•Explore meteorological impacts based on Köppen-Geiger climate classification.•Examine the control measures for COVID-19 across 189 countries.•Estimate the association between meteorological factor ...and reproduction number.•Discuss flexible adjustment of China's control protocols.
More than 30 months into the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, efforts to bring this prevalence under control have achieved tentative achievements in China. However, the continuing increase in confirmed cases worldwide and the novel variants imply a severe risk of imported viruses. High-intensity non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) are the mainly used measures of China's early response to COVID-19, which enabled effective control in the first wave of the epidemic. However, their efficiency is relatively low across China at the current stage. Therefore, this study focuses on whether measurable meteorological variables be found through global data to learn more about COVID-19 and explore flexible controls. This study first examines the control measures, such as NPIs and vaccination, on COVID-19 transmission across 189 countries, especially in China. Subsequently, we estimate the association between meteorological factors and time-varying reproduction numbers based on the global data by meta-population epidemic model, eliminating the aforementioned anthropogenic factors. According to this study, we find that the basic reproduction number of COVID-19 transmission varied wildly among Köppen-Geiger climate classifications, which is of great significance for the flexible adjustment of China's control protocols. We obtain that in southeast China, Köppen-Geiger climate sub-classifications, Cwb, Cfa, and Cfb, are more likely to spread COVID-19. In August, the RSIM of Cwb climate subclassification is about three times that of Dwc in April, which implies that the intensity of control efforts in different sub-regions may differ three times under the same imported risk. However, BSk and BWk, the most widely distributed in northwest China, have smaller basic reproduction numbers than Cfa, distributed in southeast coastal areas. It indicates that northwest China's control intensity could be appropriately weaker than southeast China under the same prevention objectives.
Stay-at-home orders, physical distancing, face masks and other non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) do not only impact COVID-19, but also the dynamics of various other infectious diseases. ...Bronchiolitis is a clinically diagnosed viral infection of the lower respiratory tract, and causes a yearly seasonal wave of admissions in paediatric wards worldwide. We counted 92,5% less bronchiolitis hospitalisations in Antwerp before the expected end of the peak this year (of which only 1 RSV positive), as compared to the last 3 years. Furthermore, there was a >99% reduction in the number of registered RSV cases in Belgium.
Conslusion:
The 2020 winter bronchiolitis peak is hitherto nonexistent, but we fear a ‘delayed’ spring/summer bronchiolitis peak when most NPIs will be relaxed and pre-pandemic life restarts.
What is known?
• Bronchiolitis causes a yearly seasonal wave of admissions in paediatric departments worldwide.
• Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) do not only impact COVID-19, but also the dynamics of various other infectious diseases.
What is new?
• The 2020 winter bronchiolitis peak is hitherto nonexistent.
• A ‘delayed’ spring or summer bronchiolitis peak could happen when most NPIs will be relaxed and pre-pandemic life restarts.
The Covid-19 pandemic required the implementation of various preventive hygiene measures to contain the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Various non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) were introduced ...worldwide. The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on people’s daily lives. Again, relatively simple hygiene measures have proven to be very effective and useful. The main objective of the present study was to find out how people implement the proposed individual prevention measures and how they perceive the administrative measures implemented during the pandemic. The paper presents the results of a web-based, non-representative cross-sectional study conducted between October 15 and November 17, 2020 in Slovenia during the Covid-19 lockdown. The completion of the survey coincided with the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, so it was to be expected that awareness of the importance of hand hygiene as well as other preventive measures was high among respondents. We find that people have changed their hygiene habits during the pandemic. Habits differ both between individual NPIs and between groups of respondents (age, gender and occupational structure of respondents). There are still opportunities to improve knowledge and attitudes towards hand hygiene and to implement all other NPIs.
The COVID-19 pandemic pushed countries to adopt various non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). Due to the features of the pandemic, which spread over time and space, governments could decide ...whether or not to follow policy choices made by leaders of countries affected by the virus before them. In this study, we aim to empirically model the adoption of NPIs during the first wave of COVID-19 in the 14 European countries with more than 10 million inhabitants, in order to detect whether a policy diffusion mechanism occurred. By means of a multivariate approach based on Principal Component Analysis and Cluster Analysis, we manage to derive three clusters representing different behaviour models to which the different European countries belong in the different periods of the first wave: pre-pandemic, summer relaxation and deep-lockdown scenarios. These results bring a two-fold contribution: on the one hand, they may help us to understand differences and similarities among European countries during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak and guide future quantitative or qualitative studies; on the other, our findings suggest that with minor exceptions (such as Sweden and Poland), different countries adopted very similar policy strategies, which are likely to be due more to the unfolding of the pandemic than to specific governmental strategies.
•A mathematical method is proposed to derive the sewage flow diurnal patterns.•Simulate the sewage pipe operation risk by infoworks ICM model.•Non-pharmaceutical interventions for COVID-19 affects ...municipal sewage flow.•Epidemic lockdown will increase sewage flow and pipe load in residential areas.•Homeworking will delay morning peak time and increase noon peak volume.
Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) have been widely employed globally over the past three years to control the rapid spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). These measures have imposed restrictions on urban residents’ activities and significantly influenced sewage discharge characteristics within sewage network, particularly in densely populated cities in China. This study focused on the nodal flow diurnal patterns and sewage network operational risks before and after epidemic lockdown in Beijing from March to May in 2022. Nodal flow diurnal patterns on weekdays and weekends before and after NPIs were analyzed using measured data through statistical and mathematical methods. A sewage network model was established to simulate and analyze the operational risks based on InfoWorks ICM before and after epidemic lockdown. The main conclusions were as follows: (1) In predominantly residential areas, the total wastewater volume increased by approximately 28.76 % to 33.52 % after the implementation of strict NPIs. The morning and midday “M” peaks on normalized weekdays transformed into “N” peaks, and the morning peak time was delayed by 0.5 to 1 hour after the lockdown; (2) Following NPIs, More than 90 % of manholes’ average water levels rose to varying degrees, approximately 50 % of pipe lengths exhibited a full flow state; (3) When the lockdown was in place during a hot summer day, sewage overflow phenomena were observed in 4.6 % and 9.6 % of manholes, respectively, with per capita daily drainage equivalent reaching 40–50 %. These findings hold significant implications for the proactive planning and operational management of water industry infrastructure during major emergencies.
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This study assesses how the implementation and lifting of non-pharmaceutical policy interventions (NPIs), deployed by most governments, to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, were associated with ...individuals’ mental well-being (MWB) across 28 European countries. This is done both for the general population and across key-groups. We analyze longitudinal data for 15,147 respondents from three waves of the Eurofound-“Living, Working and COVID-19” survey, covering the period April 2020–March 2021. MWB is measured by the WHO-5 index. Our evidence suggests that restriction on international travel, private gatherings, and contact tracing (workplace closures) were negatively (positively) associated with MWB by about, respectively, −0.63 95% CI: −0.79 to −0.47, −0.24 95% CI: −0.38 to −0.10, and −0.22 95% CI: −0.36 to −0.08 (0.29 95% CI: 0.11 to 0.48) points. These results correspond to −3.9%, −1.5%, and −1.4% (+1.8%) changes compared to pre-pandemic levels. However, these findings mask important group-differences. Women compared to men fared worse under stay-at-home requirements, internal movement restrictions, private gatherings restrictions, public events cancellation, school closures, and workplace closures. Those residing with children below 12, compared to those who do not, fared worse under public events cancellation, school closures and workplace closures. Conversely, those living with children 12–17, compared to those who do not, fared better under internal movement restrictions and public events cancelling. Western-Europeans vis-à-vis Eastern-Europeans fared better under NPIs limiting their mobility and easing their debts, whereas they fared worse under health-related NPIs. This study provides timely evidence of the rise in inequalities during the COVID-19 pandemic and offers strategies for mitigating them.
•We examine the association of MWB with the implementation and lifting of 13 NPIs.•Panel data covering 15,147 individuals from 28 European countries is used.•MWB is positively associated to workplace closures.•Negative is the association with contact-tracing and restrictions on international travels and gatherings.•Women and individuals living with young children fared worse under NPIs.
Bronchiolitis is the most common viral infection of the lower respiratory tract in infants under 2 years of age. The aim of this study was to analyze and compare the seasonal bronchiolitis peaks ...before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
Descriptive, prospective, and observational study. Patients with severe bronchiolitis admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) of a referral tertiary hospital between September 2010 and June 2021 were included. Demographic data were collected. Viral laboratory-confirmation was carried out. Each season was analyzed and compared. The daily average temperature was collected.
1116 patients were recruited, 58.2% of them males. The median age was 49 days. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was isolated in 782 cases (70.1%). In April 2021, the first and only case of bronchiolitis caused by SARS-CoV-2 was identified. The pre- and post-pandemic periods were compared. There were statistically significant differences regarding: age, 47 vs. 73 days (p = 0.006), PICU and hospital length of stay (p = 0.024 and p = 0.001, respectively), and etiology (p = 0.031). The peak for bronchiolitis in 2020 was non-existent before week 52. A delayed peak was seen around week 26/2021. The mean temperature during the epidemic peak was 10ºC for the years of the last decade and is 23ºC for the present season.
The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has led to a clearly observable epidemiological change regarding acute bronchiolitis, which should be studied in detail. The influence of the environmental temperature does not seem to determine the viral circulation.
The globe has witnessed the rapid evolution of SARS-CoV-2 mutations and emerging variants of concern (VOCs) and variants of interest (VOIs) that have broadly impacted the transmissibility, ...antigenicity, morbidity, and mortality of the virus. Although around 2.5 billion vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, vaccine coverage remains far behind the minimum threshold needed to achieve herd immunity overall and it varies substantially by country. Many countries, and especially low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), are struggling with access to COVID-19 vaccines and a lack of personnel to perform mass vaccination. Effective nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) are also not unanimously accepted and strictly complied with by the public and local communities. Moreover, the global fight against COVID-19 is and continues to face geopolitical, social, economic, and human rights concerns. Taken together, these circumstances call for a unified public health response with well-organized individual, local, national, and global efforts and actions to achieve success in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic and achieving sustainable health and development goals.
•Impact of risk perceptions associated with COVID-19 on travel mode switch.•Negative effect of the perceived susceptibility on intentions to choose the collective over the individual travel ...mode.•Risk-taking behavior exhibits the highest effect.•Contact with risk group or having positive corona test shows no effect.
The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) led to holiday journeys being associated with significant health risks. While there are numerous studies on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel mode choice in everyday mobility, there are a lack of studies on tourists’ choice of travel mode, even though tourism transport in Switzerland makes up 24% of all distance travelled. Based on an extended conceptual framework of the Health Belief Model (HBM), this study investigates the effect of COVID-19 on tourists’ intentions to choose a particular travel mode during the pandemic. Our findings show that the higher the perceived susceptibility of getting COVID-19 associated with the holiday journey, the lower the choices for collective travel modes. Furthermore, for those tourists who are more likely to take risks, their choices for collective travel modes are increased. The study recommends that public transport operators choose measures that increase the application of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) against pandemics while travelling; this may encourage the safe use of collective transport modes during a pandemic.
Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) have been proven effective in reducing the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but their broader impact on gastrointestinal disorders remains ...poorly studied. Here, we report an observational analysis and retrospective study that compares the incidence of acute diarrheal diseases in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China, between 2019 and 2020, with an examination of the antimicrobial resistance and genetic spectrum of non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) from 2015 to 2022, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings underscore that NPIs related to COVID-19 effectively reduced the incidence of acute diarrhea, with a substantial decrease in most enteric pathogens. Notably, NTS exhibited an unexpected surge. Further genomic investigations of NTS isolates revealed an overall reduction in antimicrobial-resistant (AMR), disinfection-tolerant, and virulent capabilities, but with marked variations detected between human and animal isolates. Additional genome-based analysis confirmed a decrease in the scale of zoonotic transmission in response to NPIs, suggesting particular NTS types may contribute to human infections via alternative pathways. The collective findings manifested that COVID-19-related NPIs had a mixed impact on NTS infections, which may inform AMR NTS mitigation policy.
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•Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) reduced acute diarrhea, except for non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) infection.•NPIs reduced antimicrobial-resistant, disinfection-tolerant, and virulent capabilities in NTS.•Marked NTS serovar variations between human and animal isolates.•NPIs reduce NTS zoonotic transmission, indicating compensated routines for NTS transmission.
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