Shim, Eunha; Tariq, Amna; Chowell, Gerardo
International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases
2020Oct ; 92 ( 37 ) :.
PMID : 33038555
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Shim, Eunha - Department of Mathematics, Soongsil University, 369 Sangdoro, Dongjak-Gu, Seoul 06978, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: alicia@ssu.ac.kr.
Tariq, Amna - Department of Population Health Sciences, School of Public Health, Georgia State
Chowell, Gerardo - Department of Population Health Sciences, School of Public Health, Georgia State
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: In South Korea, 13 745 cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) had been reported as of 19 July, 2020. To examine spatiotemporal changes in the transmission potential, we aimed to present regional estimates of the doubling time and reproduction number (R(t)) for COVID-19 in the country.
METHODS: Daily series of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the most affected regions were extracted from publicly available sources. We employed established mathematical and statistical methods to investigate the time-varying reproduction numbers and doubling time for COVID-19 in Korea.
RESULTS: At the regional level, Seoul and Gyeonggi Province experienced the first peak of COVID-19 in early March, followed by a second wave in early June, withR(t) exceeding 3.0 and mean doubling time ranging from 3.6 to 10.1 days. As of 19 July, 2020, Gyeongbuk Province and Daegu had yet to experience a second wave of the disease. During the first wave, mean R(t) for these areas reached 3.5-4.4, and doubling time ranged from 2.8 to 4.6 days.
CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support the effectiveness of control measures against COVID-19 in Korea. However, the easing of restrictions that had been imposed by the government in May 2020 facilitated a second wave in the greater Seoul area. CI - Copyright ??2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.
keyword
COVID-19; Coronavirus; Reproduction number; Republic of Korea; Seoul; Social distancing
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