Socio-Economic Factors Affecting the Regional Spread and Outbreak of COVID-19 in China

Yang, Liren; Qi, Cuifang; Yang, Zixuan; Shang, Li; Xie, Guilan; Wang, Ruiqi; Sun, Landi; Xu, Mengmeng; Yang, Wenfang; Chung, Mei Chun

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the impact of socio-economic factors on the spread and outbreak of COVID-19 based on Chinese data. METHODS: Cumulative confirmed cases were collected and divided into the First-stage cases cluster dominated by imported cases, and the Second-stage cases cluster dominated by secondary cases, according to the time of emergency state and Wuhan city lockdown. The linear regression was used for data analysis. RESULTS: A total of 12,877 cases in 30 provinces were analyzed in the study. The First-stage cases cluster included 675 cases and Second-stage cases cluster included 12,202 cases. The socio-economic factors were significantly associated with the cases (P<0.05). The GDP and proportion of population moving out of Wuhan were associate with the First-stage dominated by imported cases (β>0, P<0.05). The First-stage cases cluster, proportion of population moving out of Wuhan and urban population were associate with the Second-stage dominated by secondary cases (β>0, P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Socio-economic factors had impacts on the spread and outbreak of COVID-19. The combination of different socio-economic indicators at different stages of the epidemic may help control the epidemic.