Epidemiologic Linkage of COVID-19 Outbreaks at Two University-affiliated Hospitals in the Seoul Metropolitan Area in March 2020.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreaks emerged at two university-affiliated hospitals in Seoul (hospital A) and Uijeongbu City (hospital S) in the metropolitan Seoul area in March 2020. The aim of this study was to investigate epidemiological links between the outbreaks using whole genome sequencing (WGS) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

Methods

Fifteen patients were enrolled in the study, including four non-outbreak (A1-A4) and three outbreak cases (A5-A7) in hospital A and eight cases (S1-S8) in hospital S. Patients' hospital stays, COVID-19 symptoms, and transfer history were reviewed. RNA samples were submitted for WGS and genome-wide single nucleotide variants and phylogenetic relationships were analyzed.

Results

SUBMITTER: Park K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7834897 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature