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Background/Aim: The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the spread of a novel disease COVID-19 as a pandemic on 11 March 2020. As of 12 June, there have been more than 7.4 million COVID-19 cases and more than 418,000 COVID-19 deaths globally. This paper represents epidemiological analysis of the first 100 days of COVID-19 epidemic in the Republic of Srpska. Methods: Data of all COVID-19 cases confirmed in the Republic of Srpska between 4 March and 12 June were collected from epidemiological and laboratory testing reports obtained from the Public Health Institute of the Republic of Srpska. This cross-sectional analysis was carried out on a sample of 1,607 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases, which included: summary of patient characteristics, examination of age distributions and sex ratios, calculation of case fatality and mortality rates, incidence rates analysis, epidemiological curve construction and subgroup analysis. Results: Over 100 days after the first case was confirmed, the total number of infected patients in the Republic of Srpska rose to 1,607 (31,471 persons had been tested). As of 12 June, 69.9 % of those cases has recovered. During that period there were 117 confirmed deaths (average age 72 years; 60.7 % males; 86 % older than 60 years; 94 % with at least one comorbidity). The sex ratio among the confirmed cases was 0.95:1 (48.7 % men vs 51.3 % women). Infections were less common in persons below 20 years of age (7.3 % of all confirmed cases) and the majority of the affected persons were in the group 40-69 years of age. As much as 86 % of all death cases occurred in persons older than 60 years (average age 72 years) and 94 % of all death cases had at least one underlying condition (mostly cardiovascular diseases, 79.5 %). Conclusion: Evaluating the clinical data of COVID-19 patients, finding the source of infection and studying the behavior of the disease is crucial for understanding of the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) is a new disease that emerged in Wuhan, China which spreads through close contact of people, often by small droplets produced during coughing or sneezing. Detail mechanism by which it spreads between people are under investigation. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared this disease as a pandemic after the severity of the disease increased. Many scientific reports gathered have suggested many drugs that could be potential candidates for the treatment. Although, clinical effectiveness has not been fully evaluated. In this review, we have aggregated the data from few research articles, official news websites and few review papers regarding its phylogenetic relation, genomic constitution, transmission, replication and in-silico analysis done by researchers for few potent drugs that are currently used to cure COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 belongs to Betacoronavirus genus with Genome structure consists 14 Open Reading Frames (ORFs) that encode 27 proteins. Coronavirus replicates into the host cells having unique mechanisms like ribosome frame-shifting and synthesis of genomic and sub genomic RNAs. In-silico methods have the advantage that they can make fast predictions for a large set of compounds in a high-throughput mode and also make their prediction based on the structure of a compound even before it has been synthesized. In-silico softwares have been used to find or to improve a novel bioactive compound, which may exhibit a strong affinity to a particular target in the drug development process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) is a new disease that emerged in Wuhan, China which spreads through close contact of people, often by small droplets produced during coughing or sneezing. Detail mechanism by which it spreads between people are under investigation. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared this disease as a pandemic after the severity of the disease increased. Many scientific reports gathered have suggested many drugs that could be potential candidates for the treatment. Although, clinical effectiveness has not been fully evaluated. In this review, we have aggregated the data from few research articles, official news websites and few review papers regarding its phylogenetic relation, genomic constitution, transmission, replication and in-silico analysis done by researchers for few potent drugs that are currently used to cure COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 belongs to Betacoronavirus genus with Genome structure consists 14 Open Reading Frames (ORFs) that encode 27 proteins. Coronavirus replicates into the host cells having unique mechanisms like ribosome frame-shifting and synthesis of genomic and sub genomic RNAs. In-silico methods have the advantage that they can make fast predictions for a large set of compounds in a high-throughput mode and also make their prediction based on the structure of a compound even before it has been synthesized. In-silico softwares have been used to find or to improve a novel bioactive compound, which may exhibit a strong affinity to a particular target in the drug development process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the news on Covid-19 and 2019-nCoV in the Spanish media. This is done by using news retrieved from My news database. The analysis includes the total amount of news in Spanish media by type of media; the evolution of the publication in digital media considering various periods of time, and the volume of news in the most used Spanish digital media. The results show that digital media are the most used among other types to publish on the topic, with a significant increase since the beginning of the alarm state. In this sense, some arguments on the function and utility of this type of media during the confinement are exposed. Also, the essential role of digital media covering the population’s information needs is discussed. The digital media with the largest number publications are abc.es, 20minutos. es, and elconfidencial.com. The value of this work is that it can serve as starting point for others in order to carry out content analysis on the subject considering different channels and digital media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coronaviruses are a large family of viruses infecting animals or humans and causing diseases, including Middle East Respiratory Syndrome(MERS, MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome(SARS, SARSCoV). The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 emerged in December 2019 at the city of Wuhan, affecting the respiratory system leading to pneumonia, pulmonary edema, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, multiorgan failure, and death. Treatment studies are still ongoing, but hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, oseltamivir, favipiravir with some other anti-virals, and convalescent plasma therapy are prominent. The mortality rate of disease is 3.8% in the world, infesting many countries. Legal regulations have been made for the public to reduce transmission. Family health centers are providing healthcare services to every individual, for example, children, pregnant, patients with chronic diseases, patients with any complaint, and individuals who applied for health papers. In such a pandemic family, physicians also have to restrain the transmission of viruses between those people who applied. Therefore triage is needed to determine the high-risk patients as soon as possible. Both of them and other patients are protected in that way. After the filiation is done, suspected cases or COVID-19 contacted cases are kept in touch by family physicians to follow up their clinical status and check for isolation conditions. For all these reasons, we aimed to examine the family health centers coping with COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To describe perinatal and neonatal outcomes in newborns exposed to SARS-CoV-2. Methods. A systematic review was conducted by searching PubMed Central, LILACS, and Google Scholar using the keywords 'covid ' AND 'newborn' OR 'child' OR 'infant,' on 18 March 2020, and again on 17 April 2020. One researcher conducted the search and extracted data on demographics, maternal outcomes, diagnostic tests, imaging, and neonatal outcomes. Results. Of 256 publications identified, 20 met inclusion criteria and comprised neonatal outcome data for 222 newborns whose mothers were suspected or confirmed to be SARS-CoV-2 positive perinatally (17 studies) or of newborns referred to hospital with infection/pneumonia (3 studies). Most (12 studies) were case-series reports; all were from China, except three (Australia, Iran, and Spain). Of the 222 newborns, 13 were reported as positive for SARS-CoV-2; most of the studies reported no or mild symptoms and no adverse perinatal outcomes. Two papers among those from newborns who tested positive reported moderate or severe clinical characteristics. Five studies using data on umbilical cord blood, placenta, and/or amniotic fluid reported no positive results. Nine studies reported radiographic imaging, including 5 with images of pneumonia, increased lung marking, thickened texture, or high-density nodular shadow. Minor, non-specific changes in biochemical variables were reported. Studies that tested breast milk reported negative SARS-CoV-2 results. Conclusions. Given the paucity of studies at this time, vertical transmission cannot be confirmed or denied. Current literature does not support abstaining from breastfeeding nor separating mothers and newborns. Further evidence and data collection networks, particularly in the Americas, are needed for establishing definitive guidelines and recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Covid-19 pandemic era researchers and academics worldwide have experienced an unprecedented phenomenon. In this context of uncertainty and instability, academia was not spared the consequences of the new Coronavirus that locked everybody out of university. However, research and academic productivity during these unprecedented times may not have adversely affected projects, students, and their supervisors. Building on the authors' personal experience this paper highlights some positive impacts of pursuing a PhD during a pandemic, focusing the reflection along two lines: 1) that work during social isolation may be better than ever; and 2) how open science has been crucial in this coronavirus era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first positive case of COVID-19 in Canada was reported on January 25, 2020, in the city of Toronto, Ontario. Over the following four months, the number of individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in Ontario grew to 28,263 cases. A state of emergency was announced by the Premier of Ontario on March 17, 2020, and the provincial health care system prepared for a predicted surge of COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization. The Chief Medical Officer of Health and the Minister of Health guided the changes in the system in response to the evolving needs and science related to COVID-19. The pandemic required a rapid, concerted, and coordinated effort from all sectors of the system to optimize and maximize the capacity of the health system. The response to the pandemic in Ontario was complex with some sectors experiencing multiple outbreaks of COVID-19 (i.e. long-term care homes and hospitals). Notably, numerous sectors shifted to virtual delivery of care. By the end of May 2020, it was announced that hospitals would gradually resume postponed or cancelled services. This paper explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on multiple health system sectors (i.e., public health, primary care, long-term care, emergency medical services, and hospitals) in Ontario from January to May 2020. Given the scope of the sectors contributing to the health system in Ontario, this analysis of a regional response to COVID-19 provides insight on how to improve responses and better prepare for future health emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a preliminary study that aims to analyze the Covid-19 pandemic in the Amazonian border between Brazil and Colombia, more specifically in the twin cities of Tabatinga and Leticia. To this end, it seeks to identify the main decrees issued by the public authorities, both municipal, state and national, and verify their impact on the circulation of people and air traffic and the results in the number of those infected and killed by this disease. The results show that Tabatinga and Letícia show considerable growth in the number of infected by Covid-19. It is concluded that the integration of these spaces with other regional centers made possible by the air and river transport network ended up contributing to the entry of the new Coronavirus, confirming the insertion of these cities in the globalization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even reaching the end of the year 2022, there is still a controversy on the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This Virtual Special Issue (VSI), focused on the "Scientific evidence on the origin of SARS-CoV-2", was launched some months ago with the aim of stimulating the submission of new high quality scientific research papers on the matter, to shed light on it. As indicated in the call for papers, the Editors involved in the VSI were aware of the difficulties of presenting concluding facts on that issue, however, bearing in mind that some teams of researchers had started investigations regarding this subject, a VSI like this (searching for stimulating the scientific controversy while requiring scientific evidence), could help to elucidate complicated aspects, going a step ahead in this way. The Editors made a call encouraging interested teams of researchers having solid results to submit high quality manuscripts dealing with this crucial theme. We thought -and we still think-that it is of maximum interest for the scientific community, as well as for the whole society, now and probably for the future. The VSI have received 50 submissions, which could be considered a limited number highlighting the difficulties of elaborating new high-quality manuscripts providing solid evidence on the matter. After a careful peer-review, those manuscripts considered to reach the highest scientific value were accepted for publication. The Editors think that the set of papers included in this VSI constitute interesting and high-quality contributions, providing further scientific knowledge on this issue. In this editorial piece, the Editors make some comments on the papers published, including some additional reflections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the main title 'COVID-19 revolution: a new challenge for the internist' states, the global coronavirus infection disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic represented a new challenge for the internists. This paper is part of a series of articles written during the difficult period of the ongoing global pandemic and published all together in this fourth issue of the Italian Journal of Medicine, with the aim of sharing the direct experiences of those who were the first to face this severe emergency, expressing each point of view in the management of COVID-19 in relation to other diseases. Each article is therefore the result of many efforts and a joint collaboration between many colleagues from the Departments of Internal Medicine or Emergency Medicine of several Italian hospitals, engaged in the front line during the pandemic. These preliminary studies therefore cover diagnostic tools available to health care personnel, epidemiological reflections, possible new therapeutic approaches, discharge and reintegration procedures to daily life, the involvement of the disease not only in the lung, aspects related to various comorbidities, such as: coagulopathies, vasculitis, vitamin D deficiency, gender differences, etc.. The goal is to offer a perspective, as broad as possible, of everything that has been done to initially face the pandemic in its first phase and provide the tools for an increasingly better approach, in the hope of not arriving unprepared to a possible second wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the main title 'COVID-19 revolution: a new challenge for the internist' states, the global coronavirus infection disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic represented a new challenge for the internists. This paper is part of a series of articles written during the difficult period of the ongoing global pandemic and published all together in this fourth issue of the Italian Journal of Medicine, with the aim of sharing the direct experiences of those who were the first to face this severe emergency, expressing each point of view in the management of COVID-19 in relation to other diseases. Each article is therefore the result of many efforts and a joint collaboration between many colleagues from the Departments of Internal Medicine or Emergency Medicine of several Italian hospitals, engaged in the front line during the pandemic. These preliminary studies therefore cover diagnostic tools available to health care personnel, epidemiological reflections, possible new therapeutic approaches, discharge and reintegration procedures to daily life, the involvement of the disease not only in the lung, aspects related to various comorbidities, such as: coagulopathies, vasculitis, vitamin D deficiency, gender differences, etc.. The goal is to offer a perspective, as broad as possible, of everything that has been done to initially face the pandemic in its first phase and provide the tools for an increasingly better approach, in the hope of not arriving unprepared to a possible second wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the main title 'COVID-19 revolution: a new challenge for the internist' states, the global coronavirus infection disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic represented a new challenge for the internists. This paper is part of a series of articles written during the difficult period of the ongoing global pandemic and published all together in this fourth issue of the Italian Journal of Medicine, with the aim of sharing the direct experiences of those who were the first to face this severe emergency, expressing each point of view in the management of COVID-19 in relation to other diseases. Each article is therefore the result of many efforts and a joint collaboration between many colleagues from the Departments of Internal Medicine or Emergency Medicine of several Italian hospitals, engaged in the front line during the pandemic. These preliminary studies therefore cover diagnostic tools available to health care personnel, epidemiological reflections, possible new therapeutic approaches, discharge and reintegration procedures to daily life, the involvement of the disease not only in the lung, aspects related to various comorbidities, such as: coagulopathies, vasculitis, vitamin D deficiency, gender differences, etc.. The goal is to offer a perspective, as broad as possible, of everything that has been done to initially face the pandemic in its first phase and provide the tools for an increasingly better approach, in the hope of not arriving unprepared to a possible second wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the main title 'COVID-19 revolution: a new challenge for the internist' states, the global coronavirus infection disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic represented a new challenge for the internists. This paper is part of a series of articles written during the difficult period of the ongoing global pandemic and published all together in this fourth issue of the Italian Journal of Medicine, with the aim of sharing the direct experiences of those who were the first to face this severe emergency, expressing each point of view in the management of COVID-19 in relation to other diseases. Each article is therefore the result of many efforts and a joint collaboration between many colleagues from the Departments of Internal Medicine or Emergency Medicine of several Italian hospitals, engaged in the front line during the pandemic. These preliminary studies therefore cover diagnostic tools available to health care personnel, epidemiological reflections, possible new therapeutic approaches, discharge and reintegration procedures to daily life, the involvement of the disease not only in the lung, aspects related to various comorbidities, such as: coagulopathies, vasculitis, vitamin D deficiency, gender differences, etc.. The goal is to offer a perspective, as broad as possible, of everything that has been done to initially face the pandemic in its first phase and provide the tools for an increasingly better approach, in the hope of not arriving unprepared to a possible second wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the main title 'COVID-19 revolution: a new challenge for the internist' states, the global coronavirus infection disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic represented a new challenge for the internists. This paper is part of a series of articles written during the difficult period of the ongoing global pandemic and published all together in this fourth issue of the Italian Journal of Medicine, with the aim of sharing the direct experiences of those who were the first to face this severe emergency, expressing each point of view in the management of COVID-19 in relation to other diseases. Each article is therefore the result of many efforts and a joint collaboration between many colleagues from the Departments of Internal Medicine or Emergency Medicine of several Italian hospitals, engaged in the front line during the pandemic. These preliminary studies therefore cover diagnostic tools available to health care personnel, epidemiological reflections, possible new therapeutic approaches, discharge and reintegration procedures to daily life, the involvement of the disease not only in the lung, aspects related to various comorbidities, such as: coagulopathies, vasculitis, vitamin D deficiency, gender differences, etc.. The goal is to offer a perspective, as broad as possible, of everything that has been done to initially face the pandemic in its first phase and provide the tools for an increasingly better approach, in the hope of not arriving unprepared to a possible second wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The papers in this special section focus on modeling and simulation in disaster and emergency management. The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has wrought damage globally to a degree that is totally unprecedented in human history.Within three months that the first known death from the illness caused by the so-called novel Coronavirus was reported by state media in China on the 11th of January 2020, close to 1.8 million people worldwide had tested positive, with more than 100,000 deaths reported. By the time the pandemic will have been declared to be under control, millions more are expected to have been infected and tens (possibly hundreds) of thousands more will have perished as a result of the disease. Not only are the numbers of COVID-19 infected people and deaths staggering. Economies throughout the world have suffered tremendously, with many companies forced to shut down, or at the very least significantly scale down, their production of goods and services as a result of the need for social distancing and self-isolation required to prevent the unmitigated transmission of the disease. All this has led to hundreds of millions worldwide losing their employment or other sources of livelihood. Governments of all nations, large and small, developed and underdeveloped, have needed to pump into their economy and onto their struggling citizens whatever financial resources they could manage to generate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2019 Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) had a big impact in Italy, mainly concentrated in the northern part of the Country. All this was mainly due to similarities of this area with Wuhan in Hubei Province, according to geographical, environmental and socio-economic points of view. The basic hypothesis of this research was that the presence of atmospheric pollutants can generate stress on health conditions of the population and determine pre-conditions for the development of diseases of the respiratory system and complications related to them. In most cases the attention on environmental aspects is mainly concentrated on pollution, neglecting issues such as land management which, in some way, can contribute to reducing the impact of pollution. The reduction of land take and the decrease in the loss of ecosystem services can represent an important aspect in improving environmental quality. In order to integrate policies for environmental change and human health, the main factors analyzed in this paper can be summarized in environmental, climatic and land management. The main aim of this paper was to produce three different hazard scenarios respectively related to environmental, climatic and land management-related factors. A Spatial Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method has been applied over thirteen informative layers grouped in aggregation classes of environmental, climatic and land management. The results of the health hazard maps show a disparity in the distribution of territorial responses to the pandemic in Italy. The environmental components play an extremely relevant role in the definition of the red zones of hazard, with a consequent urgent need to renew sustainable development strategies. The comparison of hazard maps related to different scenarios provides decision makers with tools to orient policy choices with a different degree of priority according to a place-based approach. In particular, the geospatial representation of risks could be a tool for legitimizing the measures chosen by decision-makers, proposing a renewed approach that highlights and takes account of the differences between the spatial contexts to be considered - Regions, Provinces, Municipalities - also in terms of climatic and environmental variables. • COVID-19 had a big impact in Italy, mainly in the northern part of the Country. • Reduction of land take and ecosystem services' loss improve environmental quality. • Environmental, climatic and land management can be leveraged for pandemic policies. • Geospatial representation of risks is a useful approach to support decision-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: COVID-19; Instagram; SARS-CoV-2; social media; tattoo; tattooing EN COVID-19 Instagram SARS-CoV-2 social media tattoo tattooing 3188 3189 2 08/09/22 20220801 NES 220801 CONFLICT OF INTEREST None. Other notable tattoos were toilet papers, respiratory tracts, the year 2020, and some COVID-19 patients that recovered had the word "survivor" tattooed. COVID-19, Instagram, SARS-CoV-2, social media, tattoo, tattooing. [Extracted from the article]

Since the rise of the Covid-19 pandemic, several researchers stated the possibility of a positive relationship between Covid-19 spread and climatic parameters. An ecological study in 12 Iranian cities using the report of daily deaths from Covid-19 (March to August 2020) and validated data on air pollutants, considering average concentrations in each city in the last year used to analyze the association between chronic exposure to air pollutants and the death rate from Covid-19 in Iran. Poisson regression models were used, with generalized additive models and adjustment variables. A significant increase of 2.7% (IC(95%) 2.6–4.4) was found in the mortality rate due to Covid-19 due to an increase of 1 μg/m3 of NO 2. The results suggest an association between Covid-19 mortality and NO 2 exposure. As a risk approximation associated with air pollution, more precise analysis is done. The results also show a good consistency with studies from other regions; this paper's results can be useful for the public health policymakers and decision-making to control the Covid-19 spread. • A reliable Covid-19 data from Iran was used in this paper. • 12 cities were considered from all of the minor climate conditions of the country to minimize the climate bias. • Correlation of the air pollution and the other most effective diseases on the Covid-19 is also studied. • Nox was the most effective particle and had a significant impact on the Covid-19 mortality rate. • For a 1% increase in the NO 2 concentration, there will be a 2.7% increase in the Covid-19 mortality rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) provides a comprehensive real-time framework of population attitude and health status. This approach is attracting the interest of medical community and health authorities to monitor the prevalence of a virus (such as the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 , SARS-CoV-2) among a community. Indeed, WBE is currently fine-tuning as environmental surveillance tool for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. After a bibliometric analysis conducted to discover the research trends in WBE field, this work aimed to side-by-side compare the conventional method based on clinical testing with WBE approach. Furthermore, novel guidelines were developed to apply the WBE approach to a pandemic. The growing interest on WBE approach for COVID-19 pandemic is demonstrated by looking at the sharp increase in scientific papers published in the last years and at the ongoing studies on viral quantification methods and analytical procedures. The side-by-side comparison highlighted the ability of WBE to identify the hot-spot areas faster than the conventional approach, reducing the costs (e.g., rational use of available resources) and the gatherings at medical centers. Contrary to clinical testing, WBE has the surveillance capacity for preventing the virus resurgence, including asymptomatic contribution, and ensuring the preservation of medical staff health by avoiding the exposure to the virus infection during clinical testing. As extensively reported, the time in collecting epidemiological data is crucial for establishing the prevention and mitigation measures that are essential for curbing a pandemic. The developed guidelines can help to build a WBE system useful to control any future pandemic. [Display omitted] • Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is fine-tuning as COVID-19 surveillance tool. • Meant for illicit drug tracing, WBE gives virus spreading snapshot in a community. • Most cited keywords related to analytical viral method as a main burning topic. • Data based on clinical testing suffer by contact tracing and asymptomatic cases. • The trustworthiness of WBE data should be verified through long-term monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The title of the Virtual Special Issue (VSI) "SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogenic microorganisms in the environment", clearly indicates a main focus not only on the virus causing the current pandemic, but also on other pathogenic microorganisms and their spatial and temporal dynamics in environmental compartments. Overall, the VSI has received more than 100 submissions relating to most of the possible fields connected to the pandemic, many of them of high scientific value. A rigorous peer-reviewing process has been carried out, with a panel of experts making a great work to evaluate that important number of submissions. As a result, those manuscripts reaching the highest scientific standards were selected for publication. We think that the papers included constitute a set of high-quality contributions, which should help to improve the overall scientific perspective regarding this crucial issue. In this piece, the Editors comment some issues on the papers accepted for publication, and include additional reflections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has slowed global economic growth and consequently impacted the environment as well. Parallelly, the environment also influences the transmission of this novel coronavirus through various factors. Every nation deals with varied population density and size; air quality and pollutants; the nature of land and water, which significantly impact the transmission of coronavirus. The WHO (Ziaeepour et al., 2008) [1] has recommended rapid reviews to provide timely evidence to the policymakers to respond to the emergency. The present study follows a rapid review along with a brief bibliometric analysis of 328 research papers, which synthesizes the evidence regarding the environmental concerns of COVID-19. The novel contribution of this rapid review is threefold. One, we take stock of the diverse findings as regards the transmission of the novel coronavirus in different types of environments for providing conclusive directions to the ongoing debate regarding the transmission of the virus. Two, our findings provide topical insights as well as methodological guidance for future researchers in the field. Three, we inform the policymakers on the efficacy of environmental measures for controlling the spread of COVID-19. • The study conducts a rapid review of 117 papers synthesizing the evidence regarding the environmental concerns of Covid-19. • We explore themes of meteorological- and non-meteorological factors, air qualities, water-based, and land-related factors. • Our review calls for maintaining a cleaner environment to reduce the mortality and morbidity cases during future pandemics. • Our study informs the body of knowledge in the field of pandemics, environment, and general science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several antiviral peptides (AVPs) from aquatic organisms have been effective in interfering with the actions of infectious viruses, such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 and Herpes Simplex Virus-1 and 2. AVPs are able to block viral attachment or entry into host cells, inhibit internal fusion or replication events by suppressing viral gene transcription, and prevent viral infections by modulating host immunity. Therefore, as promising therapeutics, the potential of aquatic AVPs for use against the COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) is considered. At present no therapeutic drugs are yet available. A total of 32 AVPs derived from fish and shellfish species are discussed in this review paper with notes on their properties and mechanisms of action in the inhibition of viral diseases both in humans and animals, emphasizing on SARS-CoV-2. The molecular structure of novel SARS-CoV-2 with its entry mechanisms, clinical signs and symptoms are also discussed. In spite of only a few study of these AVPs against SARS-CoV-2, aquatic AVPs properties and infection pathways (entry, replication and particle release) into coronaviruses are linked in this paper to postulate an analysis of their potential but unconfirmed actions to impair SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans. • Antiviral peptides (AVPs) are effective against viral infections. • AVPs are able to inhibit the fusion between virus and host cell, thereby blocking the entry or replication of viruses. • Likewise, protecting host cells from HSV, HIV, VHSV and WSSV invasion, aquatic AVPs have the potential to control SARS-CoV-2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current Data on COVID-19 mRNA-Vaccine Safety during Pregnancy Might Be Subject to Selection Bias. With the information available in the paper by Shimabukuro et al., the spontaneous abortion risk would have probably been around 10% (104 spontaneous abortion for 1132 women vaccinated during the first trimester), which is even lower than the previously published estimate. We would like to thank Stroobandt, S. and Stroobandt, R. for showing interest in our paper [[1]] and for sharing their concerns regarding COVID-19 vaccine safety in pregnant women [[2]]. [Extracted from the article]

• This paper firstly shares the ambulance situation in China. • Number of Ambulances in China increased greatly, especially for the negative pressure ambulance. • Negative pressure ambulances had positive influence on the contain of COVID-19. • Influence of negative pressure ambulance on containment of COVID-19 is discussed. • This article offers a valuable reference on ambulance now and in the future. New coronavirus (COVID-19) is a newly emerging and highly infectious form of typical pneumonia with a high rate of transmission. The COVID-19 pneumonia has spread to 147 countries and areas as of Mar.16th 2020, which has tremendous impact on the global public health. It is well known that, in China, the pandemic has been contained effectively with a series of emergency measures. It is necessary to share the existing experience of China in the fight against the pandemic to the world. Especially, during the process of prevention and containment of the pandemic, ambulances play an important role in transporting infectious patients. In this paper, focusing on the safety and quantity of negative pressure ambulances, the influence of ambulance on newly confirmed cases is given. Analysis of negative pressure ambulance on the containment of COVID-19 is shown. The potential development of ambulance is discussed. While the pandemic still continues spreading across the world, we hope to share our experience in the implementation of these strategies by China to save more life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There a lot of review papers addressing specific COVID-19 research sectors, then devoted to specialists. This review provides an in-depth summary of the available information about SARS-CoV-2 and the corresponding disease (also known as COVID-19), with a multi-disciplinary approach. After the paper introduction, the first section treats the virological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2, the medical implications of the infection, and the human susceptivity. Great attention is devoted to the factor affecting the infection routes, distinguishing among the possible human-to-human, environmental-to-human, and pollution-to-human transmission mechanisms. The second section is devoted to reporting the impact of SARS-CoV-2 not only on the healthcare systems but also on the economy and society. The third section is devoted to non-pharmaceutical behaviours against COVID-19. In this context, this review section presents an analysis of the European second wave allowing not only to focalize the importance of some restrictions, but also the relevance of social acceptance of some measures. The data reassumed in this work are very useful for interdisciplinary researchers that work in a team to find the basic available information about all the aspects connected with this pandemic (from virus diffusion mechanism to health information, from economic and social impacts to measures to reduce the pandemic spread), with great attention to social acceptance of restriction measures and of vaccines (that currently results to be insufficient to achieve community immunity). Then, this review paper highlights the fundamental role of the trans-multi-disciplinary research that is devoted not only to understand the basics of the pandemic to propose solutions but has also the commitment to find strategies to increase population resilience. For this aim, the authors strongly suggest the establishment of an international health-care trans-multi-disciplinary workforce devoted to investigate, mitigate, and control also future viral events. [Display omitted] • COVID-19 is a highly transmissible disease that has spread all over the globe. • The interdisciplinary research strategy in pandemic has a basic role. • Some concerns due to the reported transmission mechanisms must be better investigated. • The social acceptance of vaccine and restriction measures must be improved. • A health-care multidisciplinary workforce for pandemic study should be established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the beginning of 2020, a suddenly appearing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) rapidly spread around the world. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in China occurred during the Spring Festival when a large number of migrants traveled between cities, which greatly increased the infection risk of COVID-19 across the country. Financially supported by the Wuhan government, and based on cellphone signaling data from Unicom (a mobile phone carrier) and Baidu location-based data, this paper analyzed the effects that city dwellers, non-commuters, commuters, and people seeking medical services had on the transmission risk of COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic in Wuhan. The paper also evaluated the effects of the city lockdown policy on the spread of the pandemic outside and inside Wuhan. The results show that although the daily business activities in the South China Seafood Wholesale Market and nearby commuters' travel behaviors concentrated in the Hankou area, a certain proportion of these people were distributed in the Wuchang and Hanyang areas. The areas with relatively high infection risks of COVID-19 were scattered across Wuhan during the early outbreak of the pandemic. The lockdown in Wuhan closed the passageways of external transport at the very beginning, largely decreasing migrant population and effectively preventing the spread of the pandemic to the outside. However, the Wuhan lockdown had little effect on preventing the spread of the pandemic within Wuhan at that time. During this period, a large amount of patients who went to hospitals for medical services were exposed to a high risk of cross-infection without precaution awareness. The pandemic kept dispersing in three towns until the improvement of the capacity of medical treatment, the management of closed communities, the national support to Wuhan, and the implementation of a series of emergency responses at the same time. The findings in this paper reveal the spatiotemporal features of the dispersal of infection risk of COVID-19 and the effects of the prevention and control measures during the early days of the pandemic. The findings were adopted by the Wuhan government to make corresponding policies and could also provide supports to the control of the pandemic in the other regions and countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 epidemic has caused a large number of human losses and havoc in the economic, social, societal, and health systems around the world. Controlling such epidemic requires understanding its characteristics and behavior, which can be identified by collecting and analyzing the related big data. Big data analytics tools play a vital role in building knowledge required in making decisions and precautionary measures. However, due to the vast amount of data available on COVID-19 from various sources, there is a need to review the roles of big data analysis in controlling the spread of COVID-19, presenting the main challenges and directions of COVID-19 data analysis, as well as providing a framework on the related existing applications and studies to facilitate future research on COVID-19 analysis. Therefore, in this paper, we conduct a literature review to highlight the contributions of several studies in the domain of COVID-19-based big data analysis. The study presents as a taxonomy several applications used to manage and control the pandemic. Moreover, this study discusses several challenges encountered when analyzing COVID-19 data. The findings of this paper suggest valuable future directions to be considered for further research and applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting in early 2020, the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) severely attached the U.S., causing substantial changes in the operations of bulk power systems and electricity markets. In this paper, we develop a data-driven analysis to substantiate the pandemic's impacts from the perspectives of power system security, electric power generation, electric power demand and electricity prices. Our results suggest that both electric power demand and electricity prices have discernibly dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic. Geographically diverse impacts are observed and quantified, while the bulk power systems and markets in the northeast region are most severely affected. All the data sources, assessment criteria, and analysis codes reported in this paper are available on a GitHub repository. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic represents not just a global health crisis, but may signal the beginning of a new era of economic activity, the potential consequences of which we currently do not fully understand. In this context, the mid-to-long-range impacts of the pandemic on the energy sector have been studied extensively in the last few months. Despite these efforts, the pandemic still raises many open questions concerning the long-term operation and planning of power systems. For instance, how will the pandemic affect the integration of renewable energy sources? Should current power system expansion plans change in light of the COVID-19 pandemic? What new tools should be provided to support system operators during global health crises? It is the purpose of this paper to better understand the many aspects of these open questions by reviewing the relevant recent literature and by analyzing measured data. We point out the main challenges that the pandemic introduced by presenting patterns of electricity generation and demand, frequency deviations, and load forecasting. Moreover, we suggest directions for future research that may assist in coping with the mentioned challenges. We hope that this paper will trigger fruitful discussions and encourage further research on these important emerging topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The novel Coronavirus disease of 2019 (nCOV-19) is a viral outbreak noted first in Wuhan, China. This disease is caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Coronavirus (CoV)-2. In the past, other members of the coronavirus family, such as SARS and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), have made an impact in China and the Arabian peninsula respectively. Both SARS and COVID-19 share similar symptoms such as fever, cough, and difficulty in breathing that can become fatal in later stages. However, SARS and MERS infections were epidemic diseases constrained to limited regions. By March 2020 the SARS-CoV-2 had spread across the globe and on March 11th, 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as pandemic disease. In severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, many patients succumbed to pneumonia. Higher rates of deaths were seen in older patients who had co-morbidities such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and dementia. In this review paper, we discuss the effect of SARS-CoV-2 on CNS diseases, such as Alzheimer's-like dementia, and diabetes mellitus. We also focus on the virus genome, pathophysiology, theranostics, and autophagy mechanisms. We will assess the multiorgan failure reported in advanced stages of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our paper will provide mechanistic clues and therapeutic targets for physicians and investigators to combat COVID-19. Unlabelled Image • SARS-CoV-2 and Dementia, Multiple Sclerosis, Encephalitis, and Parkinson's disease • SARS-CoV-2 and Diabetes Mellitus Coronaviruses and Autophagy • Protease Inhibitors and Repurposed Drugs for SARS-CoV-2 USFDA approved drugs-HCQ and Remdesivir. • SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, has resulted in a global pandemic recently. With no approved vaccination or treatment, governments around the world have issued guidance to their citizens to remain at home in efforts to control the spread of the disease. The goal of controlling the spread of the virus is to prevent strain on hospitals. In this paper, we focus on how non-invasive methods are being used to detect COVID-19 and assist healthcare workers in caring for COVID-19 patients. Early detection of COVID-19 can allow for early isolation to prevent further spread. This study outlines the advantages and disadvantages and a breakdown of the methods applied in the current state-of-the-art approaches. In addition, the paper highlights some future research directions, which need to be explored further to produce innovative technologies to control this pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a numerical two-level explicit approach for solving a mathematical model for the spread of Covid-19 pandemic with that includes the undetected infectious cases. The stability and convergence rate of the new numerical method are deeply analyzed in the L ∞ -norm. The proposed technique is less time consuming than a broad range of related numerical schemes. Furthermore, the method is stable, and at least second-order accurate and it can serve as a robust tool for the integration of general ODEs systems of initial-value problems. Some numerical experiments are provided which include the pandemic in Cameroon, and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maskne, a newly coined term deriving from the contraction of mask-related acne, is a form of mechanical acne resulting from continuous textile–skin adherence and friction. Prolonged mask use heats up the face environment, thus modifying skin microbiota and sebum production. Although effective prevalence is unknown, since the pandemic began and the prolonged use of masks was extended to the general population, maskne has been a frequent topic of consultation among dermatologists. This term has been successfully introduced into common language, with more than 200,000 hashtags on social media, where it is also possible to find "home remedies" that can worsen this dermatosis. The aim of this paper is to discuss the pathogenesis, address clinicians on the correct differential diagnoses among facial dermatoses, and move towards the correct therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The International Society for Influenza and other Respiratory Virus Diseases (isirv) and the WHO held a joint virtual conference from 19th-21st October 2021. While there was a major focus on the global response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, including antivirals, vaccines and surveillance strategies, papers were also presented on treatment and prevention of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Potential therapeutics for SARS-CoV-2 included host-targeted therapies baricitinib, a JAK inhibitor, tocilizumab, an IL-6R inhibitor, verdinexor and direct acting antivirals ensovibep, S-217622, AT-527, and monoclonal antibodies casirivimab and imdevimab, directed against the spike protein. Data from trials of nirsevimab, a monoclonal antibody with a prolonged half-life which binds to the RSV F-protein, and an Ad26.RSV pre-F vaccine were also presented. The expanded role of the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System to address the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was also discussed. This report summarizes the oral presentations given at this meeting for the benefit of the broader medical and scientific community involved in surveillance, treatment and prevention of respiratory virus diseases. • Presentations given at the recent joint isirv-WHO virtual conference held from 19th-21st October are summarized. • Due to the current global pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 was the primary focus, but influenza and RSV were also discussed. • Presentations on vaccines, immunotherapies and virus-targeted therapeutics were given. • Adaptation of the GISRS network from surveillance, sequencing and epidemiology of influenza to SARS-CoV-2 was highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic, an exceptional crisis, sparked the introduction of new digital infrastructure to halt the novel coronavirus's spread. This paper explores how such digital infrastructure's impact might reverberate over the long term, by comparing Singapore, Hong Kong, and mainland China's utilization of digital technology in response to the 2003 SARS outbreak, and their responses to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. We find that advancements in digital technology since 2003 have boosted governments' surveillance and segregation abilities substantially—most dramatically so in China. Even though some of these new digital interventions are ostensibly designed to be temporary ones to address the needs of the immediate crisis, we argue that the resultant extensions of state power experienced during COVID-19 are likely to have profound long-term effects because they fundamentally affect sociopolitical contexts, institutional capabilities, and digital cultures. We also find that the extent to which governments can extend digital surveillance and segregation abilities during the pandemic is contingent on their respective sociopolitical, institutional, and digital cultural contexts. • COVID-19 pandemic sparked calls for a new digital infrastructure. • We compare 2003 SARS outbreak to COVID-19 pandemic. • New digital technologies increased governments' ability to surveil and segregate. • Their impact on surveillance and segregation will persist post COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The novel and unprecedented Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has negatively impacted most nations of the world within a short period. While its disproportionate social and spatial variability has been established, the reality in Nigeria is yet to be studied. In this paper, advanced spatial statistical techniques were engaged to study the burden of COVID-19 and its risk factors within the first quarter (March–May) of its incidence in Nigeria. The spatial autocorrelation (Moran's I) test reveals a significant but marginal cluster of COVID-19 occurrence in Nigeria (I = 0.11, p < 0.05). A model comparison between ordinary least square (OLS) and spatial error model (SER) was explored having checked for multicollinearity in the dataset. The OLS model explained about 64% (adjusted R2 = 0.64) of variation in COVID-19 cases, however with significantly clustered residuals. The SER model performed better with randomly distributed residuals. The significant predictors were population density, international airport, and literacy ratio. Furthermore, this study addressed the spatial planning implications of the ongoing disease outbreak while it advocates transdisciplinary approach to urban planning practices in Nigeria. • There is uneven burden of COVID-19 in Nigeria. • The burden of COVID-19 is higher in places with high population density, presence of international airport and conversely with literacy ratio. • Due to the presence of spatial dependence in COVID-19 phenomenon in Nigeria, the spatial autoregressive model (SAR) is a better model compared to ordinary least square method (OLS) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] While classic vaccines have proved greatly efficacious in eliminating serious infectious diseases, innovative vaccine platforms open a new pathway to overcome dangerous pandemics via the development of safe and effective formulations. Such platforms play a key role either as antigen delivery systems or as immune-stimulators that induce both innate and adaptive immune responses. Liposomes or lipid nanoparticles, virus-like particles, nanoemulsions, polymeric or inorganic nanoparticles, as well as viral vectors, all belong to the nanoscale and are the main categories of innovative vaccines that are currently on the market or in clinical and preclinical phases. In this paper, we review the above formulations used in vaccinology and we discuss their connection with the development of safe and effective prophylactic vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the main title 'COVID-19 revolution: a new challenge for the internist' states, the global coronavirus infection disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic represented a new challenge for the internists. This paper is part of a series of articles written during the difficult period of the ongoing global pandemic and published all together in this fourth issue of the Italian Journal of Medicine, with the aim of sharing the direct experiences of those who were the first to face this severe emergency, expressing each point of view in the management of COVID-19 in relation to other diseases. Each article is therefore the result of many efforts and a joint collaboration between many colleagues from the Departments of Internal Medicine or Emergency Medicine of several Italian hospitals, engaged in the front line during the pandemic. These preliminary studies therefore cover diagnostic tools available to health care personnel, epidemiological reflections, possible new therapeutic approaches, discharge and reintegration procedures to daily life, the involvement of the disease not only in the lung, aspects related to various comorbidities, such as: coagulopathies, vasculitis, vitamin D deficiency, gender differences, etc.. The goal is to offer a perspective, as broad as possible, of everything that has been done to initially face the pandemic in its first phase and provide the tools for an increasingly better approach, in the hope of not arriving unprepared to a possible second wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the main title 'COVID-19 revolution: a new challenge for the internist' states, the global coronavirus infection disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic represented a new challenge for the internists. This paper is part of a series of articles written during the difficult period of the ongoing global pandemic and published all together in this fourth issue of the Italian Journal of Medicine, with the aim of sharing the direct experiences of those who were the first to face this severe emergency, expressing each point of view in the management of COVID-19 in relation to other diseases. Each article is therefore the result of many efforts and a joint collaboration between many colleagues from the Departments of Internal Medicine or Emergency Medicine of several Italian hospitals, engaged in the front line during the pandemic. These preliminary studies therefore cover diagnostic tools available to health care personnel, epidemiological reflections, possible new therapeutic approaches, discharge and reintegration procedures to daily life, the involvement of the disease not only in the lung, aspects related to various comorbidities, such as: coagulopathies, vasculitis, vitamin D deficiency, gender differences, etc.. The goal is to offer a perspective, as broad as possible, of everything that has been done to initially face the pandemic in its first phase and provide the tools for an increasingly better approach, in the hope of not arriving unprepared to a possible second wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • We modify a model of zoonosis emergence to predict coronavirus intermediate hosts. • This technique requires only host species ecological and epidemiological information. • We accurately predict the intermediate hosts for SARS and MERS. • We find mink, pangolins, and ferrets as potential intermediate hosts for SARS-CoV-2. Intermediate host species provide a crucial link in the emergence of zoonotic infectious diseases, serving as a population where an emerging pathogen can mutate to become human-transmissible. Identifying such species is thus a key component of predicting and possibly mitigating future epidemics. Despite this importance, intermediate host species have not been investigated in much detail, and have generally only been identified by testing for the presence of pathogens in multiple candidate species. In this paper, we present a mathematical model able to identify likely intermediate host species for emerging zoonoses based on ecological data for the candidates and epidemiological data for the pathogen. Since coronaviruses frequently emerge through intermediate host species and, at the time of writing, pose an urgent pandemic threat, we apply the model to the three emerging coronaviruses of the twenty-first century, accurately predicting palm civets as intermediate hosts for SARS-CoV-1 and dromedary camels as intermediate hosts for MERS. Further, we suggest mink, pangolins, and ferrets as intermediate host species for SARS-CoV-2. With the capacity to evaluate intermediate host likelihood among different species, researchers can focus testing for possible infection sources and interventions more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the appearance of the first cases of COVID-19 in 2019, an unprecedented number of documents on that disease have been published in a short space of time. The current available information covers a large number of topics related with COVID-19 and/or the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) responsible of the disease. However, only a limited number of publications have been focused on a controversial issue: the origin of the SARS-CoV-2. In this paper, the scientific literature on the origin of SARS-CoV-2 has been reviewed. Documents published during 2020 and 2021 (January 1-July 19) in journals that are indexed in PubMed and/or Scopus has been considered. The revised studies were grouped according to these two potential origins: natural and unnatural. The analyses of the conclusions of the different documents here assessed show that even considering the zoonotic hypothesis as the most likely, with bats and pangolins being possibly in the origin of the coronavirus, today's date the intermediate source species of SARS-CoV-2 has not been confirmed yet. On the other hand, some researchers point to an unnatural origin of this coronavirus, but their conclusions are not strongly supported by a clear scientific evidence. Given the tremendous severity of the current pandemic, investigations to establish clearly and definitively the origin of SARS-CoV-2, are basic and essential in order to prevent potential future pandemics of similar nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Four phases can be distinguished in the spread of the virus. • The relative daily change indicator best visualizes the changes in the epidemic. • We present the changes in the epidemic phases for a number of selected countries. • The re-outbreak phase is probably the expected second wave of the epidemic. • An updated, well-commented Matlab file is available in the open GitHub repository. This paper presents models of the spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in individual countries and globally in 2020 based on the statistical characteristics of the spread in the given countries or regions (in particular, in Hubei province). Through modeling, we attempt to achieve a goal which is of vital interest to societies in a pandemic catastrophe, and to answer the question of what stage of spread the epidemic has reached in a given country. The country classifier we developed is based on the relative variability indicator of the confirmed cases variable. This classification indicator is compared with a set of data-driven thresholds, the crossing of which determines the degree of spread of the epidemic in a given country. The article was written between April 2020, when the pandemic had been suppressed in China and was raging in Europe and the USA, and August 2020, as a new wave of local resumed outbreaks appeared in many countries. We contend that the spread phases are predictable based on statistical similarity. There are four phases of epidemic spread: growth, duration, suppression and re-outbreak. The authors' Matlab software, which allows simulations of the spread of coronavirus in any country based on data published by CSSE, is available in the public GitHub repository. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The suspension of tourism due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an almost complete halt in the activities of the tourism industry. This paper attempts to assess the ability to use the potential of health tourism enterprises in counteracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic and to propose a sustainable transformation of the business model of the health tourism enterprise, taking into account the determinants of sustainable tourism and health crises. The author presents the results of research conducted in March 2021 among 19 managers of the largest spa enterprises in Poland. The managers' experiences from the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic indicate that sanatoriums and other health tourism facilities, during periods of health and humanitarian crises, can successfully play a preventive and relieving role for healthcare facilities by implementing post-COVID treatment, conducting vaccinations, organizing isolators for people in quarantine, and even treating patients who do not have symptoms but require hospitalization. The transformation of the business model of these companies, in the form of a sustainable SusHT-CANVAS+ business model, is proposed and the mentioned critical activities are positioned in the model in the form of sustainable value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the present pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 or SARS-CoV-2 virus, the authors tried fitting existing models for the daily loss of lives. Based on data reported by Worldometers on the initial stages (first wave) of the pandemic for countries acquiring the disease, the authors observed that the logarithmic rendering of their data hinted the response of a first-order process to a step function input, which may be modeled by a three-parameters function, as described in this paper. This model was compared against other similar, log(N)-class of models that are non-compartmental type (such as the susceptible, infected, and removed, or SIR models), obtaining good fit and statistical comparison results, where N denotes the cumulative number of daily presumed deaths. This simple first-order response model can also be applied to bacterial and other biological growth phenomena. Here we describe the model, the numerical methods utilized for its application to actual pandemic data, and the statistical comparisons with other models which shows that our simple model is comparatively outstanding, given its simplicity. While researching the models available, the authors found other functions that can also be applied, with extra parameters, to be described in follow-on articles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary approach to controlling the spread of the pandemic SARS-CoV-2 is to diagnose and isolate the infected people quickly. Our paper aimed to investigate the efficiency and the reliability of a hierarchical pooling approach for large-scale PCR testing for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis. To identify the best conditions for the pooling approach for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis by RT-qPCR, we investigated four manual methods for both RNA extraction and PCR assessment targeting one or more of the RdRp, N, S, and ORF1a genes, by using two PCR devices and an automated flux for SARS-CoV-2 detection. We determined the most efficient and accurate diagnostic assay, taking into account multiple parameters. The optimal pool size calculation included the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2, the assay sensitivity of 95%, an assay specificity of 100%, and a range of pool sizes of 5 to 15 samples. Our investigation revealed that the most efficient and accurate procedure for detecting the SARS-CoV-2 has a detection limit of 2.5 copies/PCR reaction. This pooling approach proved to be efficient and accurate in detecting SARS-CoV-2 for all samples with individual quantification cycle (Cq) values lower than 35, accounting for more than 94% of all positive specimens. Our data could serve as a comprehensive practical guide for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic centers planning to address such a pooling strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]