Human Activity Changes during COVID‐19 Lockdown in China—A View from Nighttime Light

Strict lockdowns were implemented in China to fight Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19). We explored the nighttime light (NTL) of China’s four cities in five stages of COVID‐19 including case free period, newly appeared period, rising period, outbreak period, and stationary period. Using six categories of points of interest (POIs) data (“company”, “recreation”, “healthcare”, “residence”, “shopping”, and “traffic facility”) and random forest models, we found that dimming light of four cities is associated with the epidemic development and human activity changes. When confirmed cases appeared, healthcare associated NTL radiance increased rapidly in Wuhan and Guangzhou, but decreased in the fourth and fifth stages. Companies in all cities were resuscitated in the fifth stage, while companies in Guangzhou was resuscitated in the fourth stage. Shopping related NTL radiance in Wuhan increased quickly in the fifth stage which indicated some resuscitation. In addition, compared to gross domestic product (GDP), the trend in electric power consumption (EPC) was consistent with the trend in NTL radiance. The above findings contribute to the making of control policies for COVID‐19 as well as other infectious diseases. Key Points Dimming light during COVID‐19 lockdown observed by satellite coincides with the stage of epidemic development Changes in six categories of human activity can be considerably explained by nighttime light changes (around 52%) GDP (or electric power consumption) has a consistent trend with the nighttime light radiance

Metabolic associated fatty liver disease increases the severity of COVID-19: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The association between metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) and disease progression in patients with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are unclear. AIMS: To explore the association between MAFLD and the severity of COVID-19 by meta-analysis. METHODS: We conducted a literature search using PubMed, EMBASE, Medline (OVID), and MedRxiv from inception to July 6, 2020. Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) and Stata 14.0 were used for quality assessment of included studies as well as for performing a pooled analysis. RESULTS: A total of 6 studies with 1,293 participants were included after screening. Four studies reported the prevalence of MAFLD patients with COVID-19, with a pooled prevalence of 0.31 for MAFLD (95CI 0.28, 0.35, I2 = 38.8%, P = 0.179). MAFLD increased the risk of COVID-19 disease severity, with a pooled OR of 2.93 (95CI 1.87, 4.60, I2 = 34.3%, P = 0.166). CONCLUSION: In this meta-analysis, we found that a high percentage of patients with COVID-19 had MAFLD. Meanwhile, MAFLD increased the risk of disease progression among patients with COVID-19. Thus, better intensive care and monitoring are needed for MAFLD patients infected by SARS-COV-2.