing, and Indonesia can take an active role in developing this.&#x0D; Regarding the aforementioned situation, the establishment of the 2021 Indonesian Scholar Scientific Summit (I3S 2021) is expected to serve as a scientific forum for exchanging ideas among scientists, students and industry practitioners in all relevant fields in order to generate innovative ideas that can be developed in the post-COVID-19 pandemic situation.&#x0D; Objectives&#x0D; &#x0D; To promote the development of scientific ideas from and among the participants and speakers.&#x0D; To disseminate new knowledge to the participants, committees, and speakers.&#x0D; To establish a network among the participants, committees, and speakers.&#x0D; To increase awareness on current issues related to the conference’s theme.&#x0D;

SARS-CoV-2 infection and paediatric endocrine disorders: Risks and management considerations.

BackgroundCoronavirus‐19 (COVID‐19) is a disease caused by the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus, the seventh coronavirus identified as causing disease in humans. The SARS‐CoV‐2 virus has multiple potential pathophysiologic interconnections with endocrine systems, potentially causing disturbances in glucose metabolism, hypothalamic and pituitary function, adrenal function and mineral metabolism. A growing body of data is revealing both the effects of underlying endocrine disorders on COVID‐19 disease outcome and the effects of the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus on endocrine systems. However, comprehensive assessment of the relationship to endocrine disorders in children has been lacking.ContentIn this review, we present the effects of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection on endocrine systems and review the current literature on complications of COVID‐19 disease in underlying paediatric endocrine disorders. We provide recommendations on management of endocrinopathies related to SARS‐CoV‐2 infection in this population.Summary and outlookWith the surge in COVID‐19 cases worldwide, it is important for paediatric endocrinologists to be aware of the interaction of SARS‐CoV‐2 with the endocrine system and management considerations for patients with underlying disorders who develop COVID‐19 disease. While children and adults share some risk factors that influence risk of complications in SARS‐CoV‐2 infection, it is becoming clear that responses in the paediatric population are distinct and outcomes from adult studies cannot be extrapolated. Evidence emerging from paediatric studies provides some guidance but highlights the need for more research in this area.

The role of religiosity in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.

With the surge of COVID-19 cases worldwide, it is essential that vaccination be prioritized to facilitate herd immunity. However, there is vaccine hesitancy reflected in religiosity. This correspondence aims to understand religiosity as a factor that plays a role in vaccination hesitancy. Medical and scientifically sound evidence is influenced by religious beliefs resulting in varied responses toward getting vaccinated such as vaccination hesitancy.