University of Sciences, Technique and Technology, Bamako, Mali.
Research & Innovation Center, King Saud Medical City, Ministry of Health and; College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Travel Med Infect Dis. 2020 Mar-Apr;34:101617. doi: 10.1016/j.tmaid.2020.101617. Epub 2020 Mar 9.
Mass gathering (MG) medicine emerged against the backdrop of the 2009 pandemic H1N1 Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) when the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) hosted the largest annual mass gathering of over 3 million pilgrims from 180 plus countries. However, the events surrounding the latest threat to global health, the PHEIC COVID-19, may be sufficient to highlight the role of mass gatherings, mass migration, and other forms of dense gatherings of people on the emergence, sustenance, and transmission of novel pathogens. The COVID-19 spread illustrates the role of MGs in exacerbation of the scope of pandemics. Cancellation or suspension of MGs would be critical to pandemic mitigation. It is unlikely that medical countermeasures are available during the early phase of pandemics. Therefore, mitigation of its impact, rather than containment and control becomes a priority during pandemics. As the most systematically studied MG-related respiratory disease data come from KSA, the cancellation of Umrah by the KSA authorities, prior to emergence of cases, provide the best opportunity to develop mathematical models to quantify event cancellations related mitigation of COVID-19 transmission in KSA and to the home countries of pilgrims. COVID-19 has already provided examples of both clearly planned event cancellations such as the Umrah suspension in KSA, and where outbreaks and events were continued.
大规模集会（MG）医学是在 2009 年大流行 H1N1 国际关注的突发公共卫生事件（PHEIC）的背景下出现的，当时沙特阿拉伯王国（KSA）接待了来自 180 多个国家的超过 300 万朝圣者，这是全球最大的年度大规模集会。然而，最近对全球健康的威胁，即 PHEIC COVID-19 事件的发生，可能足以突显大规模集会、大规模移民和其他形式的人群密集聚会在新病原体的出现、维持和传播中的作用。COVID-19 的传播说明了 MGs 在加剧大流行范围方面的作用。取消或暂停大规模集会对于缓解大流行至关重要。在大流行的早期阶段，不太可能有医疗对策可用。因此，减轻其影响而不是控制和控制成为大流行期间的优先事项。由于与 MGs 相关的呼吸系统疾病的系统研究数据主要来自沙特阿拉伯，因此沙特阿拉伯当局在出现病例之前取消朝觐，为制定数学模型提供了最佳机会，以量化取消与 COVID-19 在沙特阿拉伯和朝圣者原籍国的传播相关的事件的缓解措施。COVID-19 已经提供了明确计划取消活动的例子，例如沙特阿拉伯暂停朝觐，以及继续爆发和举办活动的例子。
