#Estimation of the #Transmission #Risk of the 2019 novel #Coronavirus and Its Implication for #PublicHealth Interventions (J Clin Med., abstract)

[Source: US National Library of Medicine, full page: (LINK). Abstract, edited.]

J Clin Med, 9 (2) 2020 Feb 7

Estimation of the Transmission Risk of the 2019-nCoV and Its Implication for Public Health Interventions

Biao Tang 1 2, Xia Wang 3, Qian Li 2 4, Nicola Luigi Bragazzi 2, Sanyi Tang 3, Yanni Xiao 1 4, Jianhong Wu 1 2 5

Affiliations: 1 The Interdisciplinary Research Center for Mathematics and Life Sciences, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China. 2 Laboratory for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, York University, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada. 3 School of Mathematics and Information Science, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, China. 4 School of Mathematics and Statistics, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China. 5 Fields-CQAM Laboratory of Mathematics for Public Health, York University, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada.

PMID: 32046137 DOI: 10.3390/jcm9020462

 

Abstract

Since the emergence of the first cases in Wuhan, China, the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infection has been quickly spreading out to other provinces and neighboring countries. Estimation of the basic reproduction number by means of mathematical modeling can be helpful for determining the potential and severity of an outbreak and providing critical information for identifying the type of disease interventions and intensity. A deterministic compartmental model was devised based on the clinical progression of the disease, epidemiological status of the individuals, and intervention measures. The estimations based on likelihood and model analysis show that the control reproduction number may be as high as 6.47 (95% CI 5.71-7.23). Sensitivity analyses show that interventions, such as intensive contact tracing followed by quarantine and isolation, can effectively reduce the control reproduction number and transmission risk, with the effect of travel restriction adopted by Wuhan on 2019-nCoV infection in Beijing being almost equivalent to increasing quarantine by a 100 thousand baseline value. It is essential to assess how the expensive, resource-intensive measures implemented by the Chinese authorities can contribute to the prevention and control of the 2019-nCoV infection, and how long they should be maintained. Under the most restrictive measures, the outbreak is expected to peak within two weeks (since 23 January 2020) with a significant low peak value. With travel restriction (no imported exposed individuals to Beijing), the number of infected individuals in seven days will decrease by 91.14% in Beijing, compared with the scenario of no travel restriction.

Keywords: SEIR model; coronavirus; infection management and control; mathematical model; travel restriction.

Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; China.

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Giuseppe Michieli

I am an Italian blogger, active since 2005 with main focus on emerging infectious diseases such as avian influenza, SARS, antibiotics resistance, and many other global Health issues. Other fields of interest are: climate change, global warming, geological and biological sciences. My activity consists mainly in collection and analysis of news, public services updates, confronting sources and making decision about what are the 'signals' of an impending crisis (an outbreak, for example). When a signal is detected, I follow traces during the entire course of an event. I started in 2005 my blog ''A TIME'S MEMORY'', now with more than 40,000 posts and 3 millions of web interactions. Subsequently I added an Italian Language blog, then discontinued because of very low traffic and interest. I contributed for seven years to a public forum (FluTrackers.com) in the midst of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014, I left the site to continue alone my data tracking job.