School of Public Health, Gansu University of Chinese Medicine, No. 35 Dingxi East Road, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu Province, China; Center for Evidence-based Medicine, Gansu University of Chinese Medicine, No. 35 Dingxi East Road, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu Province, China.
Institute of Immunization and Prevention Management, Shandong Center for Disease Control and Prevention, No. 16992 Jingshi Road, Jinan, 250014, Shandong Province, China.
Travel Med Infect Dis. 2020 Sep-Oct;37:101741. doi: 10.1016/j.tmaid.2020.101741. Epub 2020 May 12.
The transmission of COVID-19 is about to come under control within China, however, an emerging challenge to the Chinese authorities is reverse transmission due to COVID-19 patients/carriers evacuating from overseas to China.
We analysed the epidemiological characteristics of 311 Chinese citizens evacuated from Iran. All confirmed COVID-19 cases amongst the returnees were displayed by the spatial distribution pattern of the extent of COVID-19 infection.
Characteristics that differed significantly amongst these returnees compared to the original infected cohorts in Gansu were mean age, occupation and sex. Differences observed between infected patients and non-patients amongst returnees were age, sex, race, occupation, the use of facemasks, and residential situation in Iran. The clinical features that were significantly related to infection were chill, shortness of breath, chest pain and nausea. Spatial distribution pattern analysis indicated that infected returnees had resided within Iranian provinces that had experienced high levels of COVID-19. The spatial distribution of the original homes of these returnees before departure for Iran demonstrated that returnees will largely return to northwest China, to regions that have only experienced low levels of infection within China.
Blocking the reverse transmission of COVID-19 is critical in preventing a secondary outbreak of COVID-19.
中国境内的 COVID-19 传播即将得到控制，但境外输入病例已成为中国面临的新挑战。
我们分析了 311 名从伊朗撤离的中国公民的流行病学特征。通过 COVID-19 感染程度的空间分布模式展示了所有输入性确诊病例。
与甘肃的原始感染人群相比，这些归国者的特征在平均年龄、职业和性别方面存在显著差异。归国者中感染患者与非患者之间存在差异的因素包括年龄、性别、种族、职业、是否佩戴口罩以及在伊朗的居住情况。与感染显著相关的临床特征是发冷、呼吸急促、胸痛和恶心。空间分布模式分析表明，感染的归国者居住在伊朗疫情严重的省份。这些归国者在前往伊朗之前的原籍地的空间分布表明，归国者将主要返回中国西北部，即中国境内感染程度较低的地区。
阻断 COVID-19 的反向传播对于防止 COVID-19 的二次爆发至关重要。
