COVID-19, Australia: Epidemiology Report 12: Reporting week ending 23:59 AEST 19 April 2020

Abstract

Confirmed cases in Australia notified up to 19 April 2020: notifications = 6,606; deaths = 69. The reduction in international travel and domestic movement, social distancing measures and public health action have likely slowed the spread of the disease. Notifications in Australia remain predominantly among people with recent overseas travel, with some locally-acquired cases being detected. Most locally-acquired cases can be linked back to a confirmed case, with a small portion unable to be epidemiologically linked. The distribution of overseas-acquired cases to locally-acquired cases varies by jurisdiction. The crude case fatality rate (CFR) in Australia remains low (1.0%) compared to the World Health Organization’s globally-reported rate (6.8%) and to other comparable high-income countries such as the United States of America (4.7%) and the United Kingdom (13.5%). The low CFR is likely reflective of high case ascertainment including detection of mild cases. High case ascertainment enables public health response and reduction of disease transmission. Internationally, cases continue to increase. The rates of increase have started to slow in several regions, although it is too soon to tell whether this trend will be sustained. Interpretation of international epidemiology should be conducted with caution as it differs from country to country depending not only on the disease dynamics, but also on differences in case detection, testing and implemented public health measures.

Thirty-Day Outcomes of Children and Adolescents With COVID-19: An International Experience

“…These values are higher than what has been previously reported in other studies from China (2%), 19 Spain (2%), 20 the US (1.7%), 6 or the UK (0.9%), 21 but in line with the WHO dashboard which reported that children (>14 years) accounted for 3.7% of all COVID-19 cases, 1 or the Australian Health Protection Agency which has reported that children/adolescents (<19 year) accounted for 4% of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Australia. 22 Asthma and obesity were the most common baseline comorbidities in children/adolescents with COVID-19; this is in keeping with disease prevalence among a general pediatric population. 23 More strikingly, we observed a high prevalence of conditions that are relatively rare in children/adolescents, including congenital malformation/s, neurodevelopmental disorders, heart disease, type 1 diabetes mellitus, cancer, and chromosomal disorder/s.…”

Analysis of Genomic Characteristics and Transmission Routes of Patients With Confirmed SARS-CoV-2 in Southern California During the Early Stage of the US COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Thus, the mean age of CSMC patients was approximately 60 years, which is consistent with older adults being more susceptible to COVID-19. 5,21,24 Patients with higher viral loads detected by RT-PCR also correlated with a higher percentage of SARS-CoV-2 genome coverage by sequencing.…”

“…After transmission from China, our timeline for SARS-CoV-2 infection follows other reported introductions into different global populations. 5,11,14,15,[23][24][25][26] At the time of our study, the only Los Angeles SARS-CoV-2 genome deposited in GISAID was not linked to a particular model of introduction. 3 Based on these cumulative findings, we hypothesize the local Los Angeles community was likely exposed to a US West Coast SARS-CoV-2 strain, which was directly transmitted from China.…”

“…4 Assessing core genomic features across all global populations can be used for comparative analysis to identify features unique to SARS-CoV-2 as well as assist in epidemiologic and public health endeavors. 2,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] SARS-CoV-2 is a coronavirus with a 29 903-base pair (bp) single-stranded RNA genome 16 containing 14 open reading frames and 27 estimated proteins. 17 Viral genome annotation can assess the conserved wild-type sequence across all patients with COVID-19.…”

Baseline characteristics, management, and outcomes of 55,270 children and adolescents diagnosed with COVID-19 and 1,952,693 with influenza in France, Germany, Spain, South Korea and the United States: an international network cohort study

“…These values are higher than what has been previously reported in other studies from China (2%) [17], Spain (2%) [18], the US (1.7%) [5], or the UK (0.9%) [19], but in line with the WHO dashboard which reported that children below the age of 14 years old accounted for 3.7% of all COVID-19 cases [1], or the Australian Health Protection Agency which has reported that children/adolescents below the age of 19 years accounted for 4% of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Australia. [20]…”