Impact of meteorological factors and population density on COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia.

Transmission and increase in cases and fatalities of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) are significantly influenced by the parameters of weather, human activities and population factors. However, study gap on the seasonality of COVID-19 and impact of environmental factors on the pandemic in Saudi Arabia is present. The main aim of the study is to evaluate the impact of environment on the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were analyzed from January 2020 to July 2021. The generalized estimating equation (GEE) was used to determine the effect of environmental variables on longitudinal outcomes. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (rs ) was used to analyze the impact of different parameters on the outcome of the pandemic. Multiple sequence alignment was performed by using ClustalW. Vaccination and fatalities (r s = -0.85) had the highest association followed by vaccination with cases (r s = -0.81) and population density with the fatalities (rs  = 0.71). The growth rate had the highest correlation with sun hours (r s = -0.63). Isolates from variant of concern alpha and beta were detected. Most of the reference sequences in Saudi Arabia were closely related with B.1.427/429 variant. Clade GH (54%) was the most prevalent followed by O (27%), GR (9%), G (6%), and S (4%), respectively. Male to female patient ratio was 1.4:1. About 95% fatality and hospitalization were reported in patients aged >60 years. This study will create a comprehensive insight of the interaction of environmental factors and the pandemic and add knowledge on seasonality of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia.

Impact of Zinc, Vitamins C and D on Disease Prognosis among Patients with COVID-19 in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Vitamin C, (ascorbic acid), vitamin D (cholecalciferol) and zinc (zinc sulfate monohydrate) supplements are important in immunity against coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). However, a limited number of studies have been conducted on the association of vitamins and supplements with the reduced risks of COVID-19 infection. This study aims to evaluate the association of vitamins and supplements as treatment options to reduce the severity of COVID-19. Data were collected from 962 participants from 13 December 2020 to 4 February 2021. The presence of COVID-19 was confirmed by qRT-PCR. The Chi-square test and multivariate regression analyses were conducted. The ratio of uptake of vitamin C:vitamin D:zinc was 1:1:0.95. Uptake of vitamin C, vitamin D and zinc were significantly associated with the reduced risk of infection and severity of COVID-19 (OR: 0.006 (95% CI: 0.03-0.11) (p = 0.004)) and (OR: 0.03 (95% CI: 0.01-0.22) (p = 0.005)). The tendency of taking supplements was associated with the presence of infection of COVID-19 (p = 0.001), age (p = 0.02), sex (p = 0.05) and residence (p = 0.04). The duration of supplementation and medication was significantly associated with reduced hospitalization (p = 0.0001). Vitamins C, D and zinc were not significantly (p = 0.9) associated with a reduced risk of severity when taken through the diet. Hospitalization (p = 0.000001) and access to health facilities (p = 0.0097) were significantly associated with the survival period of the participants. Participants with better access to health facilities recovered early (OR: 6.21, 95% CI 1.56-24.7). This study will add knowledge in the field of treatment of COVID-19 by using vitamins and zinc supplements.

Genomic surveillance, evolution and global transmission of SARS-CoV-2 during 2019-2022.

In spite of the availability of vaccine, the health burden associated with the COVID-19 pandemic continues to increase. An estimated 5 million people have died with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Analysis of evolution and genomic diversity can provide sufficient information to reduce the health burden of the pandemic. This study focused to conduct worldwide genomic surveillance. About 7.6 million genomic data were analyzed during 2019 to 2022. Multiple sequence alignment was conducted by using maximum likelihood method. Clade GK (52%) was the most predominant followed by GRY (12%), GRA (11%), GR (8%), GH (7%), G (6%), GV (3%), and O (1%), respectively. VOC Delta (66%) was the most prevalent variant followed by VOC Alpha (18%), VOC Omicron (13%), VOC Gamma (2%) and VOC Beta (1%), respectively. The frequency of point mutations including E484K, N501Y, N439K, and L452R at spike protein has increased 10%-92%. Evolutionary rate of the variants was 23.7 substitution per site per year. Substitution mutations E484K and N501Y had significant correlation with cases (r = .45, r = .23), fatalities (r = .15, r = .44) and growth rate R0 (r = .28, r = .54). This study will help to understand the genomic diversity, evolution and the impact of the variants on the outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prevalence and impact of diabetes and cardiovascular disease on clinical outcome among patients with COVID-19 in Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND: Patients with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) with preexisting diabetes and cardiovascular metabolic diseases have higher fatality rate. The circulation of new variants with emerging clinical characteristics requires more studies focusing the impact of preexisting health conditions on outcome of COVID-19 accurately. AIMS: Main aim of this study was to investigate the impact of diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) on disease prognosis and severe health outcomes among patients with COVID-19. METHODS: A retrospective study was performed on 799 patients with COVID-19 during December 10, 2020, to February 10, 2020 in Bangladesh. Logistic regression analysis was performed for age, sex, diabetes, CVD and symptoms on fatality. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was conducted to predict the survival rate. RESULTS: Fatality was detected in 40% (318 of 799) patients with COVID-19. Among 318 fatalities, 90.6% were detected in patients with CVD and 74.5% in patients with diabetes. Case fatality rate was highest in patients with COVID-19, CVD and diabetes (94, 184 of 195). Fever (91%) and dry cough (71%) were the most frequent symptoms. CVD (42.2%), diabetes (32.7%) and obesity (18%) were prevalent. The highest odds of risk was detected in patients with COVID-19, CVD and diabetes (OR: 6.98, 95% CI, 4.21 to 7.34). Female patients had the highest survival rate. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, 318 fatality was seen in 799 patients with COVID-19. The highest odds of fatality risk was detected in patients with COVID-19, CVD and diabetes. The risk increased many folds when CVD and diabetes coexisted in patients.

Environmental correlation and epidemiologic analysis of COVID-19 pandemic in ten regions in five continents.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has caused worldwide health emergencies during the last 6 months of 2020. Within very short time, severe acute respiratory coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected over 64,516,333 people with 1,493,264 fatalities in 210 countries and regions. Previous studies have reported that environmental factors can affect the viability and transmission of SARS-CoV-2. This study aimed to determine the correlation of environmental factors with COVID-19 pandemic and epidemiology of COVID-19 across nine countries in five continents. METHODS: Both environmental and health data were retrieved from various databases during January 1, 2020 to June 30, 2020. Mean value of environmental factors were calculated for weekly and daily cases and fatalities. Spearman correlation test was conducted. RESULTS: In this study, most of the COVID-19 cases and fatalities were detected from regions (New York, Madrid, Lombardy, London and Sau Paulo) with 7 °C-25 °C mean temperature per day, 3 to 6 mean UV index per day and 14 km/h to 22 km/h mean wind velocity per day. Both cases and fatalities increased significantly after removing lockdown in Bangladesh, India, Brazil and South Africa. Over 50% COVID-19 patients were asymptomatic in every country except Brazil and Australia. Fever (>50%) was the most common symptom followed by cough (45%), tiredness (38%) and sore throat (30%), respectively. In India and Bangladesh over 70% of cases were reported in male. Significant correlation of COVID-19 cases with temperature and UV were detected in London, Lombardy, Madrid, New York and Dhaka. CONCLUSION: This is one of the first cross-country epidemiologic and correlation studies between environmental factors and COVID-19 pandemics. This study will help both local and international health organizations and policy makers to face the COVID-19 challenge.