Spread Of COVID-19 Infection Research Articles

Forum 2: Suicide During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected us in many ways. To protect us from COVID-19 infection spread, we had to follow new rules or “SOP” that resulted in isolation, change of work or studying environment, loss of income and emotional disturbance. Many had to adapt to the new condition, but some found it overwhelming. The Malaysian police department reported 638 cases of suicide until July 2021 which is equivalent to a nearly 60% increase compared to last year. This is an alarming report which requires action to be taken at many levels. Awareness about the importance of mental health and understanding mental illnesses are slowly improving but the stigma is still present which deters people from seeking appropriate help. Healthcare professionals are also experiencing burnout due to the current pandemic and are also vulnerable to emotional disturbance. Hence, it is time to discuss this topic with experts from diverse backgrounds to understand issues related to suicide, especially during this pandemic.International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Supplementary Issue: 2022 Page: S13

A Comprehensive Review on Production and Safety Aspects of Alcohol-based Hand Sanitizers

The objective of this review is to bring general awareness amongst the population regarding the general healthy practices of social distancing, maintaining hygiene by use of various hand sanitizers, and ensuring prevention of the spread of COVID-19 infection. The general population may be concerned about the effectiveness and safety aspects of alcohol-based hand sanitizers. The harmful effects that might be associated with the excessive use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers. The current article tries to focus on the various ways by which sanitization may be achieved. It also describes the various types of alcohol-based hand sanitizers and extensively talks about their manufacturing methods of them. The queries regarding the hazardous effects of alcohol-based hand sanitizers are also addressed.

Health Practices and Prevention of Covid-19 In San Antonio, Duero, Bohol

Health practices refer to individuals' role in maintaining health and preventing diseases (Weldekidan, 2022). The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically impacted the community, affecting people's lives and health. Adhering to health practices imposed by the Department of Health is vital to prevent the spread of the virus. This study utilized the descriptive quantitative research design aided by a self-made questionnaire. The tool was subjected to Cronbach's Alpha test, obtaining a result of 0.765 for the Lifestyle and 0.826 for the preventive measure. The instrument was distributed via an online platform to one hundred randomly selected residents of San Antonio, Duero, Bohol, from 18 years old and above, to determine their health practices used in preventing the spread of COVID-19 infection. Results revealed that the majority of the respondents had "Very good health practices" in terms of preventive measures; and had "good health practices" in terms of Lifestyle. Data was further subjected to the Spearman rho test and chi-square test and revealed a significant relationship between the Age and level of health practices; and between the zonal where the respondents live and the level of health practices.

Comparison of Indoor Environment and Energy Consumption before and after Spread of COVID-19 in Schools in Japanese Cold-Climate Region

A report released by the WHO indicates that aerosols from infected people are one of the major sources of the spread of COVID-19. Therefore, as the COVID-19 infection caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus spreads, it has become necessary to reconsider the design and operation of buildings. Inside school buildings in cold regions, not only is it not easy to increase ventilation during the winter, but it may also be difficult for students to attend classes while wearing masks during the summer because such buildings are not equipped with air-conditioning systems. In short, school buildings in cold climates have more problems than those in warm climates. We report on the results of indoor environmental measurement using our developed CO2-concentration meters, a questionnaire survey on students’ feeling of being hot or cold (i.e., ‘thermal sensation’), and a comparison of energy consumption before and after the spread of COVID-19 infection in schools in Sapporo, Japan, a cold-climate area. The results indicate that (1) more than 70% of the students participated in window ventilation by the CO2 meter, and (2) a relatively good indoor environment was maintained through the efforts of teachers and students. However, we also found that (1) 90% of the students felt hot in summer and (2) 40% felt cold in winter, (3) energy efficiency worsened by 7% due to increased ventilation, and (4) air quality was not as clean as desired during the coldest months of the year. Therefore, investment in insulation and air conditioning systems for school buildings is needed.

DETECTION OF ANTI-SEVERE ACUTE RESPIRATORY SYNDROME CORONAVIRUS 2 (SARS-COV-2) ANTIBODY IGM AND IGG IN ADOLESCENTS IN GORONTALO

Background : COVID-19 is the disease that caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. Due to the increasing spread of COVID-19 infection in various countries, WHO declared the infection of COVID-19 as a pandemic situation. Detection of IgM and IgG antibodies using the principle of immunochromatography is considered easier to perform than other test. This method can be used as an initial prediction of SARS-CoV-2 infection.Aim : The aims to detect IgM and IgG antibodies anti SARS-CoV-2 in North Sulawesi office workers.Method : This is an descriptive study with cross sectional design. Antibody detection was carried out by dropping the serum of Balai Wilayah Sungai Sulawesi I workers on the examination tool and interpreted according to the result shown.Result : The test carried out 112 workers showed two workers gave reacrive IgM and IgG reactive results, and four workers gave IgG reactive results.Conclusion : IgM and IgG were detected in Balai Wilayah Sungai Sulawesi I workers and this results could be use as a markers for further examination.

Modification of face masks with zeolite imidazolate framework-8: A tool for hindering the spread of COVID-19 infection.

The worldwide spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has continued to accelerate, putting a considerable burden on public health, safety, and the global economy. Taking into consideration that the main route of virus transmission is via respiratory particles, the face mask represents a simple and efficient barrier between potentially infected and healthy individuals, thus reducing transmissibility per contact by reducing transmission of infected respiratory particles. However, long-term usage of a face mask leads to the accumulation of significant amounts of different pathogens and viruses onto the surface of the mask and can result in dangerous bacterial and viral co-infections. Zeolite imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) has recently emerged as an efficient water-stable photocatalyst capable of generating reactive oxygen species under light irradiation destroying dangerous microbial pathogens. The present study investigates the potential of using ZIF-8 as a coating for face masks to prevent the adherence of microbial/viral entities. The results show that after 2 h of UV irradiation, a polypropylene mask coated with ZIF-8 nanostructures is capable of eliminating S. Aureus and bacteriophage MS2 with 99.99% and 95.4% efficiencies, respectively. Furthermore, low-pathogenic HCoV-OC43 coronavirus was eliminated by a ZIF-8-modified mask with 100% efficiency already after 1 h of UV irradiation. As bacteriophage MS2 and HCoV-OC43 coronavirus are commonly used surrogates of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the revealed antiviral properties of ZIF-8 can represent an important step in designing efficient protective equipment for controlling and fighting the current COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 infection spread and human mobility

Given that real-world infection-spread scenarios pose many uncertainties, and predictions and simulations may differ from reality, this study explores factors essential for more realistically describing an infection situation. It furnishes three approaches to the argument that human mobility can create an acceleration of the spread of COVID-19 infection and its cyclicality under the simultaneous relationship. First, the study presents a dynamic model comprising the infection–mobility trade-off and mobility demand, where an increase in human mobility can cause infection explosion and where, conversely, an increase in new infections can be made temporary by suppressing mobility. Second, using time-series data for Japan, it presents empirical evidence for a stochastic trend and cycle in new infection cases. Third, it employs macroeconometrics to ascertain the feasibility of our model’s predictions. Accordingly, from March 2020 to May 2021, the sources of COVID-19 infection spread in Japan varied significantly over time, and each change in the trend and cycle of new infection cases explained approximately half the respective variation.

Issues and Impact of COVID-19 on Surgical Services in Northern Borneo, Sabah

Globally, everyone has gone through an unusual and remarkable period during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has affected various sectors in the country and implicated society. Important services including the health care system, particularly in surgery, have raised challenges and issues that need to be sorted out. This action is prudent to justify the balance in between care on preventing the spread of COVID-19 infection and at the same time providing surgical services. In this article are the perspectives on how we elicit the issues and the solutions in providing surgical services during the COVID-19 pandemic in our state, Sabah.

A Continuous Markov-Chain Model for the Simulation of COVID-19 Epidemic Dynamics.

Simple SummaryPredicting the spreading trend of the COVID-19 epidemic is one of the hot topics in the modeling field. In this study, we applied a continuous Markov-chain model to simulate the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic. The results of this study indicate that the herd immunity threshold should be significantly higher than 1 − 1/R0. Taking the immunity waning effect into consideration, the model could predict an epidemic resurgence after the herd immunity threshold. Meanwhile, this Markov-chain approach could also forecast the epidemic distribution and predict the epidemic hotspots at different times. It is implied from our model that it is significantly challenging to eradicate SARS-CoV-2 in the short term. The actual epidemic development is consistent with our prediction. In the end, this method displayed great potential as an alternative approach to traditional compartment models.To address the urgent need to accurately predict the spreading trend of the COVID-19 epidemic, a continuous Markov-chain model was, for the first time, developed in this work to predict the spread of COVID-19 infection. A probability matrix of infection was first developed in this model based upon the contact frequency of individuals within the population, the individual’s characteristics, and other factors that can effectively reflect the epidemic’s temporal and spatial variation characteristics. The Markov-chain model was then extended to incorporate both the mutation effect of COVID-19 and the decaying effect of antibodies. The developed comprehensive Markov-chain model that integrates the aforementioned factors was finally tested by real data to predict the trend of the COVID-19 epidemic. The result shows that our model can effectively avoid the prediction dilemma that may exist with traditional ordinary differential equations model, such as the susceptible–infectious–recovered (SIR) model. Meanwhile, it can forecast the epidemic distribution and predict the epidemic hotspots geographically at different times. It is also demonstrated in our result that the influence of the population’s spatial and geographic distribution in a herd infection event is needed in the model for a better prediction of the epidemic trend. At the same time, our result indicates that no simple derivative relationship exists between the threshold of herd immunity and the virus basic reproduction number R0. The threshold of herd immunity achieved through natural immunity is significantly higher than 1 − 1/R0. These not only explain the theoretical misconceptions of herd immunity thresholds in herd immunity theory but also provide a guidance for predicting the optimal vaccination coverage. In addition, our model can predict the temporal and spatial distribution of infections in different epidemic waves. It is implied from our model that it is challenging to eradicate COVID-19 in the short term for a large population size and a wide spatial distribution. It is predicted that COVID-19 is likely to coexist with humans for a long time and that it will exhibit multipoint epidemic effects at a later stage. The statistical evidence is consistent with our prediction and strongly supports our modeling results.

Factors influencing changes in daily life due to the state of emergency among older adults living in Akita Prefecture

The present study is assessed the effects of COVID-19 on the mental and physical function after the declaration of an emergency situation, which included the request that residents refrain from going out, in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection. The investigation was conducted from 2019 to 2020. Our samples consisted of 506 older adults (332 people in 2019 and 174 people in 2020), whose physical, cognitive, depression, and independence in daily and social activities were measured annually. Furthermore, a questionnaire survey (COVID-19 questionnaire) on the impact of the spread of COVID-19 infection on respondents' daily lives (reduction in social interaction, going out, exercise, and sleep time) was conducted among participants in 2020. According to a statistical analysis, the UWS (Usual Walking Speed) was significantly faster in 2020 than it had been in 2019 (p<0.000). However, no significant differences were found in other items. A correlation analysis, revealed a significant association between the reduction in sleep time and GDS-15 (Geriatric Depression Scale) score (r=0.200, p=0.019) and between the COVID-19 questionnaire total score and body mass index (r=0.282, p=0.001).These results suggest that the decline in the physical and mental function might not have been evident in older adults in Akita Prefecture, where the number of infected people is small, although a more detailed long-term follow-up is needed. Even in such areas, there might be a significant relationship between depression and sleep or between changes in daily life due to self-imposed restraint and obesity as an effect of self-imposed restraint among older adults.

Healthcare understanding of COVID-19 antibody

Objective: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has shed light on the difficulties in spreading uniform information. We rely on national and international organizations to provide scientifically accurate information to the public at large. With so many different sources of information, often not scientific, there appears to be an incomplete understanding of many aspects of SARS-CoV-2 infection. We sought to gain information about healthcare worker understanding of the implications of a positive serum COVID-19 antibody test result. We identified a broad range of responses among all categories of healthcare workers in our facility. Most notably we found that there was not complete understanding that there can be asymptomatic spread of COVID-19 infection. Methods: We provided health literacy and opinion questions to the healthcare workers of our facility. Results: Upon analysis of the data, we identified many differences in level of understanding among our healthcare workers. Conclusion: We identified a lack of consensus on important details leading to potentially growing uncertainty with respect to SARS-COV-2 antibody. A diminished health literacy with respect to antibody testing could potentially suggest future issues with understanding the importance of vaccination benefits.

Forecasting COVID-19: Vector Autoregression-Based Model.

Forecasting the spread of COVID-19 infection is an important aspect of public health management. In this paper, we propose an approach to forecasting the spread of the pandemic based on the vector autoregressive model. Concretely, we combine the time series for the number of new cases and the number of new deaths to obtain a joint forecasting model. We apply the proposed model to forecast the number of new cases and deaths in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. Test results based on out-of-sample forecast show that the proposed model achieves a high level of accuracy that is superior to many existing methods. Concretely, our model achieves mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 0.35%, 2.03%, and 3.75% in predicting the number of daily new cases for the three countries, respectively. Furthermore, interpolating our predictions to forecast the cumulative number of cases, we obtain MAPE of 0.0017%, 0.002%, and 0.024%, respectively. The strong performance of the proposed approach indicates that it could be a valuable tool in managing the pandemic.

Association between refraining from going out and weight gain after the spread of COVID-19 infection in Japan

Association between refraining from going out and weight gain after the spread of COVID-19 infection in Japan

Hospital Management during the Spread of COVID-19 Infection

Hospital Management during the Spread of COVID-19 Infection

FEATURES OF THE ORGANIZATION AND CONDUCT OF ONLINE PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE PERSONNEL OF THE ARMED FORCES OF UKRAINE

In the current progress of society, much attention is paid to the psychological study of personality in the interests of ensuring the effective operation of any organization. With the spread of COVID19 infection in the world, the need to develop alternative best practices and mechanisms for psychological research is becoming more urgent. That is why the use and implementation of information technology and communication capabilities of the Internet is considered promising for the organization and conduct of psychological studies of personnel. That is why the purpose of the article is to carry out theoretical and applied analysis of modern software and technology solutions for online psychological study of personnel in the interests of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Ukraine.Existing software and technology solutions implemented through computer testing, such as the Moodle system, KTC Net 2 test system, Survey Monkey service, Google Forms, etc. are analyzed. This helped to describe the general features and characteristics of this class of software solutions. At the same time, certain gaps in the functional component of the existing services have been identified, which do not meet the requirements of online psychological study of the personnel of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. All this helped to formulate conceptual requirements for the online platform for psychological study of staff and to get closer to the development of a modern software solution. Computer online testing saves a lot of time. The task of the subject is to provide answers in a convenient format. The received data can be automatically recorded, processed, stored and displayed. The possibility of remote testing and ensuring the confidentiality of results is being implemented.

Regional Workshop for Policy Implementation Based on the Stay with Your Community Principles

A co-author of this paper had previously presented the principle of "Stay with Your Community" as a method of countermeasures against COVID-19 infection spread and have been working on its social implementation. This case study paper presents an example of activities to spread the Stay with Your Community principle to citizens and visitors in Shimoda City, Shizuoka Prefecture, in order to control the spread of COVID-19 infection. As a result, the infection cluster was successfully controlled. The authors discuss the effect of the regional workshop as a key to open the way to Organizational Citizenship Behavior of participants.

Solution of a dynamical memory effect COVID-19 infection system with leaky vaccination efficacy by non-singular kernel fractional derivatives.

In this paper, the recent trends of COVID-19 infection spread have been studied to explore the advantages of leaky vaccination dynamics in SEVR (Susceptible Effected Vaccinated Recovered) compartmental model with the help of Caputo-Fabrizio (CF) and Atangana-Baleanu derivative in the Caputo sense (ABC) non-singular kernel fractional derivative operators with memory effect within the model to show possible long-term approaches of the infection along with limited defensive vaccine efficacy that can be designed numerically over the closed interval ranging from 0 to 1. One of the main goals is to provide a stepping information about the usefulness of the aforementioned non-singular kernel fractional approaches for a lenient case as well as a critical case in COVID-19 infection spread. Another is to investigate the effect of death rate on state variables. The estimation of death rate for state variables with suitable vaccine efficacy has a significant role in the stability of state variables in terms of basic reproduction number that is derived using next generation matrix method, and order of the fractional derivative. For non-integral orders the pandemic modeling sense viz, CF and ABC, has been compared thoroughly. Graphical presentations together with numerical results have proposed that the methodology is powerful and accurate which can provide new speculations for COVID-19 dynamical systems.

An Optimal Random Forest Classifier for Diagnosing Covid-19 from X-ray and CTscan Images

The unprecedented rate of spread and gravity of Covid-19 infection has played havoc worldwide. The spread of Covid-19 has pushed the nations’ medical infrastructures to their limits, yet no one could contain the infection and loss of lives. Therefore, accurate and efficient diagnosis of the infection is of central importance to battle out the Covid-19 disease. RT-PCR, the customary diagnostic tool for Covid-19, is a time-consuming process. The RT-PCR results may take two to three days. In the wake of the new Covid-19 variants, the RT-PCR test may also result in false negative cases. Machine learning algorithms have been successful for auto diagnosing Covid-19 from epidemiological and medical image data. Applying a machine learning algorithm for Covid-19 detection from X-rays and CT scans images combined with RT-PCR results can augment the rate of Covid19 diagnosis. Therefore, designing machine learning algorithms for the early Covid-19 diagnosis is the need of an hour. In this paper, we present Random Forest (RF) classifier for Covid-19 diagnosis. We use the resampling techniques to resolve the class imbalance in the data. Combining the RF classifier with its finetuned hyperparameters and resampling techniques to address the class imbalance yield promising results. Moreover, a Genetic Algorithm is employed to find an optimal hyperparameter configuration for the RF classifier. The statistical result of the approach indicates that accuracy, geometric mean and f-measure are 0.94, 0.93 and 0.92 respectively. The suggested method achieves higher sensitivity and comparable performance to deep and transfer learning approaches which are relatively computationally expensive but less comprehensible.

Perception, Barriers and Acceptance of COVID 19 Vaccination in Surgical Patients: A Single Centre Study

Background: The COVID-19 vaccination programme has been one of the most important measures to reduce spread and severity of COVID-19 infection. However, acceptance of the vaccine has met with challenges due to the speed of its development and concerns about side-effects. The aim of this study was to assess knowledge of the vaccination as well as barriers to acceptance and the overall impact of the vaccination on personal protective behaviors of surgical patients. Method: In this cross-sectional study, a self-completed questionnaire was given to inpatients on all general surgery wards at a district general hospital between April and May 2021. Participation was voluntary. The questionnaire was designed to assess participant knowledge of and adherence to the COVID-19 vaccination programme as well as to understand participants views on other protective measures to prevent and reduce COVID-19 infection. Approximately 200-300 patients are admitted to our department monthly. Results: A total of 202 respondents participated in the study, males comprised 29.2% of the individuals surveyed. The majority of the patients were over 40 years old (68.3%). All the participants were aware of the vaccine, and the government sensitization material was the most common source of information (37.9%). The majority of individuals surveyed (79.7%) had received at least one dose of the vaccine. In the unvaccinated patients, 33 participants reported not being offered the vaccine while 4 patients stated that they do not believe in the vaccine. Conclusion: The study demonstrated that the majority of the patients surveyed were quite familiar with the vaccines and were willing to participate in the vaccination program. However, the knowledge of the vaccine and its adverse effects would best be described as inadequate. Also, participants were largely aware of the measures put in place to curb the spread of the virus and did show a good level of compliance guidance.

Evaluation of COVID-19 appropriate behavior among fully vaccinated students in a medical college of North-east India

Background: The current COVID-19 pandemic is one of the greatest public health challenges. The spread of COVID-19 infection continues unabated despite vaccination. Adherence to COVID-19 appropriate behavior is critical to prevent COVID-19 infection. Aim and Objectives: The aim of the study was to find out the pattern of COVID-19 appropriate behavior among vaccinated medical students and to estimate the incidence of COVID-19 infection after vaccination. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional and observational study using a questionnaire was carried out for a period of 3 months. The questionnaire was prepared based on the guidelines of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The data were collected using a pretested Google Form (online digital questionnaire) by means of a web-based survey. Results: About 96.5% of the participants wear face cover or mask while meeting someone or during visit to public places and 91.6% maintain respiratory hygiene, whereas 11.6% spit in the open, 16.1% travel unnecessarily, and 36.8% do not discourage crowd. There is significant (P &lt; 0.05) increase in COVID-19 infection after vaccination. Conclusion: This study suggests that more emphasis should be given on sensitizing the medical students about the standard COVID appropriate behaviors because strict adherence to COVID-19 appropriate behavior is the key to the long-term management of this pandemic.