Article ID: JJID.2021.274
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused severe health impacts to worldwide. The aim of our study was to provide suggestions for government to manage serious infectious disease outbreaks in remote regions with relatively poor medical resources. The basic reproduction number (R0), incubation period, time from symptom onset to confirmed and duration of hospitalization were analyzed. We compared the composition of imported and local secondary cases, and cases with mild/common and severe/critical illness according to age, sex, and clinical symptoms. From January 23 to February 19, 2020 (less than 1 month), 75 local COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Inner Mongolia. Among them, the median age was 45.0 years and 33 (44.0%) were imported. More than 80.0% cases were mild/common. The case fatality rate was 1.3% and the R0 was estimated to be 2.3. The median incubation period was 8.5 days. There was a significant difference in the incubation period between imported and local secondary cases (P<0.001). The early and mandatory control strategies implemented by government were associated with a rapid reduction in COVID-19 incidence in Inner Mongolia.
