Prevalence and clinical features of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Fever Clinic of a teaching hospital in Beijing: a single-center, retrospective study

Ying Liang; Jingjin Liang; Qingtao Zhou; Xiaoguang Li; Fei Lin; Zhonghua Deng; Biying Zhang; Lu Li; Xiaohua Wang; Hong Zhu; Qingbian Ma; Xiaomei Tong; Jie Xu; Yongchang Sun

As of Feb 15, 2020, 57416 cases of confirmed COVID-19 were reported in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China, among which 49030 were in Hubei Province, while in Beijing municipality, 380 confirmed cases were reported. Since the outbreak in early December, 2019, case finding and reporting of COVID-19 were required for medical staff in Fever Clinics around the country. During this study period, in Beijing, as in other regions of the country, influenza and other respiratory infections were also prevalent; it was a challenge for physicians to identify suspected COVID-19 from patients with fever, particularly from pneumonia of varied etiologies. Our results here provide information on the prevalence of COVID-19 in the busy Fever Clinic of a teaching hospital and differential characteristics from non-COVID-19 pneumonias.