Epidemiology of COVID-19 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: An Ecological Study

• Published in: Frontiers in public health Vol. 8; p. 506
• Main Authors: Alyami, Mohammad H, Naser, Abdallah Y, Orabi, Mohamed A A, Alwafi, Hassan, Alyami, Hamad S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 17.09.2020
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Child; COVID-19; epidemiology; Humans; Male; pandemic; Pandemics; Public Health; SARS-CoV-2; Saudi Arabia; Saudi Arabia - epidemiology; trend; Saudi Arabia; COVID-19; Saudi Arabia; epidemiology; pandemic; trend
• ISSN: 2296-2565; 2296-2565
• DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00506

Considering the transmissible nature of COVID-19 it is important to explore the trend of the epidemiology of the disease in each country and act accordingly. This study aimed to examine the trend of COVID-19 epidemiology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in term of its incidence rate, recovery rate, and mortality rate. We conducted an observational study using publicly available national data taken from the Saudi Ministry of Health for the period between 3 March and 7 June 2020. The number of newly confirmed cases, active cases, critical cases, percentage of cases stratified by age group [adults, children, and elderly] and gender were extracted from the reports of the Saudi Ministry of Health. During the study period, the total number of confirmed cases with COVID-19 rose from one on 2 March 2020 to 101,914 on 7 June, representing an average of 1,039 new cases per day, [trend test, < 0.000]. Despite the increase in the number of newly confirmed daily cases of COVID-19, the number of reported daily active cases started to stabilize after 2 months from the start of the pandemic in the country and the overall recovery rate was 71.4%. The mortality rate decreased by 6.4% during the study period. COVID-19 was more common among adults and males compared to other demographic groups. The epidemiological status of COVID-19 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia showing promising improvement. Males and adults accounted for the majority of COVID-19 cases in the KSA. Further studies are recommended to be conducted at the patient level to identify other patient groups who are at higher risk of getting infected with COVID-19, and for whom the best pharmacological intervention could be provided.