key: cord-0781394-w5iph04m
authors: Wiwanitkit, Viroj
title: COVID-19 Infection in Oman
date: 2020-09-30
journal: Oman Med J
DOI: 10.5001/omj.2020.127
sha: b0290e3990fd1e77b65bf94ecb75a7e74cedd708
doc_id: 781394
cord_uid: w5iph04m

nan

I would like to share ideas on the report, "Epidemiology of COVID-19 Infection in Oman: Analysis of the First 1304 Cases." The authors found that on presentation, 95.9% of cases were mild, 3.6% moderate, and 0.5% severe with a case fatality rate of 0.5%. 1 This trend is similar to many countries. An interesting observation is the low mortality rate compared to Western countries. Another interesting observation is the high incidence of mild COVID-19. This might imply the nature of non-severe COVID-19 in Oman, or possible natural resistance among people in Oman. In fact, this trend is observed in many Asian countries, such as those in Indochina. 2 Whether there is any effect of race and severity in COVID-19 is an interesting question for further research. Also, due to the nature of the nonsevere infection, there is a chance that there might be a high incidence of asymptomatic COVID-19 cases in Oman. Underdiagnosis is a possible problem in epidemiology studies of COVID-19 since many cases are mild or asymptomatic. 2 Since there is no universal screening for all people, it is hard to tell the exact rate of asymptomatic COVID-19 in the community. In areas with non-severe disease, it might be necessary to have serosurveillance to actively search for mild or asymptomatic cases for early control of disease spread.

r efer ences

Epidemiology of COVID-19 infection in Oman: Analysis of the First 1304 Cases

Revealing regional disparities in the transmission potential of SARS-CoV-2 from interventions in Southeast Asia

Atypical presentation of COVID-19