This article is a Preprint
Preprints are preliminary research reports that have not been certified by peer review. They should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Preprints posted online allow authors to receive rapid feedback and the entire scientific community can appraise the work for themselves and respond appropriately. Those comments are posted alongside the preprints for anyone to read them and serve as a post publication assessment.
Unveiling the real dynamics of transmission of COVID-19 in Malaysia without incarcerated clusters: a modelling study (preprint)
researchsquare; 2020.
Preprint
in English
| PREPRINT-RESEARCHSQUARE | ID: ppzbmed-10.21203.rs.3.rs-97023.v1
ABSTRACT
Introduction:
The latest outbreak of COVID-19 in Malaysia emerged in early September and had two determinants. First, it involved incarcerated populations from four prisons located in Sabah, Kedah and Penang states. Second, the Sabah state by-election campaigns accelerated the spread of COVID-19 in the state and across the South China Sea into the west Malaysia. The emergence of multiple incarcerated clusters at different time points may shadow the real dynamics of transmission of COVID-19 in the community and lead to inaccurate interpretation and conclusion. The study aimed to reveal the real spreading pattern of COVID-19 by excluding incarcerated clusters in the modelling.Methodology:
We extended the susceptible-infectious-removed (SIR) model to include an additional class for non-isolated active cases, which was assumed to impel the transmission of COVID-19 in the community. The model was fitted to actual total and removed cases for estimation of duration of transmission and hospitalization. The parameters were then applied to model the transmission for COVID-19 in the community.Results:
The presence of incarcerated clusters shadowed the dynamics of transmission of COVID-19 with a lower reproduction number of 2.0. The proportion of non-isolated active cases increased slowly from 49.4% on 1 September 2020 to 60.3% on 8 October 2020. In the absence of incarcerated clusters, the dynamics of transmission of COVID-19 appeared differently with a higher reproduction number of 2.3. The proportion of non-isolated active cases increased tremendously from 22.1% on 1 September 2020 to 63.7% on 8 October 2020. The tremendous increase of non-isolated active cases impelled the dynamics of transmission of COVID-19 in the community following the Sabah state by-election campaigns and more inter-state travels.Conclusion:
The inclusion of incarcerated clusters shadowed the dynamics of transmission of COVID-19 in the community with a lower transmission rate, which might lead to wrong interpretation of the dynamics of transmission in the community.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Preprints
Database:
PREPRINT-RESEARCHSQUARE
Main subject:
Emergencies
/
COVID-19
Language:
English
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Preprint
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS