Characteristics of & main lessons from COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak in China: summary of a report of 72314 cases (data from Chinese CDC), with comparison of COVID-19 with SARS and MERS, and response to the novel Coronavirus epidemic.
Here some of the key findings:
age: 87%: 30-79 years, 1% respectively 10-19 & <10 years
spectrum of disease (confirmed cases): 81% mild, 14% severe, 5% critical (respiratory failure, septic shock, and/or multiple organ dysfunction or failure)
case-fatality rate (confirmed cases): 2.3%, 14.8% in patients aged ≥80 years, 49.0% in critical cases.
Next steps? As global society is more interconnected than ever, and emerging pathogens do not respect geopolitical boundaries, proactive investment in public health infrastructure & capacity crucial to effectively respond to epidemics; persisting in improving international surveillance, cooperation, coordination, & communication, is critical to be better prepared to respond to future new public health threats. Full text open access on JAMA.
Also check the epidemiological characteristics of outbreak COVID-19 on China CDC Weekly.
