Abstract
Background: Hainan Island, a popular tourist destination, had received many imported cases of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but successfully contained the epidemics in one month. We described epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in Hainan and compared these features between imported and local cases to provide information for other international epidemic areas.Methods: We included 91 patients (56 imported and 35 local cases) from two designed hospitals for COVID-19 in Haikou, China, from January 20 to February 19, 2020. Data on demographic, epidemiological, clinical and laboratory characteristics were extracted from medical records. Patients were followed up until April 21, 2020, the levels of antibodies in the follow-up were also analyzed.Results: Of the 91 patients, 78 (85.7%) patients were diagnosed within the first three weeks after the first case identified (Day 1: Jan 22, 2020), while the number of local cases started to increase from the third week. No new cases occurred after Day 29. Fever and cough were two main clinical manifestations. 15 (16.5%) were severe, 14 (15.4%) had complicated infections, nine (9.9%) were admitted to ICU, and three died. Median duration of viral shedding in feces was longer than that in nasopharyngeal swabs (19 days vs 16 days, P=0.007). Compared with local cases, imported cases were older, have higher incidence of fever and concurrent infections. There was no difference in outcomes between the two groups. IgG was positive in 92.8% patients (77/83) in the follow-up of week 2 after discharge, 88.4% patients (38/43) had a reduction in IgG levels in the follow-up of week 4 after discharge, and the median level was lower than that in the follow-up of week 2 (10.95 S/CO vs 15.02 S/CO, P<0.001)Conclusion: Imported cases were more severe than local cases, but could have similar prognosis. The level of IgG antibodies declined from week 6 to week 8 after onset. The short epidemic period in Hainan suggests that the epidemics could be quickly brought under control if proper timely measures were taken.