[The epidemiological characteristics of an outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) in China].

Objective: An outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China has spread quickly nationwide. Here, we report results of a descriptive, exploratory analysis of all cases diagnosed as of February 11, 2020. Methods: All COVID-19 cases reported through February 11, 2020 were extracted from China's Infectious Disease Information System. Analyses included: 1) summary of patient characteristics; 2) examination of age distributions and sex ratios; 3) calculation of case fatality and mortality rates; 4) geo-temporal analysis of viral spread; 5) epidemiological curve construction; and 6) subgroup analysis. Results: A total of 72 314 patient records-44 672 (61.8%) confirmed cases, 16 186 (22.4%) suspected cases, 10567 (14.6%) clinical diagnosed cases (Hubei only), and 889 asymptomatic cases (1.2%)-contributed data for the analysis. Among confirmed cases, most were aged 30-79 years (86.6%), diagnosed in Hubei (74.7%), and considered mild (80.9%). A total of 1 023 deaths occurred among confirmed cases for an overall case-fatality rate of 2.3%. The COVID-19 spread outward from Hubei sometime after December 2019 and by February 11, 2020, 1 386 counties across all 31 provinces were affected. The epidemic curve of onset of symptoms peaked in January 23-26, then began to decline leading up to February 11. A total of 1 716 health workers have become infected and 5 have died (0.3%). Conclusions: The COVID-19 epidemic has spread very quickly. It only took 30 days to expand from Hubei to the rest of Mainland China. With many people returning from a long holiday, China needs to prepare for the possible rebound of the epidemic.

[1]  W. Cheng,et al.  Analysis of clinical features and early warning signs in patients with severe COVID-19: A retrospective cohort study , 2020, PloS one.

[2]  Siyu Chen,et al.  Analysis of Risk Perceptions and Related Factors Concerning COVID-19 Epidemic in Chongqing, China , 2020, Journal of Community Health.

[3]  Yaping Tian,et al.  Could urinary ACE2 protein level help identify individuals susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection and complication? , 2020, Science China Life Sciences.

[4]  J. Pang,et al.  Epidemiological and Clinical Characteristics of Cases During the Early Phase of COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis , 2020, Frontiers in Medicine.

[5]  H. M. Asif,et al.  Early Detection and Assessment of Covid-19 , 2020, Frontiers in Medicine.

[6]  Xianqun Fan,et al.  Recent Understandings Toward Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): From Bench to Bedside , 2020, Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology.

[7]  Dan Zhou,et al.  Identification of RT-PCR-Negative Asymptomatic COVID-19 Patients via Serological Testing , 2020, Frontiers in Public Health.

[8]  R. Kodzius,et al.  Does Early Childhood Vaccination Protect Against COVID-19? , 2020, Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences.

[9]  M. Rehman,et al.  Knowledge, Awareness and Practice of Health care Professionals amid SARS-CoV-2, Corona Virus Disease Outbreak , 2020, Pakistan journal of medical sciences.

[10]  Fumihiro Kato,et al.  Development of Genetic Diagnostic Methods for Novel Coronavirus 2019 (nCoV-2019) in Japan. , 2020, Japanese journal of infectious diseases.

[11]  Yin Han,et al.  A Familial Cluster of Infection Associated With the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Indicating Possible Person-to-Person Transmission During the Incubation Period , 2020, The Journal of infectious diseases.

[12]  Wei Zhang,et al.  Molecular and serological investigation of 2019-nCoV infected patients: implication of multiple shedding routes , 2020, Emerging microbes & infections.

[13]  Zhènglì Shí,et al.  Potent binding of 2019 novel coronavirus spike protein by a SARS coronavirus-specific human monoclonal antibody , 2020, bioRxiv.