Epidemiological Characteristics of 417 patients infected with COVID-19 and 368 discharged cases among them in Shenzhen City, China

Abstract The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is getting worse every day all over the world. The present study aimed to review the epidemiological characteristics of patients infected with COVID-19 in Shenzhen city, a super megacity of China, to provide some references for fighting to the coronavirus. We collected data of 417 patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 of Shenzhen through March 7 th , 2020. The epidemiological characteristics of the patients were analyzed. Besides, we collected the governmental measures of Shenzhen city, and the the dynamic changes of the epidemic outbreak. Governmental strategies such as early detection, early hospitalization and popular science etc. are effective for the prevention and control of the epidemic. Nearly 80% confirmed patients with COVID-19 in Shenzhen were in normal or mild conditions, and the mortality was less than 1%. Age, gender, exposure to source of transmission within 14 days and basic diseases are major risk factors for severe patients. Patients in characters of elder, male, with exposure of Wuhan and carried basic diseases had higher risk to be in severe condition (P<0.01; P<0.001). There were 368 patients discharged from hospital by the end of March 7 th , 2020. Patients in severe conditions took more time from onset to discharge (P<0.001), so as those elder one (P<0.001) or who carried basic diseases (P<0.01). The differences of epidemiological characteristics between children and the elderly are still not clear. The nucleic acid test of some discharged patients returned to positive again, and the potential mechanisms need to be further explored. In conclusion, timely administrative intervention is necessary for prevention and control of the COVID-19 outbreak. Patients in characters of elder, male and carried basic diseases worthy more attention. The management of discharged patients, especially the investigation of the recurrence of positive SARS-CoV-2 RNA will be the focus on for the next step. Authors Bo Yuan and Ya-Wen An contributed equally to this work.