Clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19 in Asian countries

ABSTRACT

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 [SARS-CoV-2] has been identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness in Wuhan, China beginning December 2019. As of 14th July 2020, the pandemic recorded 12,964,809 confirmed cases with 570,288 deaths globally. A thorough review of the clinical characteristics of this infection will help in understanding this widespread but seemingly localizing disease. This research aimed to review the clinical characteristic of Covid-19 including the risk factors, clinical manifestations, laboratory and radiological findings and complications exhibited in Asia. A narrative review was conducted along with 48 research articles published in Scopus journals in 2020 in Asian countries on clinical characteristics of the disease. It was concluded that despite being in the same region, clinical characteristics of COVID-19 varies among the Asian countries. The mortality rate among Asian countries was varied with the competency of public health measures as one of the vital contributing factors. The variable findings on the clinical characteristics may be due to inconsistent quality of methodology in recent researches which was a rapid response to the pandemic. Although these studies are necessary to manage the current global emergency, more high-quality researches are needed to provide a valid and reliable scientific understanding of the disease. © 2020, All India Institute of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved.