Epidemiological Characteristics of COVID-19 in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

Authors

  • Mohd ‘Ammar Ihsan Ahmad Zamzuri Department of Community Health, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 2Seremban District Health Office, Negeri Sembilan State Health Department, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
  • Farah Edura Ibrahim Department of Community Health, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • Muhammad Alimin Mat Reffien Department of Community Health, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • Mohd Fathulzhafran Mohamed Hanan Department of Community Health, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • Muhamad Hazizi Muhamad Dasani Seremban District Health Office, Negeri Sembilan State Health Department, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
  • Noor Khalili Mohd Ali Seremban District Health Office, Negeri Sembilan State Health Department, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
  • Hasanain Faisal Ghazi College of Nursing, Al-Bayan University, Baghdad, Iraq
  • Mohd Rohaizat Hassan Department of Community Health, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2020.5461

Keywords:

Epidemiology, COVID-19, SARs-CoV2, Malaysia, Seremban

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 has become a global pandemic with an increasing burden on healthcare. Early recognition of the trend and pattern of the chain of transmission is necessary to slow down the spread.

AIM: Therefore, the study aimed to describe the epidemiology of COVID-19 at a local setting.

METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional study was done to all COVID-19 cases registered in Seremban Health District. Statistical analysis, using Chi-square test, was employed to compare the sociodemographic characteristic of COVID-19 patients between the red zone area and the non-red zone area in Seremban.

RESULTS: As of April, a total of 214 number of COVID-19 cases reported in Seremban district alone. The trend of cases registered has changed as more asymptomatic infection outnumbered patients with clinical symptoms from the aggressive active case detection (ACD) activity. Majority of the cases affecting Malay ethnicity were due to a large religious gathering event held 1 month earlier than subsequently spread the infection within the community.

CONCLUSION: The first wave of COVID-19 cases in Seremban was sudden and unexpected, with a skewed distribution affecting a particular race group regardless red zone area and non-red zone area. Therefore, identifying the pattern of infection in the local community is important for a focused intervention strategy. ACD strategy, isolation of patients, quarantine the exposed, tracking down the close contact, and continuous health promotion and education will ultimately break the chain of transmission.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

Plum Analytics Artifact Widget Block

References

Chakraborty I, Maity P. COVID-19 outbreak: Migration, effects on society, global environment and prevention. Sci Total Environ. 2020;728:138882. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138882 PMid:32335410 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138882

Guan WJ, Ni ZY, Hu Y, Liang WH, Ou CQ, He JX, et al. Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(18):1708-20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2002032

Cobb JS, Seale MA. Examining the effect of social distancing on the compound growth rate of COVID-19 at the county level (United States) using statistical analyses and a random forest machine learning model. Public Health. 2020;185:27-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2020.04.016 PMid:32526559 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2020.04.016

Elengoe A. COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia. Osong Public Health Res Perspect. 2020;11(3):93-100. https://doi.org/10.24171/j.phrp.2020.11.3.08 PMid:32494567 DOI: https://doi.org/10.24171/j.phrp.2020.11.3.08

Cao C, Li Y, Liu S, Fan H, Hao L. Epidemiologic features of 135 patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Tianjin, China. Disaster Med Public Health Prep 2020:1-5. https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2020.63 PMid:32234107 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2020.63

Jia J, Hu X, Yang F, Song X, Dong L, Zhang J, et al. Epidemiological characteristics on the clustering nature of COVID-19 in Qingdao city, 2020: A descriptive analysis. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2020:1-5. https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2020.59 PMid:32228732 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2020.59

Gold JA, Wong KK, Szablewski CM, Patel PR, Rossow J, da Silva J, et al. Characteristics and clinical outcomes of adult patients hospitalized with COVID-19-Georgia, March 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2020;69(18):545-50. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6911a1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6918e1

Loichinger E, Hammer B, Prskawetz A, Freiberger M, Sambt J. Quantifying economic dependency. Eur J Popul. 2017;33(3):351-80. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-016-9405-1 PMid:30976232 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-016-9405-1

Yu P, Zhu J, Zhang Z, Han Y, Huang L. A familial cluster of infection associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus indicating potential person-to-person transmission during the incubation period. J Infect Dis. 2020;221(11):1757-61. https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiaa077 PMid:32067043 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiaa077

Gemelli NA. Management of COVID-19 outbreak in argentina: The beginning. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2020:1-3. https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2020.116 PMid:32317041 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2020.116

Li X, Wang X, Liu J, Huang G, Shi X. Epidemiological characteristics of confirmed COVID-19 in Guizhou Province, China. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2020:1-19. https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2020.134 PMid:32367793 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2020.134

Escalera-Antezana JP, Lizon-Ferrufino NF, Maldonado-Alanoca A, Alarcón-De-la-Vega G, Alvarado-Arnez LE, Balderrama-Saavedra MA, et al. Clinical features of the first cases and a cluster of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Bolivia imported from Italy and Spain. Travel Med Infect Dis. 2020;35:101653. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2020.101653 PMid:32247926 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2020.101653

Zhou F, Yu T, Du R, Fan G, Liu Y, Liu Z, et al. Clinical course and risk factors for mortality of adult inpatients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: A retrospective cohort study. Lancet. 2020;395(10229):1054-62. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(20)30566-3 PMid:32171076 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30566-3

Fang L, Karakiulakis G, Roth M. Are patients with hypertension and diabetes mellitus at increased risk for COVID-19 infection? Lancet Respir Med 2020;8(4):e21. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2213-2600(20)30116-8 PMid:32171062 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30116-8

Liu Y, Eggo RM, Kucharski AJ. Secondary attack rate and superspreading events for SARS-CoV-2. Lancet. 2020;395(10227):e47. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(20)30462-1 PMid:32113505 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30462-1

Shim E, Tariq A, Choi W, Lee Y, Chowell G. Transmission potential and severity of COVID-19 in South Korea. Int J Infect Dis. 2020;93:339-44. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.27.20028829 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.03.031

Liew MF, Siow WT, MacLaren G, See KC. Preparing for CovID-19: Early experience from an intensive care unit in Singapore. Crit Care. 2020;24(1):1-3. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13054-020-2814-x PMid:32151274 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13054-020-2814-x

Kwon KT, Ko JH, Shin H, Sung M, Kim JY. Drive-through screening center for covid-19: A safe and efficient screening system against massive community outbreak. J Korean Med Sci. 2020;35(11):e123. https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2020.35.e123 PMid:32193904 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2020.35.e123

Hu Z, Song C, Xu C, Jin G, Chen Y, Xu X, et al. Clinical characteristics of 24 asymptomatic infections with COVID-19 screened among close contacts in Nanjing, China. Sci China Life Sci. 2020;63(5):706-11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-020-1661-4 PMid:32146694 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-020-1661-4

Bi Q, Wu Y, Mei S, Ye C, Zou X, Zhang Z, et al. Epidemiology and transmission of COVID-19 in 391 cases and 1286 of their close contacts in Shenzhen, China: A retrospective cohort study. Lancet Infect Dis. 2020;20(8):911-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1473-3099(20)30287-5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30287-5

Danis K, Epaulard O, Bénet T, Gaymard A, Campoy S, Bothelo-Nevers E, et al. Cluster of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the French Alps, February 2020. Clin Infect Dis. 2020;71(15):825-32. PMid:32277759

Downloads

Published

2020-11-16

How to Cite

1.
Zamzuri M ‘Ammar IA, Ibrahim FE, Reffien MAM, Hanan MFM, Dasani MHM, Ali NKM, Ghazi HF, Hassan MR. Epidemiological Characteristics of COVID-19 in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Open Access Maced J Med Sci [Internet]. 2020 Nov. 16 [cited 2024 Nov. 24];8(T1):471-5. Available from: https://oamjms.eu/index.php/mjms/article/view/5461