Epidemiologic Characteristics of COVID-19 in Guizhou Province, China.

Ping, Kaike; Lei, Mingyu; Gou, Yun; Tao, Zhongfa; Yao, Guanghai; Hu, Can; Tao, Qin; Zou, Zhiting; Wang, Dingming; Li, Shijun; Huang, Yan

INTRODUCTION At the end of 2019, the COVID-19 broke out, and spread to Guizhou province in January of 2020. METHODOLOGY To acquire the epidemiologic characteristics of COVID-19 in Guizhou province, we collected data from 169 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 related cases. We described the demographic characteristics of the cases and estimated the incubation period, serial interval and the effective reproduction number. We also presented two representative case studies in Guizhou province: Case Study 1 was an example of the asymptomatic carrier; while Case Study 2 was an example of a large and complex infection chain that involved four different regions, spanning three provinces and eight families. RESULTS Two peaks in the incidence distribution associated with COVID-19 in Guizhou province were related to the 6.04 days (95% CI: 5.00 - 7.10) of incubation period and 6.14±2.21 days of serial interval. We also discussed the effectiveness of the control measures based on the instantaneous effective reproduction number that was a constantly declining curve. CONCLUSIONS As of February 2, 2020, the estimated effective reproduction number was below 1, and no new cases were reported since February 26. These showed that Guizhou Province had achieved significant progress in preventing the spread of the epidemic. The medical isolation of close contacts was consequential. Meanwhile, the asymptomatic carriers and the super-spreaders must be isolated in time, who would cause a widespread infection.