Assessing the Fear Factor of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Korea Using the COVID-19 Phobia Scale: A Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: A study on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) phobia among students revealed that fear of contracting COVID-19 was associated with commuting to school and spending time with others at school. Therefore, it is the need-of-the-hour for the Korean government to identify factors affecting COVID-19 phobia among university students and to consider these factors while framing the policy direction for the process of returning to normalcy in university education. Consequently, we aimed to identify the current state of COVID-19 phobia among Korean undergraduate and graduate students and the factors affecting COVID-19 phobia. METHODS: This cross-sectional survey was conducted to identify the factors affecting COVID-19 phobia among Korean undergraduate and graduate students. The survey collected 460 responses from April 5 to April 16, 2022. The questionnaire was developed based on the COVID-19 Phobia Scale (C19P-S). Multiple linear regression was performed on the C19P-S scores using five models with the following dependent variables: Model 1, total C19P-S score; Model 2, psychological subscale score; Model 3, psychosomatic subscale score; Model 4, social subscale score; and Model 5, economic subscale score. The fit of these five models was established, and a P-value of less than 0.05 (F test) was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: An analysis of the factors affecting the total C19P-S score led to the following findings: women significantly outscored men (difference: 4.826 points, P = 0.003); the group that favored the government's COVID-19 mitigation policy scored significantly lower than those who did not favor it (difference: 3.161 points, P = 0.037); the group that avoided crowded places scored significantly higher than the group that did not avoid crowded places (difference: 7.200 points, P < 0.001); and those living with family/friends scored significantly higher than those in other living situations (difference: 4.606 points, P = 0.021). Those in favor of the COVID-19 mitigation policy had significantly lower psychological fear than those who were against it (difference: -1.686 points, P = 0.004). Psychological fear was also significantly higher for those who avoided crowded places compared to those who did not difference: 2.641 points, P < 0.001). Fear was significantly higher in people cohabitating than those living alone (difference: 1.543 points, P = 0.043). CONCLUSION: The Korean government, in their pursuit of a policy that eases COVID-19-related restrictions, will also have to spare no efforts in providing correct information to prevent the escalation of COVID-19 phobia among people with a high fear of contracting the disease. This should be done through trustworthy information sources, such as the media, public agencies, and COVID-19 professionals.

COVID-19 trends, public restrictions policies and vaccination status by economic ranking of countries: a longitudinal study from 110 countries.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has transitioned to a third phase and many variants have been originated. There has been millions of lives loss as well as billions in economic loss. The morbidity and mortality for COVID-19 varies by country. There were different preventive approaches and public restrictions policies have been applied to control the COVID-19 impacts and usually measured by Stringency Index. This study aimed to explore the COVID-19 trend, public restriction policies and vaccination status with economic ranking of countries. METHODS: We received open access data from Our World in Data. Data from 210 countries were available. Countries (n = 110) data related to testing, which is a key variable in the present study, were included for the analysis and remaining 100 countries were excluded due to incomplete data. The analysis period was set between January 22, 2020 (when COVID-19 was first officially reported) and December 28, 2021. All analyses were stratified by year and the World Bank income group. To analyze the associations among the major variables, we used a longitudinal fixed-effects model. RESULTS: Out of the 110 countries included in our analysis, there were 9 (8.18%), 25 (22.72%), 31 (28.18%), and 45 (40.90%) countries from low income countries (LIC), low and middle income countries (LMIC), upper middle income countries (UMIC) and high income countries (HIC) respectively. New case per million was similar in LMIC, UMIC and HIC but lower in LIC. The number of new COVID-19 test were reduced in HIC and LMIC but similar in UMIC and LIC. Stringency Index was negligible in LIC and similar in LMIC, UMIC and HIC. New positivity rate increased in LMIC and UMIC. The daily incidence rate was positively correlated with the daily mortality rate in both 2020 and 2021. In 2020, Stringency Index was positive in LIC and HIC but a negative association in LMIC and in 2021 there was a positive association between UMIC and HIC. Vaccination coverage did not appear to change with mortality in 2021. CONCLUSION: New COVID-19 cases, tests, vaccinations, positivity rates, and Stringency indices were low in LIC and highest in UMIC. Our findings suggest that the available resources of COVID-19 pandemic would be allocated by need of countries; LIC and UMIC.

The global case fatality rate of coronavirus disease 2019 by continents and national income: A meta-analysis.

The aim of this study is to provide a more accurate representation of COVID-19's case fatality rate (CFR) by performing meta-analyses by continents and income, and by comparing the result with pooled estimates. We used multiple worldwide data sources on COVID-19 for every country reporting COVID-19 cases. On the basis of data, we performed random and fixed meta-analyses for CFR of COVID-19 by continents and income according to each individual calendar date. CFR was estimated based on the different geographical regions and levels of income using three models: pooled estimates, fixed- and random-model. In Asia, all three types of CFR initially remained approximately between 2.0% and 3.0%. In the case of pooled estimates and the fixed model results, CFR increased to 4.0%, by then gradually decreasing, while in the case of random-model, CFR remained under 2.0%. Similarly, in Europe, initially, the two types of CFR peaked at 9.0% and 10.0%, respectively. The random-model results showed an increase near 5.0%. In high-income countries, pooled estimates and fixed-model showed gradually increasing trends with a final pooled estimates and random-model reached about 8.0% and 4.0%, respectively. In middle-income, the pooled estimates and fixed-model have gradually increased reaching up to 4.5%. in low-income countries, CFRs remained similar between 1.5% and 3.0%. Our study emphasizes that COVID-19 CFR is not a fixed or static value. Rather, it is a dynamic estimate that changes with time, population, socioeconomic factors, and the mitigatory efforts of individual countries.

Effect of the Period From COVID-19 Symptom Onset to Confirmation on Disease Duration: Quantitative Analysis of Publicly Available Patient Data.

BACKGROUND: In general, early intervention in disease based on early diagnosis is considered to be very important for improving health outcomes. However, there is still insufficient evidence regarding how medical care that is based on the early diagnosis of confirmed cases can affect the outcome of COVID-19 treatment. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the effect of the duration from the onset of clinical symptoms to confirmation of COVID-19 on the duration from the onset of symptoms to the resolution of COVID-19 (release from quarantine). METHODS: For preliminary data collection, we performed data crawling to extract data from social networks, blogs, and official websites operated by local governments. We collected data from the 4002 confirmed cases in 33 cities reported up to May 31, 2020, for whom sex and age information could be verified. Subsequently, 2494 patients with unclear symptom onset dates and 1349 patients who had not been released or had no data about their release dates were excluded. Thus, 159 patients were finally included in this study. To investigate whether rapid confirmation reduces the prevalence period, we divided the duration from symptom onset to confirmation into quartiles of ≤1, ≤3, ≤6, and ≥7 days, respectively. We investigated the duration from symptom onset to release and that from confirmation to release according to these quartiles. Furthermore, we performed multiple regression analysis to investigate the effects of rapid confirmation after symptom onset on the treatment period, duration of prevalence, and duration until release from isolation. RESULTS: We performed multiple regression analysis to investigate the association between rapid confirmation after symptom onset and the total prevalence period (faster release from isolation). The time from symptom onset to confirmation showed a negative association with the time from confirmation to release (t1=-3.58; P<.001) and a positive association with the time from symptom onset to release (t1=5.86; P<.001); these associations were statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The duration from COVID-19 symptom onset to confirmation date is an important variable for predicting disease prevalence, and these results support the hypothesis that a short duration of symptom onset to confirmation can reduce the time from symptom onset to release.

Public Interest in Immunity and the Justification for Intervention in the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Analysis of Google Trends Data.

BACKGROUND: The use of social big data is an important emerging concern in public health. Internet search volumes are useful data that can sensitively detect trends of the public's attention during a pandemic outbreak situation. OBJECTIVE: Our study aimed to analyze the public's interest in COVID-19 proliferation, identify the correlation between the proliferation of COVID-19 and interest in immunity and products that have been reported to confer an enhancement of immunity, and suggest measures for interventions that should be implemented from a health and medical point of view. METHODS: To assess the level of public interest in infectious diseases during the initial days of the COVID-19 outbreak, we extracted Google search data from January 20, 2020, onward and compared them to data from March 15, 2020, which was approximately 2 months after the COVID-19 outbreak began. In order to determine whether the public became interested in the immune system, we selected coronavirus, immune, and vitamin as our final search terms. RESULTS: The increase in the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases that occurred after January 20, 2020, had a strong positive correlation with the search volumes for the terms coronavirus (R=0.786; P<.001), immune (R=0.745; P<.001), and vitamin (R=0.778; P<.001), and the correlations between variables were all mutually statistically significant. Moreover, these correlations were confirmed on a country basis when we restricted our analyses to the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Korea. Our findings revealed that increases in search volumes for the terms coronavirus and immune preceded the actual occurrences of confirmed cases. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that during the initial phase of the COVID-19 crisis, the public's desire and actions of strengthening their own immune systems were enhanced. Further, in the early stage of a pandemic, social media platforms have a high potential for informing the public about potentially helpful measures to prevent the spread of an infectious disease and provide relevant information about immunity, thereby increasing the public's knowledge.

The effect of advances in transportation on the spread of the coronavirus disease: The last is Africa and endemic.

For a long time in the future, transportation will be used only by limited systems that are quarantine friendly. Besides, depending on the circumstances, international or inter-regional travel may be restricted. However, the African continent comprises mostly of developing countries with poor healthcare systems and low health literacy. As a result, it is highly likely that Africa could suffer greater damage than any other region once an outbreak occurs. The fact that countries in Africa must be most concerned about is that COVID-19 may become endemic, and the outbreak may continue for a very long time.

Effective Control of COVID-19 in South Korea: Cross-Sectional Study of Epidemiological Data.

BACKGROUND: South Korea is one of the few countries that has succeeded in flattening the curve of new COVID-19 cases and avoiding a second outbreak by implementing multiple strategies, ranging from an individual level to the population level. OBJECTIVE: We aim to discuss the unique strategies and epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 in South Korea and present a summary of policies implemented by the Korean government during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We designed a cross-sectional study of epidemiological data published by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on October 1, 2020. We analyzed detailed epidemiological information of COVID-19 cases, including the number of confirmed cases and resulting deaths. RESULTS: As of October 1, 2020, a total of 23,889 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 415 deaths were reported in South Korea. In this paper, we present data on the epidemiological characteristics and transmission of the disease and discuss how the South Korean government, health care providers, and society responded to the COVID-19 outbreak. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 in South Korea and the government's successful efforts in managing the spread of the disease can provide important insights to other countries dealing with the ongoing pandemic.