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Evidence of initial success for China exiting COVID-19 social distancing policy after achieving containment

Background: The COVID-19 epidemic was declared a Global Pandemic by WHO on 11 March 2020. By 24 March 2020, over 440,000 cases and almost 20,000 deaths had been reported worldwide. In response to the fast-growing epidemic, which began in the Chinese city of Wuhan, Hubei, China imposed strict social distancing in Wuhan on 23 January 2020 followed closely by similar measures in other provinces. These interventions have impacted economic productivity in China, and the ability of the Chinese economy to resume without restarting the epidemic was not clear.

Adoption and impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions for COVID-19

Background: Several non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) have been implemented across the world to control the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Social distancing (SD) interventions applied so far have included school closures, remote working and quarantine. These measures have been shown to have large impacts on pandemic influenza transmission. However, there has been comparatively little examination of such measures for COVID-19. Methods: We examined the existing literature, and collated data, on implementation of NPIs to examine their effects on the COVID-19 pandemic so far.

COVID-19 in children across three Asian cosmopolitan regions

As another wave of COVID-19 outbreak has approached in July 2020, a larger scale COVID-19 pediatric Asian cohort summarizing the clinical observations is warranted. Children confirmed with COVID-19 infection from the Republic of Korea, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and Wuhan, China, during their first waves of local outbreaks were included. Their clinical characteristics and the temporal sequences of the first waves of local paediatric outbreaks were compared. Four hundred and twenty three children with COVID-19 were analyzed.

Exploring the young demographic profile of COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong: Evidence from migration and travel history data

This paper investigates the profile of COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong, highlighting the unique age structure of confirmed cases compared to other territories. While the majority of cases in most territories around the world have fitted an older age profile, our analysis shows that positive cases in Hong Kong have been concentrated among younger age groups, with the largest incidence of cases reported in the 15-24 age group. This is despite the population's rapidly aging structure and extremely high levels of population density.

Ophthalmology in the time of COVID-19: Experience from Hong Kong Eye Hospital

AIM: To review international guidelines and to share our infection control experience during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic at a tertiary eye centre in Hong Kong. METHODS: Infection control guidelines and recommendations from international ophthalmological bodies are reviewed and discussed. The measures at our hospital were drawn up as per international and local health authorities' guidelines and implemented with the collaboration of doctors, nurses and administrative staff.

Quantifying the improvement in confirmation efficiency of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) during the early phase of the outbreak in Hong Kong in 2020

Backgrounds: The emerging virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), caused a large outbreak of coronavirus disease, COVID-19, in Wuhan, China, since December 2019. COVID-19 soon spread to other regions of China and overseas. In Hong Kong, local mitigation measures were implemented since the first imported case was confirmed on January 23, 2020. Here we evaluated the temporal variation of detection delay from symptoms onset to laboratory confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 in Hong Kong.

Genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 strains detected in Hong Kong

We sequenced severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2) genomes from deep throat saliva samples of three imported cases in Hong Kong by Nanopore sequencing. Epidemiological and clinical features of these coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases were presented for genomic epidemiology studies. © 2020 Au et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

The effects of border shutdowns on the spread of COVID-19

Objectives: At the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, some countries imposed entry bans against Chinese visitors. We sought to identify the effects of border shutdowns on the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods: We used the synthetic control method to measure the effects of entry bans against Chinese visitors on the cumulative number of confirmed cases using World Health Organization situation reports as the data source. The synthetic control method constructs a synthetic country that did not shut down its borders, but is similar in all other aspects.

The epidemiology of COVID-19 cases and the successful containment strategy in Hong Kong–January to May 2020

Background: Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of China, recorded its first confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) case on 23 January 2020. We reviewed the case epidemiology and the various public health measures implemented from January to May 2020.