ObjectiveAt the end of November 2022, Guangzhou implemented the latest Covid-19
epidemic prevention
policy and began to gradually lift the lockdown. However, under the new
epidemic prevention situation, the situation of SARS-CoV-2 infection in hospitalized
patients in
China is still unclear. Accordingly, this
paper aims to study the SARS-CoV-2 infection of hospitalized
patients in Guangzhou under the new
epidemic prevention and control situation. MethodsThe results of
SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid tests in our
hospital from the end of November 2022 to the beginning of February 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. The positive rate of
SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid tests in
outpatients and
inpatients under the new
epidemic prevention situation, and the
nosocomial infection of
SARS-CoV-2 in
inpatients were statistically analyzed. ResultsThis study retrospectively analyzed the
SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test results of 13 959
patients, including 6 966
outpatients and 6 993
inpatients. On November 30, 2022, the
SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test results of
outpatients began to be positive, indicating that the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 infection had begun. On December 7, one case of
SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test results of hospitalized
patients was positive, and
nosocomial infections began to break out. On December 15, the positive rate of
SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test among
patients exceeded 40 %, and the
epidemic entered its peak period. After the end of December, the test positive rate gradually decreased, but the positive rate of
inpatients was always higher than that of
outpatients. Compared with December 2022, the positive rate of
SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test of
patients in many departments in January 2023 decreased, but the positive rate of
SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test of
inpatients in the oncology department increased significantly (P < 0.001). Further
analysis found that the
nosocomial infection rate of
SARS-CoV-2 in
inpatients was 86.57 % (329/380). However, the
nosocomial infection rate in
lymphoma patients [58.33 % (14/24)] was significantly lower than that of the hospitalized
patients with other
disease types (P < 0.001). ConclusionThe positive rate of
SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid testing among
patients reached its peak in mid-December 2022. In January 2023, the positive rate of
SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid testing gradually decreased, while the number or positive rate of
SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid testing positive
patients in some departments increased. The
nosocomial infection rate among hospitalized
patients is as high as 90 %. There are differences in the
nosocomial infection rate of
SARS-CoV-2 among
inpatients with different
disease types. In summary, this study provides
preliminary data on the epidemiological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infection among hospitalized
patients in Guangzhou, as well as the
protection against
infection among hospitalized
patients and cross-
infection between
medical staffs and
patients.