19-related excess deaths were observed in the 120 care homes without a confirmed COVID-19 outbreak. 32 fewer non-COVID-19-related deaths than expected were reported among care home residents in hospital.

The effect of COVID-19 on care homes has been substantial but concentrated in care homes with known outbreaks. A key implication from our findings is that, if community incidence of COVID-19 increases again, many care home residents will be susceptible. Shielding care home residents from potential sources of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and ensuring rapid action to minimise outbreak size if infection is introduced, will be important for any second wave.

None.
None.
More than 13,000 cases were reported to be infected with COVID-19 by RT-PCR in South Korea. Most studies report clinical characteristics of hospitalized patients with COVID-19; the full spectrum of disease severity has thus not yet been well described.

Using retrospective observational methods, this study analyzed factors affecting early clinical symptoms, clinical progress, and severity of disease for COVID-19 positive patients released from quarantine to provide information on establishing optimized care for new patients. The medical data of 7803 laboratory-confirmed patients who had been discharged or died by April 30, 2020 were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression analysis.

On admission, 7383 (94•5%) patients were asymptomatic or showed mild illness, and 372 (4•8%) patients were severe illness. Also, 48 (0 0•6%) were hospitalized with critically ill when diagnosed. Most patients with asymptomatic or mild illness on admission remained mild until discharge, 253 (3•4%) progressed to severe ifever, shortness of breath, and underlying disease can be useful in predicting future clinical severity. Additionally, the number of confirmed asymptomatic COVID-19 patients significantly contribute to continued spread.

none.
none.
Countries with a high incidence of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) reported reduced hospitalisations for acute coronary syndromes (ACS) during the pandemic. This study describes the impact of a nationwide lockdown on ACS hospitalisations in New Zealand (NZ), a country with a low incidence of COVID-19.

All patients admitted to a NZ Hospital with ACS who underwent coronary angiography in the All NZ ACS Quality Improvement registry during the lockdown (23 March - 26 April 2020) were compared with equivalent weeks in 2015-2019. Ambulance attendances and regional community troponin-I testing were compared for lockdown and non-lockdown (1 July 2019 to 16 February 2020) periods.

Hospitalisation for ACS was lower during the 5-week lockdown (105vs. 146 per-week, rate ratio 0•72 [95% CI 0•61-0•83],
=0.003). This was explained by fewer admissions for non-ST-segment elevation ACS (NSTE-ACS;
=0•002) but not ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI;
=0•31). Patient characteristics and in-hospital mortality were similar. For STEMI, door-to-balloon times were similar (70vs. 72min,
=0•52). For NSTE-ACS, there was an increase in percutaneous revascularisation (59% vs. 49%,
<0•001) and reduction in surgical revascularisation (9% vs. 15%,
=0•005). There were fewer ambulance attendances for cardiac arrests (98vs. 110 per-week,
=0•04) but no difference for suspected ACS (408vs. 420 per-week,
=0•44). Community troponin testing was lower throughout the lockdown (182vs. 394 per-week,
<0•001).

Despite the low incidence of COVID-19, there was a nationwide decrease in ACS hospitalisations during the lockdown. These findings have important implications for future pandemic planning.

The ANZACS-QI registry receives funding from the New Zealand Ministry of Health.
The ANZACS-QI registry receives funding from the New Zealand Ministry of Health.
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a worldwide pandemic and affected more than 227 countries or territories, resulting in more than 25 million cases with over 0•85 million deaths, as of September 2, 2020. Taiwan has been successful in countering the COVID-19 outbreak, however, the potential risk for asymptomatic infections and the prevalence rates remain unknown. We aimed to estimate the seroprevalence of COVID-19 in Taiwan via serologically testing hospital patients with neither symptoms indicative of nor positive nucleic acid test for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Residual specimens from laboratory blood tests for outpatient and emergency department patients visiting a medical centre in Taipei, Taiwan, within one week in May and another in July, 2020, were collected. We used Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Assay to screen and further validated cases with high cutoff index by a confirmatory ELISA assay. We also analysed antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 along disease progression in four nucleic acid test confirmed COVID-19 patients.

Blood samples from a total of 14,765 patients were tested. The unweighted seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was 0•07% [95% CI, 0•04%-0•13%]; after weighting with the population demographics of Taiwan, the estimated overall seroprevalence was 0•05% [95% CI, 0•02%-0•10%]. Quarfloxin research buy Furthermore, based on data of the four COVID-19 cases, the seroconversion dates for IgM were as early as 9 days and that for IgG 11 days after symptoms onset.

We screened the anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in a small-scale population-based study and observed an approximately 0•05% seroprevalence of COVID-19, indicating that the current containment protocols emphasising mask wearing, hand washing, social distancing and mandatory quarantine for all incomers are effective in Taiwan.

Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
In response to the COVID-19 epidemic, China implemented a series of interventions that impacted tuberculosis (TB) control in the country.

Based on routine surveillance data and questionnaires, the study analyzed TB notification, follow-up examinations, and treatment outcomes. The data were split into three phases in relation to outbreak, lockdown and reopen when the nationwide COVID-19 response started in 2020 control (11 weeks prior), intensive (11 weeks during and immediately after), and regular (4 additional weeks). Data from 2017-2019 were used as baseline.

The notified number of TB patients decreased sharply in the 1
week of the intensive period but took significantly longer to rebound in 2020 compared with baseline. The percentages of TB patients undergoing sputum examination within one week after 2 months treatment and full treatment course in the intensive period were most affected and decreased by 8% in comparison with control period. 75•2% (221/294) of counties reallocated CDC and primary health care workers to fight the COVID-19 epidemic, 26•9% (725/2694) of TB patients had postponed or missed their follow-up examinations due to travel restrictions and fear of contracting COVID-19.Quarfloxin research buy