Effects of policies and containment measures on control of COVID- 19 epidemic in Chongqing

BACKGROUND Coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)is an emerging,rapidly evolving disease that spreads through the respiratory system and is highly contagious.In March 2020,the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic.In China,the pandemic was controlled after 2 mo through effective policies and containment measures.Describing the detailed policies and containment measures used to control the epidemic in Chongqing will provide a reference for the prevention and control of COVID-19 in other areas of the world.AIM To explore the effects of different policies and containment measures on the control of the COVID-19 epidemic in Chongqing.METHODS Epidemiological data on COVID-19 in Chongqing were prospectively collected from January 21 to March 15,2020.The policies and prevention measures implemented by the government during the epidemic period were also collected.Trend analysis was performed to explore the impact of the main policy measures on the effectiveness of the control of COVID-19 in Chongqing.As of March 15,the cumulative incidence of COVID-19 in Chongqing was 1.84/100000(576 cases)and the infection fatality rate was 1.04%(6/576).The spread of COVID-19 was controlled by effective policies that involved establishing a group for directing the COVID-19 epidemic control effort;strengthening guidance and supervision;ensuring the supply of daily necessities and medical supplies and equipment to residents;setting up designated hospitals;implementing legal measures;and enhancing health education.Medical techniques were implemented to improve the recovery rate and control the epidemic.Policies such as“the lockdown of Wuhan”,“initiating a first-level response to major public health emergencies”,and“implementing the closed management of residential communities”significantly curbed the spread of COVID-19.Optimizing the diagnosis process,shortening the diagnosis time,and constructing teams of clinical experts facilitated the provision of“one team of medical experts for each patient”treatment for severe patients,which significantly improved the recovery rate and reduced the infection fatality rate.CONCLUSION The prevention policies and containment measures implemented by the government and medical institutions are highly effective in controlling the spread of the epidemic and increasing the recovery rate of COVID-19 patients.

Early Warning and Monitoring of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Using Baidu Search Index and Baidu Information Index in Guangxi,China

Coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)is an emerging infectious disease,and it is important to detect early and monitor the disease trend for policymakers to make informed decisions.We explored the predictive utility of Baidu Search Index and Baidu Information Index for early warning of COVID-19 and identified search keywords for further monitoring of epidemic trends in Guangxi.A time-series analysis and Spearman correlation between the daily number of cases and both the Baidu Search Index and Baidu Information Index were performed for seven keywords related to COVID-19 from January 8 to March 9,2020.The time series showed that the temporal distributions of the search terms“coronavirus,”“pneumonia”and“mask”in the Baidu Search Index were consistent and had 2 to 3 days'lead time to the reported cases;the correlation coefficients were higher than 0.81.The Baidu Search Index volume in 14 prefectures of Guangxi was closely related with the number of reported cases;it was not associated with the local GDP.The Baidu Information Index search terms“coronavirus”and“pneumonia”were used as frequently as 192,405.0 and 110,488.6 per million population,respectively,and they were also significantly associated with the number of reported cases(rs>0.6),but they fluctuated more than for the Baidu Search Index and had 0 to 14 days'lag time to the reported cases.The Baidu Search Index with search terms“coronavirus,”“pneumonia”and“mask”can be used for early warning and monitoring of the epidemic trend of COVID-19 in Guangxi,with 2 to 3 days'lead time.