Wave Of COVID-19 Pandemic Research Articles

Leaders' Strategies for Managing Difficult Emotions During Peak Waves of COVID-19 Pandemic: A Study on Senior Managers of Textile Industry in Pakistan

The study focuses on difficult emotions experienced by the functional heads of two leading textile companies in Pakistan during the peak waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. It explicates the coping strategies developed at individual and group levels and provides a unique indigenous narrative of how leaders manage their emotional journey during the pandemic. The research design was qualitative, and in-depth semi-structured interviews were the primary method for data collection. The findings highlighted that the participants experienced fear, anxiety, loneliness, and frustration due to the COVID-19 pandemic and it also unveiled the measures adopted at organizational and national levels to manage and contain the viral spread. Furthermore, managers who accepted their own and their teammates' emotions were able to develop effective coping strategies to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. The study contributes towards understanding human emotions in the workplace and how organizational leadership inculcates different coping strategies to process these emotions.

Comparison of Real-time RT-PCR cycle threshold (Ct) values with clinical features and severity of COVID-19 disease among hospitalized patients in the first and second waves of COVID-19 pandemic in Chennai, India

IntroductionReal-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) of nasopharyngeal/ oropharyngeal swab has been the gold standard test for detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection The relationship between cycle threshold (Ct) values of rRT-PCR and severity of disease remain disputable and not clearly defined in COVID-19. MethodologyThis is a single-centered retrospective observational study conducted at Government Corona Hospital (GCH), Guindy, Chennai. In the present study, we compared the Ct value of rRT-PCR from nasopharyngeal swab specimens with a diverse range of symptoms and disease severity among 240 individuals who were hospitalized with COVID-19, viz., mild cases (MC; n = 160), moderately severe cases (MSC; n = 46) and severe cases (SC; n = 34) in the first and second waves of COVID-19 pandemic. ResultsThe study included 240 hospitalized COVID-19 patients with a median age of 52 years (range 21 to 90 years). MC, MSC, and SC all had median Ct values of 25.0 (interquartile range – IQR 20.0 to 30.5), 29.5 (IQR 23.0 to 34.0), and 29.0 (IQR 24 to 37.5) for the ORF1ab gene. The Ct value differed significantly between mild vs moderate, and mild vs severe cases. The Ct value of SC group with co-morbidity of type 2 diabetes have a significant difference compared to non-diabetes group (p value <0.05). There was a significant difference in the median Ct value of ORF1ab gene among the MSC group and MC but not in the SC group in the first and second waves of the pandemic (p<0.05). ConclusionWe conclude that SARS-CoV-2 Ct values of rRT-PCR alone does not have a role in aiding severity stratification among patients with COVID-19 since the viral dynamics and Ct value may vary due to the emerging variants that occur in different waves of the pandemic.

Takuo Aoyagi, inventor of pulse oximetry: the great scientist passed away three years ago, in the middle of the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic

Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (1743-1794), the recognized father of modern chemistry, was the discoverer of both oxygen and hydrogen, as well as the first scientist to understand the importance of oxygen in animal respiration. Following his discoveries, researchers have tried to measure oxygenation of both blood and tissues for the next two centuries. [...]

Good death disrupted: Nurses' moral emotions navigating clinical and public health ethics during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic.

To explore the moral emotions that frontline nurses navigated in endeavouring to ensure a 'good death' for hospital patients and care home residents during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under normal circumstances, frontline staff are focused on clinical ethics, which foreground what is best for individuals and families. Public health crises such as a pandemic require staff to adapt rapidly to focus on what benefits communities, at times compromising individual well-being and autonomy. Visitor restrictions when people were dying provided vivid exemplars of this ethical shift and the moral emotions nurses encountered with the requirement to implement this change. Twenty-nine interviews were conducted with nurses in direct clinical care roles. Data were analysed thematically informed by the theoretical concepts of a good death and moral emotions. The data set highlighted that moral emotions such as sympathy, empathy, distress and guilt were integral to the decisions participants described in striving for a good palliative experience. Four themes were identified in the data analysis: nurses as gatekeepers; ethical tensions and rule bending; nurses as proxy family members; separation and sacrifice. Participants reflected on morally compromising situations and highlighted agency through emotionally satisfying workarounds and collegial deliberations that enabled them to believe that they were party to painful but morally justifiable decisions. Nurses are required to implement national policy changes that may disrupt notions of best practice and therefore be experienced as a moral wrong. In navigating the moral emotions accompanying this shift, nurses benefit from compassionate leadership and ethics education to support team cohesion enabling nurses to prevail. Twenty-nine frontline registered nurses participated in the qualitative interviews that inform this study. The study adhered to the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research checklist.

Cross Infection Control Awareness During 5th Wave of Covid 19 Pandemic, Omicron Variant Amongst the Dental Health Care Professionals of Government Sector University in Karachi, Pakistan

Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate the awareness of cross-infection control measures followed by DHCPs during the 5th wave of Covid-19 pandemic, Omicron variant in a government sector university of Karachi, Pakistan. Method: A Cross-sectional study was conducted from June till September 2022 at Sindh Institute of Oral Health Science during the 5th wave of Covid 19 pandemic, Omicron variant. Data was collected from 153 DHCPs from government sector university using a self-administered questionnaire, comprising of 20 closed ended question to assess the awareness and practice of cross infection protocols by DHCPs. Results: 98.7% of the participants were vaccinated against Covid 19. 96% of the participants used surgical gowns, face shields, and face masks as part of PPE during examining patients and while performing procedure. After treatment 99.3% of participants washed hands with hand wash, soap or used antiseptic solution. 77.1% of participants asked for Covid 19 test report and 68.6% of participants asked for proof of vaccination against covid 19 before treating patients. 96.1% of participants recommended disinfection of dental unit after every patient. 98% of participants changed glove after every patient. 88.2% of the participants said they would carry all elective and emergency procedures. Conclusion: The results of this study show that DHCPs practicing at government sector university have adequate knowledge regarding prevention of cross infection protocols and their importance to limit spread of infections. But their practice of prevention of cross infection during Covid 19 pandemic is not ideal as percentage of DHCPs requiring proof of vaccination or negative reports for Covid 19 were rather low and the percentage of DHCPs willing to carry elective procedures along with emergency ones was rather high. Keywords: Covid 19 pandemic, Omicron virus, cross infection control protocols, omicron

An empirical analysis of Delhi's air quality throughout different COVID-19 pandemic waves

Delhi was one of India's COVID-19 hotspots, with significant death rates during the year 2021. This study looked at the link between COVID-19 cases in Delhi, and key meteorological variables. The study found that COVID-19 cases during the second wave (P2-March- May 2021) were much higher than during the first wave (P1-Jan-Feb 2021) in Delhi. During P1 (Jan-Feb 2021) the mean PM2.5, PM10, NO2 and CO concentrations were greater than that of P2 (March-May 2021) while the reverse happened for SO2 and O3. Spearman correlation test indicated that COVID-19 cases maintained a significant positive correlation with the high temperature of P2 (March-May 2021) and high humidity of P1 (Jan-Feb 2021) in line with the accepted notion that COVID-19 transmitted favourably in hot and humid climates. The Multilayer perceptron (MLP) model indicated that COVID-19 spread was supported by air pollutants and climate variables like PM2.5, NO2, RH, and WS in P1(Jan-Feb 2021) and PM2.5 and O3 in P2 (March-May 2021). Owing to chemical coupling, across all six monitoring stations, O3 maintained an inverse relationship with NO2 throughout the COVID-19 phases in Delhi. The city dwellers had health risks also due to PM pollution at varying degrees, indicated by high hazard quotients (HQs), requiring lowering of air pollution concentrations on an urgent basis.

Biological risk in Italian prisons: data analysis from the second to the fourth wave of COVID-19 pandemic

BackgroundThe management of COVID-19 in Italian prisons triggered considerable concern at the beginning of the pandemic due to numerous riots which resulted in inmate deaths, damages and prison breaks. The...

Investigation on sleep-related cognition of Chinese health care workers during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID pandemic has brought tremendous negative effects on the mental health of health care workers, such as anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders. We conducted this study to evaluate the sleep-related cognition of Chinese health care workers (HCWs) during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic and analyze its association with sleep quality, so as to provide scientific reference for improving sleep of HCWs. A total of 404 HCWs from Yijishan Hospital of Wuhu City, China were enrolled in the study, selected by randomized cluster sampling in May 2020. We made a questionnaire to collect the general demographic information of the participants. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and a brief version of Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep Scale (DBAS-16) were used to measure sleep quality and sleep-related cognition, respectively. The results showed that 312 HCWs (77.2%) had false beliefs and attitudes about sleep, while only 92 HCWs (22.8%) had correct beliefs about sleep. In addition, we found that those HCWs who were older, married, with a bachelor's degree or higher, nurses, more daily working hours (> 8 h) and monthly night shifts (≥ 5 times), had higher DBAS-16 scores (all p < 0.05). However, we did not find significant differences between men and women in DBAS-16 scores. According to the definition of PSQI, a total of 1/4 of the HCWs are poor sleepers and their DBAS-16 score was higher than good sleepers (t = 7.622, p < 0.001). In the end, we confirmed a positive correlation between sleep cognition and sleep quality (r = 0.392, p < 0.01). Our study revealed false beliefs and attitudes about sleep were prevalent among HCWs during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic, and these false beliefs about sleep were closely correlated to sleep quality. We recommend fighting against these false beliefs about sleep.

Neighbourhood cohesion, loneliness and perceived social isolation prior and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Longitudinal evidence from the German Ageing Survey.

To investigate the longitudinal association between neighbourhood cohesion and loneliness as well as perceived social isolation prior and during the COVID-19 pandemic (stratified by sex). Longitudinal data were taken from a nationally representative sample (German Ageing Survey) of inhabitants aged 40years and over in Germany prior (wave 6: year 2017) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (wave 8: November 2020 until February 2021; n = 6688 observations, mean age was 67.4years). The De Jong Gierveld tool was used to measure loneliness and the Bude and Lantermann tool was used to measure perceived social isolation. Neighbourhood cohesion was assessed based on different items. FE regressions showed that decreases in closeness of contact with neighbours were associated with increases in loneliness and perceived social isolation levels among men, but not women. In contrast, decreases in different indicators of involvement in neighbourhood activities were associated with increases in loneliness and perceived social isolation levels among women, but not men. Changes in neighbourhood factors are differently associated with loneliness and perceived social isolation among middle-aged and older women and men. Gender-specific efforts to avoid loneliness and social isolation are, therefore, needed.

The Impact of the Second Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Level of Satisfaction of Patients in a Gastroenterology Unit

INTRODUCTION: Currently, wherever you are in the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a global impact on every human being. This pandemic has had major consequences on the majority of the population, increasing feelings of instability, distrust and tension in access to health care. This study aimed to assess the level of satisfaction and the feeling of safety of clients who underwent endoscopic exams at a Gastroenterology unit during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the impact of the measures taken to mitigate the influence of this circumstance on the experience of patients.METHODS: A closed clinical interview made up of 10 questions focused on the feeling of safety and user satisfaction. Sixty individuals were interviewed, selected randomly, after using the Gastroenterology unit to perform endoscopic exams. Inclusion criteria were: age over 18, minimum education level, without cognitive or cerebral impairment.RESULTS: The results have shown that, in general, users are satisfied with having done the exams (90%). However, some of the patients showed some concern before doing them (45%). Due to the equipment used in the context of the pandemic, some patients experienced difficulties in communicating with health professionals (63.3%). In spite of this, they felt confident and safe in carrying out the exams (66.9%), as well as safe in the hygienic conditions of the unit (58.3%).CONCLUSION: Despite the context of insecurity, tension and instability, the measures taken and the approach of the unit’s professionals managed to transmit safety and tranquillity in the performance of the exams, enhancing a good level of patient satisfaction.

Radiological Manifestations of Rhino-Orbito-Cranial Mucormycosis in COVID-19 Patients Correlated With Pathological and Clinical Outcomes and Emphasis on Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Based Scoring System.

We utilized GE 1.5 tesla, 16-channeled MRI machine for scanning the clinically suspected mucormycosis patients and did plain and contrast study of the paranasal sinuses, orbito-facial study and included brain as and when required. Images were acquired in axial, coronal, and sagittal planes using T1, T2, and fat-saturated short tau inversion recovery sequences (STIR), fat-saturated contrast sequences for better evaluation of the extent of the disease. Diffusion-weighted sequence was also acquired to detect ischemic changes in optic nerve or brain parenchyma. Contrast study was used to detect any major vessel occlusion or cavernous sinus thrombosis in the study population. Total number of cases (n) included in the study were 32. The mean age group was 41-50 years with the median age was 47 years. Out of 32 cases (n=32), in 16 cases (50%) the disease was limited only to the paranasal sinuses and in remaining 16 (50%) cases, disease has spread to other regions such as orbits, facial soft tissues, optic nerve, and brain parenchyma. All the 18 cases with Mild score (MRI ROCM score 1-3) survived and all those with severe score (2 cases) (MRI ROCM score 7-10) did not survive. During the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, we observed a significant rise in acute invasive mucormycosis infection primarily involving the paranasal sinuses and spread to orbito-facial, cerebral parenchyma causing related complications and hence increased morbidity and death. Radiologically, using MRI, it was effectively possible to detect early extrasinonasal spread and other fatal complications thereby guiding the physicians and surgeons in the proper early aggressive management of the disease. Here, we have described the radiological characteristics of paranasal sinus mucormycosis and its spread to other regions.We also proposed an MRI-based Scoring System for standardized assessment of the disease severity. We observed in our study that the extent of disease on MRI is directly correlating with mortality.

Quality of life and fear of death among patients living with HIV during the COVID-19 pandemic second wave

IntroductionThe new coronavirus pandemic has brought the issue of life quality to the forefront. Among HIV-infected patients, life quality may be associated with fear of death.ObjectivesThe study aimed to investigate the life quality and death fear among HIV-infected patients during the pandemic second wave in Russia.MethodsThe data were collected from February to July 2021 using a Google form that we developed. Fifty-nine patients living with HIV participated in the study. We used the WHOQOL-BREF to examine the quality of life and the Fear of Personal Death Scale to explore fear of death. Both questionnaires were adapted for use in Russia.ResultsWe found the following mean values for the domains: “physical and psychological well-being” — M = 21.39±3.61; “self-perception” — M = 17.51±2.28; “microsocial support” — M = 9.15±2.94; “social well-being” — M = 24.81±5.33. We found that physical and psychological well-being were associated with the transcendental consequences of death (rxy = 0.274, p &lt; 0.05), self-perception with body consequences (rxy = -0.304, p &lt; 0.05) and fear of forgetting (rxy = -0.287, p &lt; 0.05), and social well-being with body consequences (rxy = -0.310, p &lt; 0.05).ConclusionsLife quality is related to intrapersonal, interpersonal, and supra-personal dimensions of death fear during the second wave of the pandemic among patients living with HIV. Such fact may indicate possible psychotherapeutic targets when working with this group of patients.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic First Wave on Healthcare Workers: A New Perspective from Qualifying PTSD Criterion A to Assessing Post-Traumatic Growth.

Post-traumatic growth (PTG) and specific traumatic events have been poorly explored in the literature focusing on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among healthcare workers (HWs) tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. In a large sample of Italian HWs, we investigated the kinds of traumatic events and whether PTG affects the risk of PTSD, along with its prevalence and features, during the first COVID-19 wave. COVID-19-related stressful events, Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and PTG Inventory-Short Form (PTGI-SF) scores were collected through an online survey. Out of 930 HWs included in the final sample, 257 (27.6%) received a provisional PTSD diagnosis based on IES-R scores. Events referring to the overall pandemic (40%) and to a threat to a family member (31%) were reported as the most stressful events. Female sex, previous mental disorders, job seniority, unusual exposure to sufferance and experiencing a threat to one's family significantly increased the provisional PTSD diagnosis' risk, while being a physician, the availability of personal protective equipment and moderate/greater scores on the PTGI-SF spiritual change domain were found to be protective factors.

The Psychological Impact of Rhino-Orbital Mucormycosis During the Second Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic From South East Asian Country.

The present study addressed overcoming the lacunae in the literature of psychiatric manifestations associated with rhino-orbital mucormycosis. The current study aimed to assess the symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, coping measures, suicidal intent, and visual disability in patients of rhino-orbital mucormycosis (ROM) during the epidemic of the disease at the nodal tertiary care center in North India. Fifty-four inpatients of laboratory-proven rhino-orbital mucor-mycosis (ROM)were included for an observational, cross-sectional study at nodal, designated COVID-19, and mucormycosis treating tertiary care hospital. Patients with Hindi Mini-Mental State Examination score <24, prior psychiatric illness, and severely ill requiring ventilator support were excluded. The psychological variables were assessed using Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale 21 (DASS 21), Beck's Suicide intent Scale, Coping Scale Questionnaire, and Visual disability scale (IND-VFQ33). Their socioeconomic status was assessed using the Modified Kuppuswamy Scale. Ninety percent of patients with ROM had diabetes mellitus. The majority (44%) of patients belonged to lower socioeconomic strata. Higher frequencies of severe depression (28%), extremely severe anxiety (26%), and mild stress (17%) were noted in the study participants. On the Tukey test, depression score was higher in patients of ROM compared to COVID (with ROM) (p-value= 0.016). On Tukey analysis, anxiety score was significantly higher in ROM patients compared to COVID (with ROM) patients (p-value = 0.018). Coping scores were significantly higher in COVID (with ROM) patients compared to ROM patients (p value = 0.035). Mild to moderate visual disability was noted in the study participants. Conclusion: The current study reflects the association of higher depression and anxiety scores in cases with ROM that indicated higher mental health needs. Early assessment, early detection, and early intervention for psychological help, along with themultidisciplinary team, helped toimprovethe overallpsychological outcome of the affected patients.

Occupational risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection: a nationwide register-based study of the Danish workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020–2021

ObjectiveMost earlier studies on occupational risk of COVID-19 covering the entire workforce are based on relatively rare outcomes such as hospital admission and mortality. This study examines the incidence of...

Forecasting hospital-level COVID-19 admissions using real-time mobility data

BackgroundFor each of the COVID-19 pandemic waves, hospitals have had to plan for deploying surge capacity and resources to manage large but transient increases in COVID-19 admissions. While a lot of effort has gone into predicting regional trends in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, there are far fewer successful tools for creating accurate hospital-level forecasts.MethodsLarge-scale, anonymized mobile phone data has been shown to correlate with regional case counts during the first two waves of the pandemic (spring 2020, and fall/winter 2021). Building off this success, we developed a multi-step, recursive forecasting model to predict individual hospital admissions; this model incorporates the following data: (i) hospital-level COVID-19 admissions, (ii) statewide test positivity data, and (iii) aggregate measures of large-scale human mobility, contact patterns, and commuting volume.ResultsIncorporating large-scale, aggregate mobility data as exogenous variables in prediction models allows us to make hospital-specific COVID-19 admission forecasts 21 days ahead. We show this through highly accurate predictions of hospital admissions for five hospitals in Massachusetts during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.ConclusionsThe high predictive capability of the model was achieved by combining anonymized, aggregated mobile device data about users’ contact patterns, commuting volume, and mobility range with COVID hospitalizations and test-positivity data. Mobility-informed forecasting models can increase the lead-time of accurate predictions for individual hospitals, giving managers valuable time to strategize how best to allocate resources to manage forthcoming surges.

COVID-19 and vaccination impact on radiology departments provided by Dose Archiving and Communication System.

To study the impact of COVID-19 on chest CT practice during the different waves using Dose Archiving and Communication System (DACS). Retrospective study including data from 86,136 chest CT acquisitions from 27 radiology centers (15 private; 12 public) between January 1, 2020, and October 13, 2021, using a centralized DACS. Daily chest CT activity and dosimetry information such as dose length product (DLP), computed tomography dose index (CTDI), and acquisition parameters were collected. Pandemic indicators (daily tests performed, incidence, and hospital admissions) and vaccination rates were collected from a governmental open-data platform. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were performed. For the first two waves, strong positive and significant correlations were found between all pandemic indicators and total chest CT activity, as high as R = 0.7984 between daily chest CT activity and hospital admissions during the second wave (p < 0.0001). We found differences between public hospitals and private imaging centers during the first wave, with private centers demonstrating a negative correlation between daily chest CT activity and hospital admissions (-0.2819, p = 0.0019). Throughout the third wave, simultaneously with the rise of vaccination rates, total chest CT activity decreased with significant negative correlations with pandemic indicators, such as R = -0.7939 between daily chest CTs and daily incidence (p < 0.0001). Finally, less than 5% of all analyzed chest CTs could be considered as low dose. During the first waves, COVID-19 had a strong impact on chest CT practice which was lost with the arrival of vaccination. Low-dose protocols remained marginal. • There was a significant correlation between the number of daily chest CTs and pandemic indicators throughout the first two waves. It was lost during the third wave due to vaccination arrival. • Differences were observed between public and private centers, especially during the first wave, less during the second, and were lost during the third. • During the first three waves of COVID-19 pandemic, few CT helical acquisitions could be considered as low dose with only 3.8% of the acquisitions according to CTDIvol and 4.3% according to DLP.

A novel PRFB decomposition for non-stationary time-series and image analysis

This work presents a novel perfect reconstruction filterbank decomposition (PRFBD) method for nonlinear and non-stationary time-series and image data representation and analysis. The Fourier decomposition method (FDM), an adaptive approach based on Fourier representation (FR), is shown to be a special case of the proposed PRFBD. In addition, adaptive Fourier–Gauss decomposition (FGD) based on FR and Gaussian filters, and adaptive Fourier–Butterworth decomposition (FBD) based on Butterworth filters are developed as the other special cases of the proposed PRFBD method. The proposed theory of PRFBD can decompose any signal (time-series, image, or other data) into a set of desired number of Fourier intrinsic band functions (FIBFs) that follow the amplitude-modulation and frequency-modulation (AM-FM) representations. A generic filterbank representation, where perfect reconstruction can be ensured for any given set of lowpass or highpass filters, is also presented. We performed an extensive analysis on both simulated and real-life data (COVID-19 pandemic, Earthquake and Gravitational waves) to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method. The resolution results in the time-frequency representation demonstrate that the proposed method is more promising than the state-of-the-art approaches.

The SARS-CoV-2 Hydra, a tiny monster from the 21st century: Thermodynamics of the BA.5.2 and BF.7 variants

SARS-CoV-2 resembles the ancient mythical creature Hydra. Just like with the Hydra, when one head is cut, it is followed by appearance of two more heads, suppression of one SARS-CoV-2 variant causes appearance of newer variants. Unlike Hydra that grows identical heads, newer SARS-CoV-2 variants are usually more infective, which can be observed as time evolution of the virus at hand, which occurs through acquisition of mutations during time. The appearance of new variants is followed by appearance of new COVID-19 pandemic waves. With the appearance of new pandemic waves and determining of sequences, in the scientific community and general public the question is always raised of whether the new variant will be more virulent and more pathogenic. The two variants characterized in this paper, BA.5.2 and BF.7, have caused a pandemic wave during the late 2022. This paper gives full chemical and thermodynamic characterization of the BA.5.2 and BF.7 variants of SARS-CoV-2. Having in mind that Gibbs energy of binding and biosynthesis represent the driving forces for the viral life cycle, based on the calculated thermodynamic properties we can conclude that the newer variants are more infective than earlier ones, but that their pathogenicity has not changed.

Predictors of Unintended Pregnancy Among Adolescent Girls During the Second Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic in Oyam District in Northern Uganda.

In Uganda, unintended pregnancies are responsible for one in three births with detrimental consequences, a situation that worsened during COVID-19. Thus, the present examined unplanned pregnancy and its associated risks in Oyam district, northern Uganda during the COVID-19 epidemic. This study employed a cross-sectional study among adolescent girls aged 15-19 years who had a pregnancy during the second phase of COVID-19 in Oyam district, northern Uganda in November 2022. A consecutive method was employed to recruit the participants attending health facilities. A structured questionnaire was utilized to collect data. For data analysis, both bivariate and multivariable regression methods with adjusted odds ratio and 95% CI were used. A p-value of 0.05 was used to determine the significance level. Of the total respondents, 292 (69.5%) were aged between 18 and 19 years of age, 295 (70.2%) lived in rural areas, and 222 (52.9%) had no formal education. The results also show that 293 (69.8%) of the respondents had unintended pregnancies during COVID-19. The results indicate that participants who lacked knowledge of the ovulation period (AOR: 0.242; 95% CI: 0156-0376; P<0.001), sex education during COVID-19 (AOR: 0.563; 95% CI:: 0.365-0.869; P=0.024) and lacked the freedom to discuss family planning-related issues with family members during COVID-19 (AOR: 0.228; 95% CI: 0.138-0.376; P<0.001) were more likely to have an unintended pregnancy compared to their counterparts. Our study shows that unwanted pregnancies among adolescent girls remain a public health issue in Oyam district with more than two-thirds of adolescents having unwanted pregnancies during the crisis of COVID-19. The major correlates of unwanted pregnancies among adolescent girls during COVID-19 pandemic were inadequate knowledge of the ovulation period, sex education, and lack of freedom to discuss family planning-related issues with family members. There is a need to prioritize interventions, especially in rural settings. Sex education to improve contraceptive use and delay sexual debut. In light of the possibility that social and cultural norms in the Oyam district prohibit parents and children from discussing sexual subjects, it is crucial to promote sexual health education through the mass media, including newspapers, television, radio, and social media.