Exploration of transmission chain and prevention of the recurrence of coronavirus disease 2019 in Heilongjiang Province due to in-hospital transmission

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic is a major public health emergency characterized by fast spread, a wide range of infections, and enormous control difficulty. Since the end of December 2019, Wuhan has become the first core infection area of China's COVID-19 outbreak. Since March 2020, the domestic worst-hit areas have moved to the Heilongjiang Province due to the increased number of imported COVID-19 cases. Herein, we reported the major COVID-19 outbreak, which caused a rebound of the epidemic in Harbin, China. After the rebound, different levels of causes for the recurrence of COVID-19, including city-level, hospital-level, and medical staff-level cause, were investigated. Meanwhile, corresponding countermeasures to prevent the recurrence of the epidemic were also carried out on the city level, hospital level, and medical staff level, which eventually showed the effect of infection control function in a pandemic. In this study, we described the complete transmission chain, analyzed the causes of the outbreak, and proposed corresponding countermeasures from our practical clinical experience, which can be used as a valuable reference for COVID-19 control.

Keywords: COVID-19; Heilongjiang Province; In-hospital transmission; Prevention of the recurrence; Transmission chain.

Figure 1

The schematic diagram of the complete transmission chain. The schematic diagram of complete transmission chain shows that in-hospital infections occurred in two hospitals. Hospital 1 had a total of 41 confirmed patients, including 16 inpatients, 17 family caregivers, and 8 medical staff. Hospital 2 had a total of 34 confirmed patients, including 9 inpatients and 25 family caregivers.