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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14279/23061
Title: | Epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 cases and estimates of the reproductive numbers 1 month into the epidemic, Italy, 28 January to 31 March 2020 | Authors: | Riccardo, Flavia Ajelli, Marco Andrianou, Xanthi Bella, Antonino Del Manso, Martina Fabiani, Massimo Bellino, Stefania Boros, Stefano Urdiales, Alberto Mateo Marziano, Valentina Rota, Maria Cristina Filia, Antonietta D'Ancona, Fortunato P Siddu, Andrea Punzo, Ornella Trentini, Filippo Guzzetta, Giorgio Poletti, Piero Stefanelli, Paola Castrucci, Maria Rita Ciervo, Alessandra Di Benedetto, Corrado Tallon, Marco Piccioli, Andrea Brusaferro, Silvio Rezza, Giovanni Merler, Stefano Pezzotti, Patrizio |
Major Field of Science: | Medical and Health Sciences | Field Category: | Health Sciences | Keywords: | COVID-19;SARS-CoV-2;Descriptive epidemiology;Infectious disease modelling | Issue Date: | Dec-2020 | Source: | Eurosurveillance, 2020, vol. 25, no. 49, pp. 1 - 11 | Volume: | 25 | Issue: | 49 | Start page: | 1 | End page: | 11 | Journal: | Eurosurveillance | Abstract: | BackgroundOn 20 February 2020, a locally acquired coronavirus disease (COVID-19) case was detected in Lombardy, Italy. This was the first signal of ongoing transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the country. The number of cases in Italy increased rapidly and the country became the first in Europe to experience a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak.AimOur aim was to describe the epidemiology and transmission dynamics of the first COVID-19 cases in Italy amid ongoing control measures.MethodsWe analysed all RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 cases reported to the national integrated surveillance system until 31 March 2020. We provide a descriptive epidemiological summary and estimate the basic and net reproductive numbers by region.ResultsOf the 98,716 cases of COVID-19 analysed, 9,512 were healthcare workers. Of the 10,943 reported COVID-19-associated deaths (crude case fatality ratio: 11.1%) 49.5% occurred in cases older than 80 years. Male sex and age were independent risk factors for COVID-19 death. Estimates of R0 varied between 2.50 (95% confidence interval (CI): 2.18-2.83) in Tuscany and 3.00 (95% CI: 2.68-3.33) in Lazio. The net reproduction number Rt in northern regions started decreasing immediately after the first detection.ConclusionThe COVID-19 outbreak in Italy showed a clustering onset similar to the one in Wuhan, China. R0 at 2.96 in Lombardy combined with delayed detection explains the high case load and rapid geographical spread. Overall, Rt in Italian regions showed early signs of decrease, with large diversity in incidence, supporting the importance of combined non-pharmacological control measures. | URI: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14279/23061 | ISSN: | 15607917 | DOI: | 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.49.2000790 | Rights: | This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International |
Type: | Article | Affiliation : | Istituto Superiore di Sanità Bruno Kessler Foundation Indiana University Northeastern University Cyprus University of Technology |
Publication Type: | Peer Reviewed |
Appears in Collections: | Άρθρα/Articles |
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eurosurv-25-49-4.pdf | Fulltext | 1.02 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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