Objectives: A large number of healthcare workers (HCWs) were infected by SARS-CoV-2 during the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. Hospitals are significant epicenters for the human-to-human transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 for HCWs, patients, and visitors. No data has been reported on the details of hospital environmental contamination status in the epicenter of Wuhan. Methods: We collected 626 surface swabs within the Zhongnan Medical Center in Wuhan in the mist of the COVID-19 outbreak between February 7-February 27, 2020. Dacron swabs were aseptically collected from the surfaces of 13 hospital function zones, five major objects, and three major PPE. The SARS-CoV-2 RNAs were detected by reverse transcription-PCR. Results: The most contaminated zones were the intensive care unit specialized for taking care of novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) (31.9%), Obstetric Isolation Ward specialized for pregnant women with NCP (28.1%), and Isolation Ward for NCP (19.6%). We classified the 13 zones into four contamination levels. The most contaminated objects were self-service printers (20.0%), desktop/keyboard (16.8%), and doorknob (16.0%). Both hand sanitizer dispensers (20.3%) and gloves (15.4%) were the most contaminated PPE. Conclusion: Our findings emphasize the urgent need to ensure adequate environmental cleaning, strengthen infection prevention training, and improve infection prevention among HCWs during the outbreak of COVID-19.

In the past decade, the most prevalent norovirus genotype causing viral gastroenteritis outbreaks worldwide, including China, has been GII.4. In winter 2014–15, norovirus outbreaks in Guangdong, China, increased. Sequence analysis indicated that 82% of the outbreaks were caused by a norovirus GII.17 variant.

Background: Few studies have been conducted to investigate the impact of extreme cold events on mortality in subtropical regions.Objective: In the present study we aimed to investigate the effects of the 2008 cold spell on mortality and the possibility of mortality displacement in three subtropical cities in China.Methods: Daily mortality, air pollution, and weather data were collected from 2006 to 2009 in Guangzhou, Nanxiong (no air pollutants), and Taishan. We used a polynomial distributed lag model (DLM) to analyze the relationship between the 2008 cold spell and mortality. To observe the mortality displacement of the cold spell, we estimated the cumulative effects at lag0, lag0–6, lag0–13, lag0–20, and lag0–27 separately.Results: During the 2008 cold spell, the cumulative risk of nonaccidental mortality increased significantly in Guangzhou [relative risk (RR) = 1.60; 95% CI: 1.19, 2.14] and Taishan (RR = 1.60; 95% CI: 1.06, 2.40) when lagged up to 4 weeks after the cold spell ended. Estimated effects at lag0–27 were more pronounced for males than for females, for respiratory mortality than for cardiovascular mortality, and for the elderly (≥ 75 years of age) than for those 0–64 years of age. Most of the cumulative RRs increased with longer lag times in Guangzhou and Taishan. However, in Nanxiong, the trend with cumulative RRs was less consistent, and we observed no statistically significant associations at lag0–27.Conclusion: We found associations between the 2008 cold spell and increased mortality in the three subtropical cities of China. The lag effect structure of the cold spell varied with location and the type of mortality, and evidence of short-term mortality displacement was inconsistent. These findings suggest that extreme cold is an important public health problem in subtropical regions.

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Dozens of epidemic erythromelalgia (EM) outbreaks have been reported in China since the mid-twentieth century, and the most recent happened in Foshan City, Guangdong Province early 2014. This study compared the daily case counts of this recent epidemic EM outbreak from February 11 to March 3 with Baidu search data for the same period. After keyword selection, filtering and composition, the most correlated lag of the EM Search Index was used for comparison and linear regression model development. This study also explored the spatial distribution of epidemic EM in China during this period based on EM Search Index. The EM Search Index at lag 2 was most significantly associated with daily case counts in Foshan (ρ = 0.863, P < 0.001). It captured an upward trend in the outbreak about one week ahead of official report and the linear regression analysis indicated that every 1.071 increase in the EM Search Index reflected a rise of 1 EM cases 2 days earlier. The spatial analysis found that the number of EM Search Indexes increased in the middle of Guangdong Province and South China during the outbreak period. The EM Search Index may be a good early indicator of an epidemic EM outbreak.