Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jul 26, 2020; 8(14): 2959-2976
Published online Jul 26, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i14.2959
Effects of policies and containment measures on control of COVID-19 epidemic in Chongqing
Xiao-Hua Liang, Xian Tang, Ye-Tao Luo, Min Zhang, Ze-Pei Feng
Xiao-Hua Liang, Xian Tang, Ye-Tao Luo, Min Zhang, Ze-Pei Feng, Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department, Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders, Key Laboratory of Pediatrics in Chongqing, China International Science and Technology Cooperation Center of Child Development and Critical Disorders, Chongqing 400014, China
Author contributions: Liang XH conceived and designed the study; Zhang M and Feng ZP participated in the acquisition of the data; Luo YT analyzed the data; Liang XH and Tang X drafted and revised the manuscript; and all authors critically reviewed and approved the final paper.
Supported by School Funded Project of COVID-19 of Chongqing Medical University, No. CQMUNCP0204; Young Scientists Fund Program of the Education Commission of Chongqing, No. KJQN201900443; National Key Research and Development Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China, No. 2017YFC0211705; Young Scientists Fund Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81502826; and General Program of the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, No. 2014M562289.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Chongqing Medical University.
Informed consent statement: Participants were informed about the plan about our study details. And if they agreed to participate in, written informed consent was obtained from each participant prior to their inclusion in the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors report no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: Data are available from Xiao-Hua Liang (contact via xiaohualiang@hospital.cqmu.edu.cn or liangxiaohua666@sina.com).
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement checklist of items and prepared and revised the manuscript accordingly.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiao-Hua Liang, MD, PhD, Associate Research Scientist, Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department, Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders, Key Laboratory of Pediatrics in Chongqing, China International Science and Technology Cooperation Center of Child Development and Critical Disorders, No. 136, Second Zhongshan Road, Chongqing 400014, China. xiaohualiang@hospital.cqmu.edu.cn
Received: May 19, 2020
Peer-review started: May 19, 2020
First decision: June 4, 2020
Revised: June 11, 2020
Accepted: June 29, 2020
Article in press: June 29, 2020
Published online: July 26, 2020
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Since December 2019, a deadly emerging infectious disease called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly spread from Wuhan (China), the outbreak epicenter, to more than 200 countries, territories, and areas. Several studies have considered the impact of the lockdown of Wuhan on the epidemic trend of COVID-19 but have not considered the effects of other prevention and control policies and measures. The prevention and control policies and measures implemented by the Chinese government controlled the pandemic as quickly as possible. These policies and measures can provide policy suggestions for other countries to curb the serious spread of COVID-19 and provide a theoretical basis for the prevention and control of emerging infectious diseases in the future.

Research motivation

This study analyzed the policies and control measures adopted by the government and medical institutions in Chongqing for the prevention and control of COVID-19 and explored the impact of the lockdown of Wuhan, the closed management of residential communities, and other relevant policy measures on the epidemic trend in Chongqing. Our results revealed that interdepartmental collaboration and medical insurance need to be further explored in future studies in the face of emergent infectious diseases of unknown etiologies.

Research objectives

This study aimed to analyze the policies and containment measures implemented by the Chongqing government and medical institutes in terms of the management and technical aspects and to explore the effects of different policies and containment measures on the control of the COVID-19 epidemic in Chongqing. This study will provide guidance for future research on emergent infectious diseases.

Research methods

Epidemiological data and survey of key people were used to conduct this study. Epidemiological data were collected from the official website of the Chongqing Municipal Health Commission from January 21, 2020 (the first date that a COVID-19 case was reported in Chongqing) to March 15, 2020 (when the epidemic was controlled). The management policy materials and their implementation dates for COVID-19 were collected from the official websites of the government and the Municipal Health Commission of Chongqing. In addition, some policy materials on implementation and containment measures were obtained by querying leaders and frontline workers at the CDC and local medical institutions. The epidemic trend of COVID-19 in Chongqing was analyzed by an experienced statistical analyst using SAS 9.4.

Research results

As of March 15, the cumulative incidence of COVID-19 in Chongqing was 1.84/100000 (576 cases), and the infection fatality rate was 1.04% (6/576). The spread of COVID-19 was controlled by effective policies that involved establishing a group for directing the COVID-19 epidemic control effort; strengthening guidance and supervision; ensuring the supply of daily necessities and medical supplies and equipment to residents; setting up designated hospitals; implementing legal measures; and enhancing health education. Medical techniques were implemented to improve the recovery rate and control the epidemic. Policies such as “the lockdown of Wuhan”, “initiating a first-level response to major public health emergencies”, and “implementing the closed management of residential communities” significantly curbed the spread of COVID-19. Optimizing the diagnosis process, shortening the diagnosis time, and constructing teams of clinical experts facilitated the provision of “one team of medical experts for each patient” treatment for severe cases, which significantly improved the recovery rate and reduced the infection fatality rate. This study did not explore interdepartmental collaboration between medical institutes and government authorities.

Research conclusions

The prevention policies and containment measures implemented by the government and medical institutions were highly effective in controlling the spread of the epidemic and increasing the recovery rate of COVID-19 patients. This study analyzed the policies and measures used to control the COVID-19 epidemic and found that it showed apparent effects in epidemic prevention and control. In conclusion, primary prevention policies and measures are effective in curbing emergent infectious diseases.

Research perspectives

This study explored the impact of some policies and measures on controlling the COVID-19 epidemic. Emergency networks combined with different institutes to control emergent infectious diseases should be explored in future studies. Medical insurance in the context of emergent infectious diseases also needs to be studied in the future.