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Research on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic for LGBTQ+ people is limited, particularly in eastern Europe. This mixed methods study explored the direct and indirect effects of the pandemic on the mental and physical wellbeing of LGBTQ+ individuals in Moldova. From June to the end of July 2022, 86 surveys and 12 interviews were completed by self-identified LGBTQ+ adults in Moldova. Survey data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and interviews were coded and analyzed using the grounded theory methodology. The two data sets were interpreted concurrently to identify emergent themes. Overall, data suggest LGBTQ+ people experienced both negative and positive effects on their mental wellbeing due to the pandemic. Participants expressed feelings of anxiety, loneliness, and depression, and an inability to be their authentic selves. Conversely, participants had more capacity to explore their identities and they demonstrated social support within the LGBTQ+ community. Regarding physical impacts, there were interruptions to transgender medical care and concerns about housing affordability. Findings highlight the unique impacts of the pandemic on LGBTQ+ people and stress the importance of further research in this area and policies and plans to address the needs of LGBTQ+ people in response to the pandemic and future health crises.
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The pandemic spread of African swine fever (ASF) has caused serious effects on the global pig industry. Virus genome sequencing and genomic epidemiology analysis play an important role in tracking the outbreaks of the disease and tracing the transmission of the virus. Here we obtained the full-length genome sequence of African swine fever virus (ASFV) in the first outbreak of ASF in China on August 3rd, 2018 and compared it with other published genotype II ASFV genomes including 9 genomes collected in China from September 2018 to October 2020. Phylogenetic analysis on genomic sequences revealed that genotype II ASFV has evolved into different genetic clusters with temporal and spatial correlation since being introduced into Europe and then Asia. There was a strong support for the monophyletic grouping of all the ASFV genome sequences from China and other Asian countries, which shared a common ancestor with those from the Central or Eastern Europe. An evolutionary rate of 1.312 × 10−5 nucleotide substitutions per site per year was estimated for genotype II ASFV genomes. Eight single nucleotide variations which located in MGF110-1L, MGF110-7L, MGF360-10L, MGF505-5R, MGF505-9R, K145R, NP419L, and I267L were identified as anchor mutations that defined genetic clusters of genotype II ASFV in Europe and Asia. This study expanded our knowledge of the molecular epidemiology of ASFV and provided valuable information for effective control of the disease.
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Agriculture sector in the Republic of Moldova is the main and strategic brunch for the national economy. During the 2020-2022 years, we studied the factors influencing the development of enterprises in the horticulture sector in the Republic of Moldova. The research was carried out within the project: "Impact of macromedia and geographical factors on bankruptcy and business performance of economic entities in the agri-food sector in the Republic of Moldova", project code 20.80009.0807.26, according to contract with NARD. The study was conducted by interviewing approx. 1000 companies from agri-food (vegetal, animal, postharvest, processing, HORECA sectors etc.), inclusive approx. 800 enterprises from Horticulture brunch. As a result of the study it was established: economic factors / risks obtained an average rating of 3,94 points on the scale of 5 pt.;technical and technological factors / risks obtained an average rating of 4.1 points on the scale of 5 pt.;ecological factors / risks obtained an average rating of 4,06 points on the scale of 5 pt.;legislative-legal factors / risks obtained an average rating of 4,05 points on the scale of 5 pt.;information factors / risks obtained an average rating of 4,02 points on the scale of 5 pt.;moral factors / risks obtained an average rating of 4.04 points on the scale of 5 pt., qualification of staff factor / risk obtained an average rating of 4.08 points on the scale of 5 pt. and other factors, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, etc.
ABSTRACT
The novel coronavirus pandemic has become a global challenge and has shown that health systems worldwide are unprepared for pandemics of this magnitude. The war in Ukraine, escalated by Russia on February 24, 2022, brought deaths and a humanitarian catastrophe and stimulated the spread of COVID-19. Most refugees who evacuated from the war crossed the border with other countries. At the end of July, almost 550 thousand people crossed the border with Moldova. This study is devoted to modeling the impact of migration processes on the dynamics of COVID-19 in Moldova. For this, a machine learning model was built based on the polynomial regression method. The forecast accuracy a month before the escalation of the war was from 98.77% to 96.37% for new cases and from 99.8% to 99.75% for fatal cases. The forecast accuracy for the first month after the escalation of the war was from 99.96% to 99.34% for new cases and from 99.91% to 99.88% for fatal cases. The high accuracy of the model, both before the war and with the start of its escalation, suggests that the migration flows of refugees from Ukraine to Moldova did not affect the dynamics of COVID-19. ©2022 Copyright for this paper by its authors.
ABSTRACT
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of deaths in Moldova has considerably increased in absolute and relative numbers, compared with previous years. Earlier trends in mortality decline worsened for both sexes, while life expectancy decreased by 1.0 years in males and 1.7 years in females, respectively. Comparing the age components in the life expectancy change between pre-pandemic and pandemic periods, we can notice a slight increase in life expectancy in young-population age groups, mainly resulting from external mortality diminution. On the contrary, a sharp decline in life expectancy is observed in both sexes in the ages above 45. Life expectancy diminution was mainly conditioned by increased deaths from coronavirus disease and health system overload, which in many cases led to postponement in planned chronic disease treatment and emergency medical aid. A significant decrease in the number of deaths caused by COVID-19 was highlighted once a considerable proportion of the population was vaccinated against the coronavirus disease. Even though life expectancy is expected to increase in the following years, acquired chronic diseases or their late diagnosis during the COVID-19 pandemic can adversely affect the population's health in the medium and long term. The paper describes the life expectancy change in Moldova during the COVID-19 pandemic, for which the method of decomposition was used.Alternate abstract:Comparativ cu anii precedenți, în perioada pandemiei COVID19, numărul deceselor în Moldova a crescut considerabil, în cifre absolute și relative. Aceste schimbări în structura mortalității au întrerupt tendințele de creștere a speranței de viață înregistrate în perioada pre-pandemică. Astfel, către sfârșitul anului 2021, speranța de viață a înregistrat un declin de 1,0 ani la bărbați și 1,7 ani la femei. Comparând componentele de vârstă în schimbarea speranței de viață între perioada pre-pandemică și cea pandemică, putem observa o ușoară creștere a speranței de viață în vârstele tinere ale populației, care rezultă în mare parte din diminuarea mortalității prin cauze externe. Dimpotrivă, la vârstele peste 45 de ani se observă o scădere bruscă a speranței de viață la ambele sexe. Declinul în speranța de viață a fost condiționat de creșterea numărului de decese cauzate de boala coronavirus și gradului de supraîncărcare a sistemului de sănătate, care a dus la amânarea unor tratamente planificate a bolilor cronice și a redus capacitatea asistenței medicale de urgență. O scădere semnificativă a numărului de decese cauzate de COVID-19 a fost evidențiată odată ce o proporție considerabilă a populației a fost vaccinată împotriva bolii coronavirus. Bolile cronice dobândite în perioada pandemică, precum și diagnosticarea lor tardivă pot afecta negativ sănătatea populației pe termen mediu și lung. Acest articol descrie schimbările în speranța de viață din Moldova în perioada pandemiei COVID-19, pentru care a fost utilizată metoda decompoziției.
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Aim: Evaluation of the frequency with COVID-19 infection in children hospitalized during the pandemic period in Republic of Moldova. Method(s): The study presents the evolution of the frequency of the number of children with COVID-19 hospitalized in the department of infectious diseases in Mother and Child Institute between January 2021-February 2022.968 children with COVID-19 infection were hospitalized with moderate and severe form, from the age of 2 days till 18 years. Result(s): In January-February 2021, the hospitalization of children with COVID-19 was 2.2-2.8% of the total number of COVID-19 patients from the study. The increase of number of hospitalizations in March doubled(6.2%:95%CI 4.8- 8.0),and in April it was 4.7%:95%CI3.5-6.2children. Since May there has been a significant decrease in hospitalized children(1.3-2.9%),and since July there has been a progressive increase in the number of hospitalizations of children with COVID-19 from 4.0%:95%CI2.9-5,5 to 8.5%:95%CI6.9-10.5(September) and 10.9%:95%CI9.0-13.1 in October- period when the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 dominated. The decrease in hospitalization in November(6.5%)and December (4.0%)was followed by the exponential increase in hospitalization of children with COVID-19 in January 2022(13.8%:95%CI11.7-16, 2)and February(25.7%:95%CI23.0-28.6). This increase in hospitalizations of children with COVID-19 in the first two months of 2022 was during the dominance of Omicron variant. Conclusion(s): The frequency of hospitalization of children with COVID-19 infection was correlated with pandemic waves with an increase during the dominance of the Delta variant and the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2.
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Basing on a sociological survey in October-November 2020, changes in the material situation of families with children in Moldova and adaptive strategies were analyzed using a representative national sample, as well as official statistics. The results of the study showed that during the Covid-19 pandemic, about half of the country's families faced income reductions. Young families, families with three or more children, and labor migrant families forced to return from working abroad found themselves in a particularly difficult situation. An assessment of the families' financial situation largely depended on the changes in the respondents' work activity. Among those working remotely and who continued to work as usual, as a rule employed in the public sector, a small proportion of respondents suffered economic losses, while among those who lost their jobs or were on involuntary technical leave, mostly in the private sector, more than two-thirds faced serious financial difficulties. Among returning labor migrants, seven out of ten noted a decrease in the income of their families. In overcoming eventual material difficulties, the respondents pin little hopes on government assistance. The main mechanisms for the adaptation of the population to new conditions were the search for additional work, borrowing money from relatives and orientation towards working migration.
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The paper presents a comprehensive overview of the public health system in the separatist Trasnistrian region of Moldova, an analytically unorthodox undertaking, as this entails looking at the health system of a fragile breakaway state-like entity, a set of circumstances that — rather inevitably, it seems — may define certain basic features of the health system at hand. Attention will be dedicated to outlining the main challenges the region's public health system faces, for instance, concerning the spread of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and SARS-CoV-2. Studying the impact of the coronavirus pandemic can especially serve as a litmus test of the available capacities in Transnistria to deal with public health challenges: facing a novel pathogen, and the related disease and epidemic which threaten to overburden the local institutions. A key question examined here, through the example of Transnistria, is the degree to which international support to the region and the increasing cooperation with the internationally recognized state of Moldova are indispensable for public health security in the unrecognized state.
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The study of the corporate insolvencies' evolution is very important especially for the management of the company and in for the internal audit, control and performances forecasting. The objectives of the article is to analyse the evolution of number of insolvencies and to analyse some legal aspects regarding the corporate insolvencies in the Ukraine and Republic of Moldova till 2021. For this reason, this study try to answer the next three questions: (1) What was the evolution of number of corporate insolvencies in Republic of Moldova and Ukraine during 2013-2020? (2) What are the legislative regulations regarding insolvency proceedings in Republic of Moldova and Ukraine? (3) What is the level of development of the research of the corporate insolvencies forecast methods in these two countries? For this purpose, the following methods were applied: comparative-critical analysis of the literature, documentation, and documentary analysis, statistical methods of analysis, constructivist approach, and positivist approach. The results of this research show that these two countries are characterized by different directions of modifications of number of corporate insolvencies during the analysed period, excepting 2020 year, when the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact. At the same time, the performed econometric analysis, shows that the Republic of Moldova and Ukrainian models have a relatively high adjustment to the empirical data, demonstrating the possibility to forecast the number of corporate insolvencies. Regarding the legislative regulations, can be remarked that the main differences established in the legislation of these two countries relate to the amount and term of non-payment of debts. In addition, the corporate insolvencies forecast methods in Ukraine are much more advanced then in Republic of Moldova.
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BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted Europe, resulting in a high caseload and deaths that varied by country. The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has breached the borders of Europe. Public health surveillance is necessary to inform policy and guide leaders. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to provide advanced surveillance metrics for COVID-19 transmission that account for weekly shifts in the pandemic, speed, acceleration, jerk, and persistence, to better understand countries at risk for explosive growth and those that are managing the pandemic effectively. METHODS: We performed a longitudinal trend analysis and extracted 62 days of COVID-19 data from public health registries. We used an empirical difference equation to measure the daily number of cases in Europe as a function of the prior number of cases, the level of testing, and weekly shift variables based on a dynamic panel model that was estimated using the generalized method of moments approach by implementing the Arellano-Bond estimator in R. RESULTS: New COVID-19 cases slightly decreased from 158,741 (week 1, January 4-10, 2021) to 152,064 (week 2, January 11-17, 2021), and cumulative cases increased from 22,507,271 (week 1) to 23,890,761 (week 2), with a weekly increase of 1,383,490 between January 10 and January 17. France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom had the largest 7-day moving averages for new cases during week 1. During week 2, the 7-day moving average for France and Spain increased. From week 1 to week 2, the speed decreased (37.72 to 33.02 per 100,000), acceleration decreased (0.39 to -0.16 per 100,000), and jerk increased (-1.30 to 1.37 per 100,000). CONCLUSIONS: The United Kingdom, Spain, and Portugal, in particular, are at risk for a rapid expansion in COVID-19 transmission. An examination of the European region suggests that there was a decrease in the COVID-19 caseload between January 4 and January 17, 2021. Unfortunately, the rates of jerk, which were negative for Europe at the beginning of the month, reversed course and became positive, despite decreases in speed and acceleration. Finally, the 7-day persistence rate was higher during week 2 than during week 1. These measures indicate that the second wave of the pandemic may be subsiding, but some countries remain at risk for new outbreaks and increased transmission in the absence of rapid policy responses.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/epidemiology , Public Health Surveillance , Europe/epidemiology , Humans , Longitudinal StudiesABSTRACT
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, no viral genome sequences of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) have been documented from the Republic of Moldova, a developing country geographically located in Eastern Europe between Romania and Ukraine. Here, we report the analysis of 96 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Delta and Omicron variants of the SARS-CoV-2 cases in the Republic of Moldova obtained between August and November 2021 and between January and May 2022. Comparison to global viral sequences showed that among the Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2, AY.122 (n = 25), followed by AY.4.2.3 (n = 6), AY.4 (n = 5), AY.43 (n = 3), AY.98.1 (n = 3), B.1.617.2 (n = 1), AY.125 (n = 1), AY.54 (n = 1), AY.9 (n = 1), AY.126 (n = 1), and AY.33 (n = 1) were the most frequently found lineages. Furthermore, 10 lineages of the Omicron variant, namely, BA.2 (n = 14), followed by BA.2.9 (n = 10), BA.1 (n = 5), BA.1.1 (n = 5), BA.1.18 (n = 4), BA.1.15.1 (n = 3), BA.1.17.2 (n = 2), BA.1.17 (n = 2), BA.1.15 (n = 1), and BA.2.1 (n = 1) were detected. In addition, we also identified the impact of the military crisis between Russia and Ukraine, when the COVID-19 epidemiological rules collapsed, on the distribution of Delta and Omicron variants in the Republic of Moldova. Additional studies are warranted to characterize further the impact of the war between Russia and Ukraine on the genomic epidemiology of the SARS-CoV-2 in the Republic of Moldova and Eastern Europe.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , SARS-CoV-2 , Humans , SARS-CoV-2/genetics , COVID-19/epidemiology , Moldova/epidemiology , PandemicsABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences have changed the lives of migrants around the world. It affected all spheres of people’s life, from the health and education systems to the economy and politics. Migrants who were carrying out work abroad during the outbreak of the pandemic literally became hostages of the situation, many lost their jobs and were forced to return home. However, at home many of them became unexpected guests, so that they hope to be able to return back to where they came from as soon as the borders are opened, and resume their working days in order to continue to provide for their families. In the article, the author examines labour migration from the Republic of Moldova during the COVID-19 pandemic and analyses its impact on citizens who work abroad. It is noted that Moldova is a country where a third of the employable age population is working abroad. In 2019–2020, many migrants had to return to their homeland and adapt to new living conditions, including finding a job at home, with a relatively high unemployment rate in the country. It is emphasized that since the end of 2019, when the pandemic began, despite the “crisis” that has arisen, money transfers have not decreased, but, on the contrary, have broken the maximum record since 2008. In order to identify the impact of the pandemic on migrants, a survey was conducted among Moldovan citizens who work abroad, and they were asked to answer the following questions: where they work;what their education level is;on what grounds they live in the country where they work;how their employment has changed since the start of the pandemic;if they have tried to return to their homeland with the outbreak of the pandemic;if they received financial assistance, and from whom, during the pandemic;how their income has changed during the pandemic;if they made money transfers home during the pandemic, and in what quantity. To sun up, it can be said that, not only the COVID-19 pandemic, but also the poor economic situation in the country led to mass migration from the country and instability among its citizens abroad. © 2022,Russian Academy of Sciences.
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In recent weeks, many Ukrainian refugees have crossed into Hungary, Poland, Moldova, and Romania. The WHO works with these and other nations to increase disease surveillance and provide immunization programs according to their schedules and policies. This article provides a summary of the recommendations provided by WHO to all countries in the region. According to the guidelines, countries must continue to make efforts to ensure that their resident populations, including refugee populations, are fully vaccinated against polio, measles, rubella, COVID-19, and other vaccine-preventable diseases. Vaccination against polio, measles, and rubella must be offered as a priority to incoming refugee children under the age of six who have missed any routine vaccinations Vaccine doses must be recorded and made available to vaccinated individuals.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has divided the world into groups of people who believe and who do not believe in the existence of the SARS-COV.2 virus, who accept and who are against vaccination. The SARS-COV.2 virus appears in the socio-human environment. It is a living, microbiological organism reproduced by the human body and propagated in the social environment. The COVID-19 pandemic led to extreme situations for the state's institutions and for the social ones, developed their activity capacities during crisis, presenting the weaknesses of the connections of the management at different levels and of the horizontal connections on the horizontal between the citizens and the social groups. SARS-CoV.2 also entered the media communication, where it shed light on the way in which the media exerts its information, sensibilisation, culturalization and formation functions of the socio-human values.
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The migration phenomenon is a very complex one, with multiple causes, positive as well as negative effects for the countries and migrants involved in this process. Migration must be approached from a political, social, cultural, religious and economic perspective, with the effects of migration having a strong impact on the national and world labour market for all states involved in this process. Metaphorically, the political and social classes of the countries that received a significant influx of immigrants perceived them as a "lifeboat" in a new stage of rebuilding the economies of the world's states. Literature shows that there is a direct, positive and strong correlation in terms of emigrant education everywhere and long- and medium-term economic growth in the migrant's country of origin. That said, there is a cause-and-effect relationship between the immigrant's motivation and the economic and social effects felt for the country of origin of the person in question. All economies of the world feel the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic of the last two, the effects being the result of a health crisis with strong reverberations on all sectors of the economy, especially causing distortions in the labour market and labour mobility.
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The current research aimed to investigate the influence of COVID-19 in relation to social stigma against COVID-19 suffered people in educational institutions. The author shares her experience of developing the project "Assisting Moldovan English-Speaking Community's Social Awareness 2020-2021", implemented in the Academy of Economic Studies from Moldova (ASEM), aimed to avoid discrimination and stigma around coronavirus. Based on the results of the project, the present article delves into stigma associated with the COVID-19 pandemic among student. It reveals that only integrated activities of the students, the management staff, lecturers and parents can bring expected results - university that is free of discrimination.
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In 2021, in the Republic of Moldova anticipated Parliamentary elections, which were won by the pro-European political party Party Action and Solidarity were held. After the election of the Moldova S Government, that was formed from the parliamentary majority, the governance program was entitled Good Times. As a result entire nation is expecting changes in their level of life, expended social benefits, increased salaries and pensions, etc. However the Good Times came in not really a good period. Complex and complicated regional situation, energy crises, COVID-19pandemics, factors that affect directly and indirectly the national security. In times like this, is critical for the country S key decision making authorities and decision makers to understand the undisputed importance of having a ready military force that can step-up in any situation, from providing territorial integrity to helping authorities deal in any emergency situations, but all that requires political maturity, commitment, resources allocation, and a desire to evolve and prosper as a nation. In 2018, in the Republic of Moldova new National Defense and Military Strategies were ratified by the Parliament and Government respectively. These documents stipulate new threats and a new set of objectives that the National Army must accomplish. However, not even after 30 years of existence and continuous foreign assistance, the common task list for the units in the National Army had not been developed, standards were not properly set, and clear guidance of what is expected from a unit to execute is not quite clear. Finally, considering the continuously evolving operational environment and threats in the region, the existing capabilities in National Army are not sufficient to provide proper protection of the state S sovereignty and its territorial borders. Nor these capabilities exist to conduct the adequate peacekeeping operations in the Transnistrian Region, to support civil authorities in case of emergency, or to participate in multinational peacekeeping operations abroad, being fully interoperable with its strategic partners. This work provides an overview of relevant strategic documents of the Republic of Moldova, and examples of theoretical approaches on determining/ evaluating readiness status of a military unit/force. The main objective of this work is to provide the Military Decision Makers with some recommendations on changing the current state of affairs in the field of readiness assessment of the military units. The results should be taken into consideration in order to obtain efficient transformation, a process that has already started in the National Army. With the recommendation exposed in this work, such as: development of mission essential task list, development of national regulation for evaluation of the unit's readiness, development of evaluating criteria, establishment of readiness levels, proper equipping and training along with functional task-organization, and last but not list extend of the social benefits packages for the all personnel working in the Defense Institutions, it is absolutely possible to develop and maintain ready forces to support all national interests.
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Currently, entrepreneurship and migration go hand in hand. On the one hand, migration causes the population to adapt to the new social, economic and geopolitical conditions. On the other hand, the development of entrepreneurship requires the creation of new products and services that society requires over a period of time. The symbiosis between returned migrants and the development of business in the field of agriculture can become the key to success for the economy of the Republic of Moldova. The phenomenon of migration in the Republic of Moldova has been going on for several decades, and in the last period of time, as a result of the triggering of the COVID pandemic situation, it is attenuating. In this sense, one of the basic prerogatives of public authorities is reintegration and return of Moldovan migrants and their support through various programs and tools. The most popular of the support programs, intended for migrants and their relatives who want to start a business in the Republic of Moldova, is the Program for Attracting Remittances in Economy "PARE 1 + 1". Businesses created by migrants, tangentially, were also supported with the support of other state programs and foreign donors through technical assistance, training, workshops, participation in conferences and exhibitions, preferential lending, funding through grants before and after investment, compensation, direct payments per animal, various tax mechanisms, etc.
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Healthy life expectancy (HALE) measures the quality of life a person expects to live. This study aims to find out the most associated factors of HALE at birth globally. The data of 212 countries came from the World Health Organization, Worldometer, World Bank, and United Nations. HALE at birth is considered as the dependent variable;and social, economic, and health factors are considered as the predictors. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression models were used as the statistical tools to reach the objective. The results revealed that HALE is found lower in Central African Republic and higher in Singapore. The highest death rate due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19), alcohol consumption rate, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence rate, and average household size are found in Nicaragua, Moldova Republic, Eswatini, and Senegal, respectively. And the lowest recovery rate from COVID 19, and universal health coverage (UHC) service index are found in Tajikistan, and Montserrat, respectively. The recovery rate from COVID 19, UHC service index, gross domestic product (GDP), current health expenditure, tuberculosis (TB) incidence, tobacco smoking, HIV prevalence rate and average household size were significantly correlated with the HALE at birth. The multiple linear regression models identified that the UHC service index, alcohol consumption rate, HIV prevalence rate and average household size are the most associate factors of HALE at birth globally. Therefore, the necessary steps should be taken to maximize the UHC service index, and to minimize the alcohol consumption rate, HIV prevalence rate and average household size for increasing the HALE at birth in the world.
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ObjectiveTo describe primary health care (consultation characteristics and management) for patients contacting their general practitioner (GP) with a respiratory tract infection (RTI) early on in the COVID-19 pandemic in contrasting European countries, with comparison to prepandemic findings.SettingPrimary care in 16 countries (79 practices), when no routine SARS-CoV-2 testing was generally available.Design and participantsBefore (n=4376) and early in the pandemic (n=3301), patients with RTI symptoms were registered in this prospective audit study.Outcome measuresConsultation characteristics (type of contact and use of PPE) and management characteristics (clinical assessments, diagnostic testing, prescribing, advice and referral) were registered. Differences in these characteristics between countries and between pandemic and prepandemic care are described.ResultsCare for patients with RTIs rapidly switched to telephone/video consultations (10% in Armenia, 91% in Denmark), and when consultations were face-to-face, GPs used PPE during 97% (95% CI 96% to 98%) of contacts. Laboratory testing for SARS-CoV-2 in primary care patients with RTIs was rapidly implemented in Denmark (59%) and Germany (31%), while overall testing for C reactive protein decreased. The proportion of patients prescribed antibiotics varied considerably between countries (3% in Belgium, 48% in UK) and was lower during the pandemic compared with the months before, except for Greece, Poland and UK. GPs provided frequent and varied COVID-related advice and more frequently scheduled a follow-up contact (50%, 95% CI 48% to 52%). GPs reported a slightly higher degree of confidence in the likely effectiveness of their management in face-to-face (73% (very) confident, 95% CI 71% to 76%) than in virtual consultations (69%, 95% CI 67% to 71%).ConclusionsDespite between-country variation in consultation characteristics, access to SARS-CoV-2 laboratory testing and medication prescribing, GPs reported a high degree of confidence in managing their patients with RTIs in the emerging pandemic. Insight in the highly variable pandemic responses, as measured in this multicountry audit, can aid in fine-tuning national action and in coordinating a pan-European response during future pandemic threats.