• FluTrackers.com Inc. does not provide medical advice. Information on this web site is collected from various internet resources, and the FluTrackers board of directors makes no warranty to the safety, efficacy, correctness or completeness of the information posted on this site by any author or poster. The information collated here is for instructional and/or discussion purposes only and is NOT intended to diagnose or treat any disease, illness, or other medical condition. Every individual reader or poster should seek advice from their personal physician/healthcare practitioner before considering or using any interventions that are discussed on this website. By continuing to access this website you agree to consult your personal physican before using any interventions posted on this website, and you agree to hold harmless FluTrackers.com Inc., the board of directors, the members, and all authors and posters for any effects from use of any medication, supplement, vitamin or other substance, device, intervention, etc. mentioned in posts on this website, or other internet venues referenced in posts on this website.
  • We are not asking for any donations. Do not donate to any entity who says they are raising funds for us.

Zhonghua Liu Xing Bing Xue Za Zhi. Study on assessing early epidemiological parameters of coronavirus disease epidemic in China

tetano

Editor, Senior Moderator
Zhonghua Liu Xing Bing Xue Za Zhi. 2020 Mar 1;41(4):461-465. doi: 10.3760/cma.j.cn112338-20200205-00069. [Epub ahead of print] [h=1][Study on assessing early epidemiological parameters of coronavirus disease epidemic in China].[/h]
[Article in Chinese; Abstract available in Chinese from the publisher]

Song QQ[SUP]1[/SUP], Zhao H[SUP]1[/SUP], Fang LQ[SUP]2[/SUP], Liu W[SUP]2[/SUP], Zheng C[SUP]1[/SUP], Zhang Y[SUP]1[/SUP].
[h=3]Author information[/h]

[h=3]Abstract[/h] in English, Chinese
Objective: To study the early dynamics of the epidemic of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in China from 15 to 31 January, 2020, and estimate the corresponding epidemiological parameters (incubation period, generation interval and basic reproduction number) of the epidemic. Methods: By means of Weibull, Gamma and Lognormal distributions methods, we estimated the probability distribution of the incubation period and generation interval data obtained from the reported COVID-19 cases. Moreover, the AIC criterion was used to determine the optimal distribution. Considering the epidemic is ongoing, the exponential growth model was used to fit the incidence data of COVID-19 from 10 to 31 January, 2020, and exponential growth method, maximum likelihood method and SEIR model were used to estimate the basic reproduction number. Results: Early COVID-19 cases kept an increase in exponential growth manner before 26 January, 2020, then the increase trend became slower. The average incubation period was 5.01 (95%CI: 4.31-5.69) days; the average generation interval was 6.03 (95%CI: 5.20-6.91) days. The basic reproduction number was estimated to be 3.74 (95%CI: 3.63-3.87), 3.16 (95%CI: 2.90-3.43), and 3.91 (95%CI: 3.71-4.11) by three methods, respectively. Conclusions: The Gamma distribution fits both the generation interval and incubation period best, and the mean value of generation interval is 1.02 day longer than that of incubation period. The relatively high basic reproduction number indicates that the epidemic is still serious; Based on our analysis, the turning point of the epidemic would be seen on 26 January, the growth rate would be lower afterwards.


[h=4]KEYWORDS:[/h] Basic reproduction number; Generation interval; Incubation period; Novel coronavirus

PMID: 32113196 DOI: 10.3760/cma.j.cn112338-20200205-00069
 
Back
Top