Epidemiology, clinical spectrum, viral kinetics and impact of COVID‐19 in the Asia‐Pacific region

Abstract

COVID‐19 has hit the world by surprise, causing substantial mortality and morbidity since 2020. This narrative review aims to provide an overview of the epidemiology, induced impact, viral kinetics and clinical spectrum of COVID‐19 in the Asia‐Pacific Region, focusing on regions previously exposed to outbreaks of coronavirus. COVID‐19 progressed differently by regions, with some (such as China and Taiwan) featured by one to two epidemic waves and some (such as Hong Kong and South Korea) featured by multiple waves. There has been no consensus on the estimates of important epidemiological time intervals or proportions, such that using them for making inferences should be done with caution. Viral loads of patients with COVID‐19 peak in the first week of illness around days 2 to 4 and hence there is very high transmission potential causing community outbreaks. Various strategies such as government‐guided and suppress‐and‐lift strategies, trigger‐based/suppression approaches and alert systems have been employed to guide the adoption and easing of control measures. Asymptomatic and pre‐symptomatic transmission is a hallmark of COVID‐19. Identification and isolation of symptomatic patients alone is not effective in controlling the ongoing outbreaks. However, early, prompt and coordinated enactment predisposed regions to successful disease containment. Mass COVID‐19 vaccinations are likely to be the light at the end of the tunnel. There is a need to review what we have learnt in this pandemic and examine how to transfer and improve existing knowledge for ongoing and future epidemics.

The Epidemiology of COVID-19 in Malaysia

“…Taiwan and Singapore reported lower CFRs of 1.3 and 0.05, respectively. [61] These comparisons suggest a reasonably efficient response of the Malaysian public health system to COVID-19 early in the pandemic.…”

Association of Lung Ultrasound Score with Mortality and Severity of COVID-19: A Meta-Analysis and Trial Sequential Analysis

“…The clinical manifestation spectrum of infection with COVID-19 ranges from mild self-limited disease to severe pneumonia (Hatmi, 2021). The mortality rate differs by countries and the infection rate is still rising, around 1%-5% (Kwok et al, 2021).…”

Psychobehavioral Responses and Likelihood of Receiving COVID-19 Vaccines during the Pandemic, Hong Kong

“…Hong Kong, a densely populated city located on the southern coast of China with ≈7.5 million citizens and a mean daily number of 12.5 social encounters per individual ( 3 ), recorded its first laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 case in late January 2020 ( 4 ). Since then, Hong Kong has been adopting a suppress-and-lift strategy, under which lifting and reimposing of restrictions occurred based on epidemiologic thresholds ( 5 ). As of April 9, 2021, Hong Kong had recorded 11,550 confirmed cases and 205 deaths (crude case-fatality rate 1.8%) ( 6 ), and the fourth wave of COVID-19 epidemic had just ended.…”