Background : Nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) are public health measures that aim to suppress the transmission of infectious diseases, including border restrictions, quarantine and isolation, community management, social distancing, face mask usage, and personal hygiene. This research aimed to assess the co-benefits of NPIs against COVID-19 on notifiable infectious diseases (NIDs) in Guangdong Province, China.Methods: Based on NID data from the Notifiable Infectious Diseases Surveillance System in Guangdong, we first compared the incidence of NIDs during the emergency response period (weeks 4-53 of 2020) with those in the same period of 2015-2019 and then compared that with the expected incidence during the synchronous period of 2020 for each city by using a Bayesian structural time series model. Findings: A total of 514,341 cases of 39 types of NIDs were reported in Guangdong during the emergency response period in 2020, which decreased by 50 •7% compared with the synchronous period during 2015-2019. It was estimated that the number of 39 NIDs during the emergency response in 2020 was 65 •6% (95% credible interval [CI]: 64 •0% -68 •2%) lower than expected, which means that 982,356 (95% CI: 913,443 -1,105,170) cases were averted. The largest reduction (82 •1%) was found for children aged 0-14 years. For different categories of NIDs, natural focal diseases and insect-borne infectious diseases had the greatest reduction (89 •4%), followed by respiratory infectious diseases (87 •4%), intestinal infectious diseases (59 •4%), and blood-borne and sexually transmitted infections (18 •2%). Dengue, influenza, and hand-foot-and-mouth disease were reduced by 99 •3%, 95 •1%, and 76 •2%, respectively. Larger reductions were found in the regions with developed economies and a higher number of COVID-19 cases.Interpretation: NPIs against COVID-19 may have a large co-benefit on the prevention of other infectious diseases in Guangdong, China, and the effects have heterogeneity in populations, diseases, time and space.

Human parechoviruses (HPeVs) are prevalent in young children; however, their effects are incompletely understood. We investigated the prevalence, genotype distribution, and phylogeny of HPeVs in individuals with diarrhea (n = 430) and healthy controls (n = 93) by the analysis of stool specimens collected from July 2013 to December 2014; 51 (11.86%) and 6 (6.45%) specimens were HPeV positive, respectively. HPeV1A occurred in 28 (6.51%) and 6 (6.45%) individuals with diarrhea and controls, respectively, whereas HPeV1B (3.95%), HPeV3 (0.23%), HPeV4 (0.70%), and HPeV14 (a rare genotype, 0.47%) were only detected in individuals with diarrhea. There was no significant difference in the rate of HPeV detection between the 2 groups; however, the mean age of HPeV infection was significantly lower in males. We conclude that HPeVs may be opportunistic pathogens associated with acute diarrhea. Immunocompromised individuals, such as children aged under 2 years and the elderly, could be vulnerable to HPeV infections.

93% of the isolates (n¼297) had MICs of <0.03 mg/l which were classified as susceptible (CroS). All CroRed isolates were analysed for mutations in penA (PBP2), mtrR (MtrR), porB (PorB) and ponA (PBP1). 123 (42%) CroS isolates were randomly selected as coselected Results In total, nine mutation patterns were observed in penA. Patterns I (31.7%), IX (29.2%) and XXII (26%) were most common in the 123 CroS isolates; while patterns IX (60.8%, p<0.05) and XXII (21.5%, p>0.05) were predominant in the 23 CroRed isolates. The mosaic penA pattern X was observed in only one isolate (Cro MIC¼0.06 mg/l). Seven mutation patterns were noted in mtrR. Among the CroS isolates, 35.8% had a single mutation (G45D or A39T) in the DNA binding domain (DBD) and 17.8% of the isolates carried an A" nucleotide deletion (AÀ) in the mtr promoter coupled with a G45D mutation. Among the CroRed isolates, 65.2% carried G45D or A39T single mutations, significantly higher than that of CroS isolates (p<0.05). The mutation of AÀ/H105Y was observed in 21.7% of CroRed isolates as compared to 4% of CroS isolates (p<0.05). Five mutation patterns at residues G120 and A121 of PorB were observed in the CroRed isolates including double (47.8% vs 13% CroS isolates, p<0.05) or single (21.7% vs 26% CroS isolates, p>0.05) mutations. L421P in PBP1 was detected in 87% CroRed and 13% CroS isolates, respectively (p<0.05). Conclusions Mosaic penA pattern X was only observed in one CroRed isolate. The mutations associated with CroRed phenotypes include pattern IX of PBP2, mutations in DBD and a double mutation of AÀ/H105Y in mtrR, double mutations in PorB (positions G120 and A121) and L421P of PBP1.

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