This is a case series of five patients with acute abdomen requiring surgery who tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and were asymptomatic, with the purpose of detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in peritoneal fluid. Nasopharyngeal swab was done as a prerequisite for admission or prior to admission as part of random testing. Two methods of viral testing were employed: Xpert® Xpress SARS-CoV-2 (rapid test) and real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Either or both tests were done, with the former performed for patients requiring surgery immediately. Surgery was performed within 24–36 h from admission. Peritoneal fluid swabs were obtained for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 using RT-PCR test. Swabs were immediately placed in viral transfer media and delivered to the public health laboratory in an ice bag. SARS-CoV-2 was not detected in peritoneal swabs. Due to the limited number of patients, further studies are required; yet, protective measures should still be taken by surgeons when dealing with COVID-19 cases.

Background: Acute pancreatitis is one of the most common gastrointestinal causes of emergency hospital admissions. One in four patients will develop severe acute pancreatitis requiring critical care admission (CCA) frequently for a prolonged period leading to a considerable burden on health care resources. The main objective of this study was to analyse factors that may predict the need for CCA in patients diagnosed with acute pancreatitis.Methods: In this study, authors analyzed the health records of all patients (154 patients) admitted to Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) with the diagnosis of acute pancreatitis.Results: A total of 10 (6.5%) and 24 (15.6%) patients were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and surgical high dependency unit (SHDU) respectively. There were no differences between different admission locations when it came to age, gender, comorbidities, frequency of attacks and number of computed tomography (CT) scans. After adjusting for all covariates in a multivariate binary logistic regression, the following factors were found to predict CCA: Nationality OR (95% CI): 7.64 (1.14-51.29), dyslipidaemia etiology OR (95% CI): 0.025 (0.001-0.755) and CT severity index - CTSI (95% CI): 1.463 (1.014-2.111). CCA was associated with higher length of stay (6 days vs. 9 day) OR (95% CI): 0.79 (0.015-0.413) and higher in-hospital mortality (1.7% versus 17.6%) OR (95% CI): 5.58 (3.38-7.78).Conclusions: This study results indicate that nationality, dyslipidaemia etiology and CTSI were associated with higher CCA. ICU admission was associated with longer length of hospital stay and higher mortality rates.