Short epidemiological overview of the current situation on COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast European (SEE) countries

We are living in times where a viral disease has brought normal life in much of the world to a halt. The novel coronavirus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) started in December 2019 in Wuhan, China initially and in a sh...

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Main Authors: Edmond Puca, Rok Čivljak, Jurica Arapović, Corneliu Popescu, Iva Christova, Lul Raka, Fadil Cana, Vesna Miranović, Drosos Karageorgopoulos, Denis Baš, Bianca Paglietti, Aleksandra Barać
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries 2020-05-01
Series:Journal of Infection in Developing Countries
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Online Access:https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/12814
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author Edmond Puca
Rok Čivljak
Jurica Arapović
Corneliu Popescu
Iva Christova
Lul Raka
Fadil Cana
Vesna Miranović
Drosos Karageorgopoulos
Denis Baš
Bianca Paglietti
Aleksandra Barać
author_facet Edmond Puca
Rok Čivljak
Jurica Arapović
Corneliu Popescu
Iva Christova
Lul Raka
Fadil Cana
Vesna Miranović
Drosos Karageorgopoulos
Denis Baš
Bianca Paglietti
Aleksandra Barać
author_sort Edmond Puca
collection DOAJ
description We are living in times where a viral disease has brought normal life in much of the world to a halt. The novel coronavirus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) started in December 2019 in Wuhan, China initially and in a short time crossed the European borders. After mitigating the epidemic in China, Italy became one of the most COVID-19 affected countries worldwide. International travelers are important sources of infectious diseases and a possible source of epidemic. Due to its political, geographic, and cultural similarities, Italy is one of the main economic partners of Southeast European (SEE) countries. Our data show that infection in index cases in all 11 SEE countries was travel-related with Italy being a source country for 8/11 countries. After the first case identifications on February 25, the number of cases in SEE countries is continually rising reaching the total number of 15,612 with 565 fatal cases and overall case fatality ratio (CFR) of 3.6 (median 3.8, range 0.8–5.5) by April 10, 2020. At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is approaching its peak, apart from the problems with treatment of the disease and care for critically ill patients, there are other equally important problems, such as organization of outbreak response, provision of health care, lack of hospital personnel, disruption of personal protective equipment supply chains and health care workers (HCWs) protection. But what is more important is the heroic behavior of the HCWs who are showing their humanity by disregarding their lives.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1972-2680
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publishDate 2020-05-01
publisher The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries
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series Journal of Infection in Developing Countries
spelling doaj-art-b4e8a3655cee4d9daca418a2fc164c512025-08-20T03:52:42ZengThe Journal of Infection in Developing CountriesJournal of Infection in Developing Countries1972-26802020-05-01140510.3855/jidc.12814Short epidemiological overview of the current situation on COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast European (SEE) countriesEdmond Puca0Rok Čivljak1Jurica Arapović2Corneliu Popescu3Iva Christova4Lul Raka5Fadil Cana6Vesna Miranović7Drosos Karageorgopoulos8Denis Baš9Bianca Paglietti10Aleksandra Barać11Service of Infectious Diseases, University Hospital Center, Tirana, AlbaniaDepartment of Respiratory Tract Infections, Dr. Fran Mihaljević University Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Zagreb, CroatiaDepartment of Medical Biology, School of Medicine, University Clinical Hospital Mostar, Mostar, Bosnia and HerzegovinaCarol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, RomaniaNational Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Sofia, BulgariaNational Institute of Public Health of Kosova, Prishtina, KosovaUniversity Clinic for Infectious Diseases and Febrile Conditions, Clinical Campus "Mother Teresa", Skopje, North MacedoniaMinistry of Health, Podgorica, MontenegroDepartment of Medicine, Attikon General Hospital, Athens, GreecePediatric outpatient Department, Juventina Clinic, Ljubljana, SloveniaDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, ItalyClinic for Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia We are living in times where a viral disease has brought normal life in much of the world to a halt. The novel coronavirus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) started in December 2019 in Wuhan, China initially and in a short time crossed the European borders. After mitigating the epidemic in China, Italy became one of the most COVID-19 affected countries worldwide. International travelers are important sources of infectious diseases and a possible source of epidemic. Due to its political, geographic, and cultural similarities, Italy is one of the main economic partners of Southeast European (SEE) countries. Our data show that infection in index cases in all 11 SEE countries was travel-related with Italy being a source country for 8/11 countries. After the first case identifications on February 25, the number of cases in SEE countries is continually rising reaching the total number of 15,612 with 565 fatal cases and overall case fatality ratio (CFR) of 3.6 (median 3.8, range 0.8–5.5) by April 10, 2020. At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is approaching its peak, apart from the problems with treatment of the disease and care for critically ill patients, there are other equally important problems, such as organization of outbreak response, provision of health care, lack of hospital personnel, disruption of personal protective equipment supply chains and health care workers (HCWs) protection. But what is more important is the heroic behavior of the HCWs who are showing their humanity by disregarding their lives. https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/12814COVID-19pandemicSARS-CoV-2Southeast European (SEE) countrieshealthcare workers
spellingShingle Edmond Puca
Rok Čivljak
Jurica Arapović
Corneliu Popescu
Iva Christova
Lul Raka
Fadil Cana
Vesna Miranović
Drosos Karageorgopoulos
Denis Baš
Bianca Paglietti
Aleksandra Barać
Short epidemiological overview of the current situation on COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast European (SEE) countries
Journal of Infection in Developing Countries
COVID-19
pandemic
SARS-CoV-2
Southeast European (SEE) countries
healthcare workers
title Short epidemiological overview of the current situation on COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast European (SEE) countries
title_full Short epidemiological overview of the current situation on COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast European (SEE) countries
title_fullStr Short epidemiological overview of the current situation on COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast European (SEE) countries
title_full_unstemmed Short epidemiological overview of the current situation on COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast European (SEE) countries
title_short Short epidemiological overview of the current situation on COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast European (SEE) countries
title_sort short epidemiological overview of the current situation on covid 19 pandemic in southeast european see countries
topic COVID-19
pandemic
SARS-CoV-2
Southeast European (SEE) countries
healthcare workers
url https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/12814
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