Characteristics of confirmed coronavirus disease cases at the south campus of Shanghai East Hospital: A retrospective study

Abstract Background: A fever outpatient clinic at the south campus of Shanghai East Hospital (SEH) openedin response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. We analyzed the data of all 11,972patients who visited the fever clinic and the 29 confirmed COVID-19 cases to determine the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of confirmed COVID-19 cases diagnosed at SEH.Methods: Data were collected from all fever outpatient clinic patients between January 23 and September 30, 2020. We compared the characteristics of confirmed patients, including age, occupation, area, symptoms, laboratory results, and computed tomography (CT) findings, according to month.Results: By September 30, 2020, 11,972 patients, including 29 (0.24%) confirmed COVID-19 cases, visited the clinic. Four of five confirmed domestic cases identified during January–February 2020 were from Wuhan (mainly elderly retirees and local employees), Hubei. After the epidemic spread internationally, all 22 confirmed cases identified during March–April 2020 were individuals who returned from abroad. They were predominantly young Chinese international students. The sporadic two confirmed cases during May–September 2020 included an employee returning to work from Hubei and an Indian servant from abroad. Symptoms, laboratory tests, and CT findings were consistent with previous reports of COVID-19-positive cases.Conclusions: The characteristics of confirmed COVID-19 cases at SEH varied among different periods in response to the spread of the pandemic. However, due to the effective early isolation and quarantine measures, no outbreak occurred in SEH, which contributed to the prevention and control of the epidemic in Shanghai.