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In the last week of September 2023, a surge of influenza-like illness was observed among students of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Health Service Education and Training Center, where 48 (27 males and 21 females; age in years: mean 33, range 27-41) of 247 military students at the Center presented with respiratory symptoms. Between September 25 and October 10, 2023, all 48 symptomatic students were evaluated with real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and sequencing for both influenza and SARS-CoV-2. Thirteen (27%) students were found positive for influenza A/H3 only, 6 (13%) for SARS-CoV-2 only, and 4 (8%) were co-infected with influenza A/H3 and SARS-CoV-2. Seventeen influenza A/ H3N2 viruses belonged to the same clade, 3C.2a1b.2a.2a.3a, and 4 SARSCoV-2 sequences belonged to the JE1.1 lineage, indicating a common source outbreak for both. The influenza A/H3N2 circulating virus belonged to a different clade than the vaccine strain for 2023 (3C.2a1b.2a.2a). Only 4 students had received the influenza vaccine for 2023. In response, the AFP Surgeon General issued a memorandum to all military health institutions on October 19, 2023 that mandated influenza vaccination as a prerequisite for enrollment of students at all education and training centers, along with implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions and early notification and testing of students exhibiting influenza-like-illness.

We clinically characterized PCR detected breakthrough infections among partially/fully vaccinated cases with majority given an inactivated vaccine, CoronaVac. From 1 March to 15 July 2021, we detected 182 SARS-CoV-2 infections among vaccinated cases with 129 classified as breakthrough infections. Majority were male, 30-39 y.o., and were asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic with few severe cases. Alpha, Beta and Delta VOCs were detected from sequenced breakthrough infections. Healthcare workers had significantly lower Ct values(higher viral loads) versus non-HCWs. Our results underscore the importance of regular PCR screening for HCWs due to the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from asymptomatic breakthrough infections and provide evidence supporting administration of a booster dose especially to HCWs., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) belonging to the family Coronaviridae and genus Betacoronavirus is the causative agent of COVID-19 disease and was first identified in Wuhan, China. SARS-CoV-2 spread globally with >28 million cases and 911,000 deaths recorded worldwide as of September 12, 2020. The Philippines reported the first case of community transmission on March 5, 2020, and despite the government imposing one of the longest and strictest lockdowns in Southeast Asia, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases still surged with >250,000 cases and 4,000 deaths reported as of September 12, 2020. It is important to estimate the burden and impact of SARS-CoV-2 on the military population since this can affect the military readiness., Materials and Methods: Nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs were collected and SARS-CoV-2 real-time RT-PCR testing was performed on the samples. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using sequences from 23 SARS-CoV-2-positive specimens from this study and sequences retrieved from GenBank and GISAID databases., Results: From April 14 to August 15, 2020, a total of 12,432 specimens were tested with 763 (6%) unique individuals testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 by rRT-PCR. In the military population, majority of the patients who were tested (80%) and those who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (86%) were male. Military and civilian status was available for 7,672 patients with 515/5,042 (10%) positive among military patients and 248/2,630 (9%) positive among civilian patients. Both military and civilian populations had the highest case counts of SARS-CoV-2-positive cases in the 21- to 30- and 31- to 40-year-old age groups, while the 71- to 80-year-old age group had the highest proportion (18%) of SARS-CoV-2-positive cases. Sequencing analysis showed 19 different variants in the 23 genomes. Twenty of the 23 genomes were classified under clade GR/B1.1, 2 genomes were classified under clade GR/B1.1.28, and 1 genome was classified under Clade O/B.6. Twenty-two of the 23 sequences collected after June 25, 2020, contained the D614G mutation., Conclusion: We describe here the results of SARS-CoV-2 testing for military and civilian patients and personnel. The 21- to 30- and 31- to 40-year-old age groups had the highest case counts of SARS-CoV-2-positive cases. Sequencing results showed the presence of the D614G mutation in the spike protein in a majority of specimens collected from the end of June to July 2020., (Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States 2020. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.)

This paper attempts to find the factors that affect the number of cases and deaths of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients a year after the first outbreak in Wuhan, China. There were 141 countries affected with COVID-19 involved in the study. Countries were grouped based on population. Using ordinary least squares regression, it was found that the total number of cases and deaths were significantly related with the levels of population of the different countries. On the overall, median age of the country, and average temperature are positively related with the number of deaths from the virus. On the other hand, population density is positively related with the deaths due to COVID for low populated countries. The result of this preliminary study can be used as a benchmark for authorities in the formulation of policies with regards to treating COVID-19 related issues.