JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
Stanley Ho Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
Respirology. 2021 Apr;26(4):322-333. doi: 10.1111/resp.14026. Epub 2021 Mar 9.
COVID-19 has hit the world by surprise, causing substantial mortality and morbidity since 2020. This narrative review aims to provide an overview of the epidemiology, induced impact, viral kinetics and clinical spectrum of COVID-19 in the Asia-Pacific Region, focusing on regions previously exposed to outbreaks of coronavirus. COVID-19 progressed differently by regions, with some (such as China and Taiwan) featured by one to two epidemic waves and some (such as Hong Kong and South Korea) featured by multiple waves. There has been no consensus on the estimates of important epidemiological time intervals or proportions, such that using them for making inferences should be done with caution. Viral loads of patients with COVID-19 peak in the first week of illness around days 2 to 4 and hence there is very high transmission potential causing community outbreaks. Various strategies such as government-guided and suppress-and-lift strategies, trigger-based/suppression approaches and alert systems have been employed to guide the adoption and easing of control measures. Asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission is a hallmark of COVID-19. Identification and isolation of symptomatic patients alone is not effective in controlling the ongoing outbreaks. However, early, prompt and coordinated enactment predisposed regions to successful disease containment. Mass COVID-19 vaccinations are likely to be the light at the end of the tunnel. There is a need to review what we have learnt in this pandemic and examine how to transfer and improve existing knowledge for ongoing and future epidemics.
COVID-19 自 2020 年以来在全球范围内爆发，造成了大量的死亡和发病。本叙述性综述旨在概述亚太地区 COVID-19 的流行病学、诱发影响、病毒动力学和临床特征，重点关注以前曾爆发冠状病毒的地区。COVID-19 在不同地区的进展情况不同，一些地区（如中国和中国台湾）有一到两波疫情，而一些地区（如中国香港和韩国）则有多波疫情。对于重要的流行病学时间间隔或比例的估计尚未达成共识，因此在进行推断时应谨慎使用。COVID-19 患者的病毒载量在疾病的第一周内达到峰值，约在第 2 至 4 天，因此具有很高的传播潜力，导致社区爆发。各国政府采取了各种策略，如政府引导和抑制-放松策略、基于触发的/抑制方法和警报系统，以指导控制措施的采用和放宽。无症状和症状前传播是 COVID-19 的一个特点。仅识别和隔离有症状的患者并不能有效控制正在进行的疫情爆发。然而，早期、及时和协调的采取措施使各地区能够成功控制疾病。大规模 COVID-19 疫苗接种可能是隧道尽头的曙光。我们有必要回顾我们在这场大流行中学到的知识，并研究如何转移和改进现有的知识，以应对当前和未来的疫情。
