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The outbreak of coronavirus disease in 2019 has become a serious threat to human health. Whether meteorological conditions could influence the transmission and virulence of COVID-19 remains controversial. In this study, we systematically reviewed the impact of temperature and humidity on the replication, morbidity, and mortality of COVID-19. We also discussed the main factors underlying the inconsistency across studies. Pubmed, Web of Science, Embase, and Scopus were used to identify papers published up to 7 December 2020. We initially identified 3515 papers, and 28 articles met the inclusion criteria after screening. Most studies showed high temperature and high humidity can partly reduce the reproduction, morbidity, and mortality of COVID-19. But the rest papers failed to identify a significant association. The discrepant results may be related to the difference in the climate context, study design, exposure assessment, policy intervention, socioeconomic status, and public health service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preexisting political institutions influence governments' responses to public health crises in different ways, creating national variations. This article investigates how state capacity, a country's fundamental ability to organize bureaucracy and allocate societal resources, affects the timing and configuration of governments' COVID‐19 policy responses. Through comparative case study analysis of five of China's neighboring countries early in the COVID‐19 crisis, the paper shows that more‐capable states (Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan) initiated crisis response faster, mobilized national resources more extensively, and utilized diverse policy tools when the virus risk level was still low. In contrast, low‐capacity states (Thailand and Indonesia) were more reactive in handling the crisis, limited their focus to border‐related measures, and were more constrained in the types of tools they could employ. The paper points to the importance of studying the COVID‐19 response process rather than the outcome (i.e., confirmed cases/deaths) when unpacking the impacts of political institutions in public health crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemics and other public health emergencies significantly impact medical and health service systems. The exploitation of some advanced technologies in Fangcang shelter hospitals—emergency medical service solutions adopted in China during the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic—was found to successfully relieve the treatment pressures. However, the implementation of the intelligent Fangcang shelter hospital system remains in the exploratory stage. Herein, this paper aims to obtain experience in the development and utilization of an intelligent system in a Fangcang shelter hospital. To achieve this, a single case study method was adopted to analyze a real case in the Optics Valley Fangcang Shelter Hospital. There were two data collection methods in the case study: (1) interviews; and (2) investigation, including some documents, models, sensors, and the platform. The main contribution of this paper is that it provides qualitative insights on how to implement an intelligent Fangcang shelter hospital system, including the development process and challenges and identifying lessons learned through the utilization of intelligent Fangcang shelter hospital systems. This paper can give a solid reference for the operation of COVID-19 field hospitals and provide clear theoretical guidance for the implementation and development of intelligent Fangcang shelter hospitals. This will help better respond to COVID-19 and similar major public health emergencies in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rate of infectious disease outbreaks has been accelerating over the past two decades, from the SARS epidemic in 2003 to COVID-19 in 2020. Termed by some as the twenty-first century's first pandemic, SARS originated in China and alerted the country to the importance of public health and epidemic response. After SARS, China improved its health infrastructure and reformed its political and legal health governance system. The emergence of COVID-19 from Wuhan in late 2019 put those reforms to the test. This paper analyses China's public health and epidemic response policies from a historical perspective, tracing the evolution of Chinese public health policies after the SARS outbreak in 2003. This paper assesses China's response to COVID-19 and how post-SARS policy reforms, particularly in epidemic response, played out on the ground in Wuhan. What policies worked well? What were the challenges faced? Based on the policy analysis, this paper presents recommendations for how China can improve its epidemic response through strengthened infectious disease surveillance, more transparent political coordination, and expanded public health infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the moment, the shortcomings in the system of responding to crises in the health sector lie in the imperfection of the response order and management mechanisms. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the legal regulation and reflection of public health emergencies in China, as exemplified by the case of 2019 coronavirus. The paper discusses the legal framework for the regulation of emergency situations in public health in China for the period from the end of 2019. The importance of preventing and controlling the epidemic is substantiated, and shortcomings in the work to combat the epidemic are analysed. Particular attention is paid to issues of informing the public and the rule of law in emergency situations in public health. The provisions of the legislation of the People's Republic of China in public health emergencies were also examined. The paper is of practical importance not only for China, but for the entire world in the prevention and control of coronavirus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hygiene behaviors in public toilets are important to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases, especially during the pandemic. All through the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, governments in many countries published guidance on personal hygiene for the general population to prevent disease transmission. This study aimed to investigate improvements in residents' hygiene awareness and behaviors in public toilets before and during the pandemic.Methods: We recruited 316 residents between November and December 2018 before the pandemic, and 314 residents between December 2020 and January 2021 during the pandemic in the same study sites in Hangzhou, a well-developed city in China. Residents' hygiene behaviors in public toilets, hygiene awareness, risk perception, and sociodemographic factors were collected. Bivariate analysis and multivariable logistic regressions were used to test the differences between the two rounds. We conducted an observational study to record the provision of hygiene amenities at toilets during the pandemic.Results: After controlling for sociodemographic factors (gender, marital status, age, education level, and monthly household income), compared with respondents recruited before the pandemic, respondents recruited during the pandemic were more likely to perceive the risks of infection when using public toilets (aOR = 1.77, 95%CI [1.20, 2.60]), and were more likely to be aware of the risks of touching contaminated toilet facilities (aOR = 1.72, 95%CI [1.17, 2.54]) and the risks of not using soap to wash one's hands after using the toilet (aOR = 1.93, 95%CI [1.38, 2.72]). They were more likely to always clean their toilet seat with alcohol (aOR = 1.88, 95%CI [1.01, 3.51]), wash hands with soap (aOR = 1.52, 95%CI [1.09, 2.10]) and dry their hands with a dryer (aOR = 1.78, 95%CI [1.16, 2.71]), but they were less likely to always wash their hands after using the toilets (aOR = 0.57, 95%CI [0.32, 1.00]). Among 70 public toilets observed, 9 provided alcohol for toilet seat disinfection, 52 provided soap, 33 provided paper towels, and 41 had working hand dryers.Conclusions: Despite the overall improvement, residents' hygiene behaviors in public toilets and the supply of hygiene amenities were still suboptimal during the pandemic. Further hygiene education and an adequate supply of hygiene amenities in public toilets are needed to promote residents' hygiene behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 can be considered as the largest public health incident since 2019, posing disturbances to the medical, economic, and social systems. Understanding different levels of city resilience to the impact of COVID-19 on sustainable urban development is therefore essential. In this paper, we analyzed the evolution of the pandemic, the recovery of urban activities and major drivers of urban resilience to COVID-19 based on urban activity patterns derived from NO 2 monitoring stations from 217 cities in China. It is observed that nearly all urban activities have been affected by the epidemic with a reduced NO 2 emission, indicating a significant decline in the intensity of urban activity. The recovery patterns of human activity among different cities show that: (1) northern cities where low-resilience cities agglomerated have been severely affected. As of April 31, 2020, 12 northern cities have not recovered to pre-epidemic levels; (2) about three-quarters of the cities went through multiple stages to return to the pre-pandemic level, which related to both pandemic stress and prevention measures; (3) about 46.04% of the cities experienced increasing activity patterns that exceeded the pre-epidemic activity level. It is also observed that urban resilience can behave quite differently driven by variations in green coverage, economic aggregate, employment security, and medical system. Our study highlights the potential of an elevated urban resilience by optimizing the urban layout, improving the quantity and quality of green space, and enhancing the medical system. [Display omitted] • Most of the southern cities of China show higher urban activity than pre-pandemic. • Low/high-resilient urban agglomerations located in the north-northeast/south China. • Most cities undergo two stages of recovery at the beginning and end of March 2020. • Urban greenery is positively correlated to urban resilience. • Hospital capacity, instead of number, is more crucial to urban resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed a multi-dimensional crisis that encompasses both the realm of public health and political economy. The divergences in the public health and economic policy responses among countries have resulted in an unleashing of a propaganda war. This paper is concerned with hegemonic narratives advocated by the mainstream media about China's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the facts thereof. After examining in broad outline the temporal trajectory of the public health response in China and its underlying factors, the paper goes on to critically examine some contentious issues concerning the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic in China that have been highlighted in the hegemonic narrative in the propaganda war over the COVID-19 pandemic. It is submitted that the divergence in the public health response of different countries is intimately related to the varied state of the neoliberal project therein. The paper concludes with a brief engagement with the political economy of the hegemonic narrative in the propaganda war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China has sparked a global epidemic, which the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern on 31st January 2020 (Beijing time). This crisis has attracted intense media attention. Recently, some media outlets inappropriately labelled the coronavirus by race, using such headlines as "Chinese virus pandemonium" and even suggesting "China kids stay home." The biased and misleading coverage presented via Western media channels has incited anger throughout the Chinese community and has placed undue stress upon Chinese individuals living outside China. This post-published review takes a tourism-focused perspective to examine findings from a quantitative study (Rodriguez-Seijas, Stohl, Hasin, & Eaton, 2015) published in 2015 in JAMA Psychiatry. The current paper highlights the potential impacts of misleading and biased media coverage on Chinese individuals' mental health. Specifically, this work considers perceived racial discrimination stemming from coronavirus as a public health crisis and the effects of such discrimination on individuals of Chinese heritage. Similarly imperative are pertinent effects on country image and destination image with respect to tourism marketing and tourist behaviour during times of crisis. By considering racism in the context of the coronavirus outbreak, this paper identifies potential avenues for relevant research in tourism and hospitality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and communication technologies occupy a central position in the Covid-19 pandemic. Public response has been deemed extremely important, with social media platforms playing a key role in both institutional and bottom-up information sharing processes. The emerging field of platform studies has shown that platforms increasingly influence how society works; however, such studies often adopt a highly Western-centric approach. By focusing on Twitter and Weibo use in the early stages of the pandemic, the paper presents an exploratory study that comparatively explores the role of the two platforms for both Western and Chinese publics. Our findings indicate that during the Covid-19 outbreak, Weibo worked as a propaganda tool to unite the Chinese people and promote public policies under the control of the government and the guidance of the mainstream media. Twitter functioned more like a public discourse platform open to personal expression, often showing the influence of defined partisan political discourses. We argue that the participatory dynamics characterizing Weibo and Twitter conversations at the outbreak of the pandemic at least partially mirrored the different 'platforms societies' currently developing in China and the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people with disabilities are a high-risk group, but they are also the group that is most easily ignored by public policy. Non-disabled people might not be able to imagine how many barriers disabled people encountered during this challenging period. This paper focuses on the barriers encountered by people with disabilities in China and the adjustments made to public policies in response. A deeper, social-physiological factor which should also be responsible is overlooked, and that is the 'empathy deficit'. Human rights and empathetic attitudes should go hand in hand with each other when formulation and implementation of welfare security policies for persons with disabilities during a major public health crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender norms, roles and relations differentially affect women, men, and non-binary individuals' vulnerability to disease. Outbreak response measures also have immediate and long-term gendered effects. However, gender-based analysis of outbreaks and responses is limited by lack of data and little integration of feminist analysis within global health scholarship. Recognising these barriers, this paper applies a gender matrix methodology, grounded in feminist political economy approaches, to evaluate the gendered effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and response in four case studies: China, Hong Kong, Canada, and the UK. Through a rapid scoping of documentation of the gendered effects of the outbreak, it applies the matrix framework to analyse findings, identifying common themes across the case studies: financial discrimination, crisis in care, and unequal risks and secondary effects. Results point to transnational structural conditions which put women on the front lines of the pandemic at work and at home while denying them health, economic and personal security – effects that are exacerbated where racism and other forms of discrimination intersect with gender inequities. Given that women and people living at the intersections of multiple inequities are made additionally vulnerable by pandemic responses, intersectional feminist responses should be prioritised at the beginning of any crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has challenged public health agencies globally. In order to effectively target government responses, it is critical to identify the individuals most at risk of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), developing severe clinical signs, and mortality. We undertook a systematic review of the literature to present the current status of scientific knowledge in these areas and describe the need for unified global approaches, moving forwards, as well as lessons learnt for future pandemics.Methods: Medline, Embase and Global Health were searched to the end of April 2020, as well as the Web of Science. Search terms were specific to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and COVID-19. Comparative studies of risk factors from any setting, population group and in any language were included. Titles, abstracts and full texts were screened by two reviewers and extracted in duplicate into a standardised form. Data were extracted on risk factors for COVID-19 disease, severe disease, or death and were narratively and descriptively synthesised.Results: One thousand two hundred and thirty-eight papers were identified post-deduplication. Thirty-three met our inclusion criteria, of which 26 were from China. Six assessed the risk of contracting the disease, 20 the risk of having severe disease and ten the risk of dying. Age, gender and co-morbidities were commonly assessed as risk factors. The weight of evidence showed increasing age to be associated with severe disease and mortality, and general comorbidities with mortality. Only seven studies presented multivariable analyses and power was generally limited. A wide range of definitions were used for disease severity.Conclusions: The volume of literature generated in the short time since the appearance of SARS-CoV-2 has been considerable. Many studies have sought to document the risk factors for COVID-19 disease, disease severity and mortality; age was the only risk factor based on robust studies and with a consistent body of evidence. Mechanistic studies are required to understand why age is such an important risk factor. At the start of pandemics, large, standardised, studies that use multivariable analyses are urgently needed so that the populations most at risk can be rapidly protected.Registration: This review was registered on PROSPERO as CRD42020177714 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spread of COVID-19 is closely related to the structure of human social networks. Based on 237 cases, by using epidemiological retrospective statistics, data visualization, and social network analysis methods, this paper summarized characteristics of patients with COVID-19 in Shaanxi, China, and analyzed these patients' dynamic contact network structure. The study found that there are many clustered infections through strong ties, about one-third of cases are caused by relatives' infection. In early stages of the epidemic, imported cases were the most, and in the later stages, local infection cases were the most. The infected people were mostly middle-aged men. Symptoms of imported cases occurred on average of 3 days after they arrived, and medical measures were taken 5 days later on average. All cases showed symptoms in less than 2 days on average and were then taken to medical treatment. The contact network can be divided into multiple disconnected components. The largest component has 12 patients. The average degree centrality in the network is 0.987, average betweenness degree is 0, average closeness degree is 0.452, and average PageRank index is 0.0042. The number of contacts of patients is unevenly distributed in the network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public health lessons from one pandemic become the planning assumptions for the next one. Aotearoa New Zealand's 2017 pandemic plan was derived from past experience of influenza. When Covid-19 emerged as a major global health threat, it took time for the realisation to crystallise that this infection was so different from influenza that it required a completely new pandemic response strategy. In this paper we describe how early evidence about SARS-CoV-2 transmission from China led to the adoption of an elimination strategy in Aotearoa New Zealand, making it the first country to choose elimination as a specific policy response. We discuss how further evidence has shaped the selection and design of Covid-19 pandemic control measures such as border restrictions, case and contact management, hygiene practices and use of face masks, physical distancing, and vaccines. This experience demonstrates the need for a different approach to the design of the next national pandemic plan. We identify key early evidence that will be required to develop a flexible and appropriate public health response to a new pandemic threat. We present a framework for a new pandemic plan that aims to learn from the Covid-19 experience by making as few limiting assumptions as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In December 2019, corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has broken out in China. Understanding the distribution of disease at the national level contributes to the formulation of public health policies. There are several studies that investigating the influencing factors on distribution of COVID-19 in China. However, more influencing factors need to be considered to improve our understanding about the current epidemic. Moreover, in the absence of effective medicine or vaccine, the Chinese government introduced a series of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). However, assessing and predicting the effectiveness of these interventions requires further study. In this paper, we used statistical techniques, correlation analysis and GIS mapping expression method to analyze the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics and the influencing factors of the COVID-19 in mainland China. The results showed that the spread of outbreaks in China's non-Hubei provinces can be divided into five stages. Stage I is the initial phase of the COVID-19 outbreak; in stage II the new peak of the epidemic was observed; in stage III the outbreak was contained and new cases decreased; there was a rebound in stage IV, and stage V led to level off. Moreover, the cumulative confirmed cases were mainly concentrated in the southeastern part of China, and the epidemic in the cities with large population flows from Wuhan was more serious. In addition, statistically significant correlations were found between the prevalence of the epidemic and the temperature, rainfall and relative humidity. To evaluate the NPIs, we simulated the prevalence of the COVID-19 based on an improved SIR model and under different prevention intensity. It was found that our simulation results were compatible with the observed values and the parameter of the time function in the improved SIR model for China is a = − 0.0058. The findings and methods of this study can be effective for predicting and managing the epidemics and can be used as an aid for decision makers to control the current and future epidemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID ‐19) has aroused people’s attention to public health emergen‐ cy management. Based on wave effect gradient field, the production ‐ inducing gradient is proposed to ex‐ plore the wave effect of a certain industry on other industries. By combining the economic space field theory with exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) method, this paper studies the industrial wave effect and spa‐ tial distribution of pharmaceutical industry, and develops effective strategies for public health emergency ac‐ cordingly. The results of economic space field theory analysis of China’s pharmaceutical industry reveal the wave effect between pharmaceutical industry and each industrial sector in the industrial economic space re‐ spectively, and identify the industries closely related to pharmaceutical production. The response capability of each province in Chinese mainland to public health emergency can be evaluated based on spatial aggrega‐ tion types, and then emergency strategies and suggestions for the development of pharmaceutical industry are put forward accordingly. The comprehensive consideration of industrial wave effect and the industrial spatial distribution can not only promote the rational development of pharmaceutical industry in all provinces, but also help to enhance the response capability of provinces to public health emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pneumonia caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection emerged in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China in December 2019. Widespread outbreaks of infectious disease are associated with psychological distress and symptoms of mental illness. The COVID-19 outbreak has caused a public health crisis. In response to the rapidly increasing number of publications on this subject, this article attempts to provide a comprehensive review of early reports that appeared in the international literature until the beginning of May 2020. This paper details the effects on the general population as medical staff are exposed to different, specific stressors. The available literature has emerged from only a few of the most affected countries; therefore, there is a need for more representative research from other affected regions. The majority of studies focus on depression, anxiety, insomnia and distress. Subsyndromal mental health problems are a common response to the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a huge need for further research. In particular, attention must be paid to the potentially devastating effects on population-wide mental health. Pandemic crisis shifts from acute to protracted, and the long-term mental-health consequences of the pandemic will manifest themselves in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speed is key to prevent and control major public health emergencies. For an efficient management, time, data, information, and resources are important factors. This paper summarizes the challenges in China’s response to the coronavirus disease 2019 （COVID-19）， and proposes an integration of vertical system and horizontal system, based on the idea of“let data run more, rely on accurate information, and outperform viruses with electromagnetic waves ”. Through all the analyses, we provide suggestions on improving China’s digital public health emergency management system for scientific and technological strategies, and they include: (1) establishing a standardized data epidemic information collection system to dynamically sense public sentiment; (2) building a public health big data center with a unified spatiotemporal benchmark to achieve cross regional and cross industry data aggregation, fusion, and sharing; (3) strengthening artificial intelligence technology for epidemic monitoring, forecasting, and risk research, and improving management accuracy and screening efficiency; (4) developing situation deduction and optimizing regulatory computing technology and services scientific dispatch and emergency command; (5) improving operating system mechanisms to ensure normal, safe and stable operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether people smoked more under the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) closure policies which trapped them at home with their families. In such circumstances, the pleasure from smoking could be more tempting than usual, but at the same time smokers' families are more likely to be victims of passive smoking. This study uses temporal and regional variations in policy strengths with data from the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker project (OxCGRT) to examine the impact of COVID-19 closure policies on smoking behaviors. With longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) in 2018 and 2020, we find diminished smoking behaviors among Chinese male adults when the government implemented strict public health policies for the COVID-19 pandemic. People with more conscientiousness personality traits or stronger pro-family attitudes tend to smoke less as policy stringency increases. • This paper examines whether people smoke more under COVID-19 closure policies. • Policy stringency is the average OxCGRT score in the past 30 days before survey. • We find people smoke less when the index of policy stringency becomes higher. • Conscientious personality traits and pro-family attitudes are proxies of altruism. • The discouraging effects are stronger among people with higher family altruism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper responds to the increasing concern regarding the role of non-human life in shaping urban space by exploring the public perception of urban companion animals during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in China. We argue that the public's perception of urban companion animals during emerging infectious disease outbreaks is related to medical and life science issues and reflects the political, economic, and emotional struggles involved in human-animal multispecies cohabitation. We find that the public has mainly followed and reconstructed medical discourses about the risk of companion animal-to-human transmission and discussed sustainable ethical animal practices in urban public health emergency management during the COVID-19 outbreak. Concerns regarding the risk of companion animal-related infection reflect the increasing prominence of more-than-human families, the pet industry, and multispecies leisure conflicts in public space in Chinese cities. The public's attention to animal ethics has prompted Chinese policy makers to adopt a more morally acceptable model for urban public health emergency management that can be sustained and supported by responsible non-governmental organizations and ethical urban residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]