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Background: The newly emerging respiratory disease called COVID-19 , originated from a metropolitan city of the HubeiProvince of China, called Wuhan, in Dec 2019, demonstrated its epidemic potential with a rapid spread of this virus across the globein just 2 months period. This highlights the higher rate of transmissibility of this virus and further its higher morbidity and mortalityspecially in aged population or people with co-morbidities and immune gap.Objectives: To determine the clinical significance of travel history to an epidemic area and social distancing with COIVD -19infections.Material and methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in major/only tertiary care hospital of Nowshera in collaborationwith District Health Office, Nowshera from 15th Feb to 24th April 2020. Relevant information's were recorded in a predesignedproforma prepared in SPSS version 25th for descriptive and inferential analysis.Results: Out of total 378 suspects/patients, 272(72%) were males and 106(28%) females. The Mean with Standard deviation ofage of the suspects was 35+16.1 years. A significant relationship of an increase in age with positive cases (Chi-squarevalue=10.73, p=0.013) was observed. 13/41(31.70%) of the positive cases had a history of travel to an epidemic area. A statisticallysignificant relationship between COVID-19 infection and travel history (Chi-Square=5.86, p=0.015) was noted. The probability ofthe infection in patients/suspects with history of travel to an epidemic area was 2.38 times(OR=2.38, 95%CI, 2.5-14.9). The relativerisk of infection was (rr=1.75, 95%CI, 1.16-4.88) as compared to suspects with no contact(rr=0.81, 95%CI, 0.6-1.0) respectively.Conclusion: There is a significant impact of travel history to an area with COVID19 epidemics. This data also speaks itself on theimportance of social distancing in terms of history of travel to combat COVID-19.Key words: COVID-19, Travel history, Social distancing, risk assessment, probability of disease, correlation of disease.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to evaluate the severity of suspected severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) reinfection according to variants of concern in Gyeongsangbuk-do and Daegu, Korea.METHODS: The database of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases reported from epidemiological investigations through the integrated system operated by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, from January 20, 2020 to May 7, 2022 was combined with data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service system. The severity odds ratio (SOR) in secondary infection episodes compared with primary infection was estimated using a generalized linear model with a binomial distribution.RESULTS: In all patients, the SOR of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection was 0.89 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.82 to 0.95), and the severity was lower than in the first infection. Patients who had been vaccinated within 91 days showed a more attenuated SOR (0.85; 95% CI, 0.74 to 0.98). However, despite vaccination, in patients with both primary and secondary infections caused by the Omicron variant, the severity was reduced to a lesser extent than in patients primarily infected with other variants.CONCLUSIONS: We could make efforts to relieve the severity of COVID-19 in vulnerable populations, in which death is more likely, by recommending booster vaccinations in case of a resurgence.

Summary We have developed an analysis pipeline to facilitate real-time mutation tracking in SARS-CoV-2, focusing initially on the Spike (S) protein because it mediates infection of human cells and is the target of most vaccine strategies and antibody-based therapeutics. To date we have identified thirteen mutations in Spike that are accumulating. Mutations are considered in a broader phylogenetic context, geographically, and over time, to provide an early warning system to reveal mutations that may confer selective advantages in transmission or resistance to interventions. Each one is evaluated for evidence of positive selection, and the implications of the mutation are explored through structural modeling. The mutation Spike D614G is of urgent concern; it began spreading in Europe in early February, and when introduced to new regions it rapidly becomes the dominant form. Also, we present evidence of recombination between locally circulating strains, indicative of multiple strain infections. These finding have important implications for SARS-CoV-2 transmission, pathogenesis and immune interventions.

The relevance of Entrepreneurial Marketing (EM) dimensions in firm performance has been confirmed in many studies of a wide range of firms. EM is particularly helpful in turbulent and unpredictable business environment such as the one currently presented by the Covid-19 pandemic. There is however no consensus as to which EM dimensions are the most effective at promoting firm innovation and growth. Although many studies have used the seven dimensions proposed by Morris et al. (2002), there is a growing body of literature that points to the role of other dimensions. In this paper, we propose that in addition to the seven established dimensions, Internal Marketing Practices (IMP) can help improve our understanding of how entrepreneurial firms can achieve improved innovation and growth.

The new coronavirus pandemic has pro-moted the new development of mobile and wearable computing in unprecedented ways. We discuss how on-body devices can help to fight the pandemic and may stay as a toolset to effectively deal with infectious diseases in the future.

In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, many private industry employers implemented changes to their sick leave policies. Using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) National Compensation Survey and two BLS supplemental surveys, this article examines changes to sick leave provisions and use before and during the pandemic.

The current outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) disease 2019 (COVID-19) represents a source of concern for the management of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Indeed patients with SLE have an increased risk of severe infections due to intrinsic perturbations of their immune response, the use of immunosuppressive drugs, as well as the potential presence of organ damage associated with their disease. In this context, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), a drug that is currently part of the long-term, standard-of-care treatment for SLE, has been reported to possess antiviral activity in vitro, and recent results from a preliminary clinical trial might support its use in curative or even prophylactic treatment for COVID-19.1–3 During the first days of the COVID-19 outbreak in France, we launched an observational study with the aim to follow the clinical course of COVID-19 in patients with SLE who received long-term treatment with HCQ. To be eligible, patients with SLE had to (1) fulfil the 1997 criteria of the SLE classifications of the American College of Rheumatology or those of the 2019 European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology4 5; (2) be on long-term treatment with HCQ; and (3) have SARS-CoV-2 carriage in their nasopharyngeal swab, as confirmed by real-time reverse transcription PCR analysis. Data …

In December 2019, an outbreak of atypical pneumonia (Coronavirus disease 2019 - COVID-19) associated with a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was reported in Wuhan city, Hubei province, China. The outbreak was traced to a seafood wholesale market and human to human transmission was confirmed. The rapid spread and the death toll of the new epidemic warrants immediate intervention. The intra-host genomic variability of SARS-CoV-2 plays a pivotal role in the development of effective antiviral agents and vaccines, but also in the design of accurate diagnostics. We analyzed NGS data derived from clinical samples of three Chinese patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, in order to identify small- and large-scale intra-host variations in the viral genome. We identified tens of low- or higher-frequency single nucleotide variations (SNVs) with variable density across the viral genome, affecting 7 out of 10 protein-coding viral genes. The majority of these SNVs corresponded to missense changes. The annotation of the identified SNVs but also of all currently circulating strain variations revealed colocalization of intra-host but also strain specific SNVs with primers and probes currently used in molecular diagnostics assays. Moreover, we de-novo assembled the viral genome, in order to isolate and validate intra-host structural variations and recombination breakpoints. The bioinformatics analysis disclosed genomic rearrangements over poly-A / poly-U regions located in ORF1ab and spike (S) gene, including a potential recombination hot-spot within S gene. Our results highlight the intra-host genomic diversity and plasticity of SARS-CoV-2, pointing out genomic regions that are prone to alterations. The isolated SNVs and genomic rearrangements, reflect the intra-patient capacity of the polymorphic quasispecies, which may arise rapidly during the outbreak, allowing immunological escape of the virus, offering resistance to anti-viral drugs and affecting the sensitivity of the molecular diagnostics assays.

El presente artículo es resultado de una investigación de corte cualitativo con sustento teórico-analítico que tiene por objetivo analizar las políticas educativas implementadas por el gobierno Mexicano, frente al SARS-CoV-2 que causa la enfermedad del Covid-19, y que provocó el periodo de aislamiento social. Particularmente, se analizarán los documentos y comunicados emitidos por la SEP para la educación básica, así como los efectos de las plataformas virtuales y recursos digitales disponibles para la continuidad de las clases desde casa. Se concluye que existe una escasa cultura en Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación por parte de la población escolar, así como carencias en conectividad y disponibilidad de tecnología aplicable a la educación, y que se hace necesario replantear el currículo actual para educación básica, lo mismo que las prácticas docentes, para con ello centrarse en nuevos modelos educativos capaces de afrontar no sólo una crisis como la actual, generada por la pandemia de Covid-19, sino como opciones viables para formar para la vida, para la ciudadanía y la solidaridad.