Background: Latest clinical data on treatment on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) indicated that older patients and those with underlying history of smoking, hypertension or diabetes mellitus might have poorer prognosis of recovery from COVID-19. We aimed to examine the relationship of various prevailing population-based risk factors in comparison with mortality rate and case fatality rate (CFR) of COVID-19.Methods: Demography and epidemiology data were used, which have been identified as verified or postulated risk factors for mortality of adult inpatients with COVID-19. The number of confirmed cases and the number of deaths until April 16, 2020 for all affected countries were extracted from Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 websites. Datasets for indicators that are prevailing or postulated factors of COVID-19 mortality were extracted from the World Bank database. Out of 185 affected countries, the top 50 countries were selected for analysis in this study. The following seven variables were included in the analysis, based on data availability and completeness: 1) proportion of people aged 65 above, 2) proportion of male in the population, 3) smoking prevalence, and 4) number of hospital beds. Linear regression analysis was carried out to determine the relationship between CFR and the aforementioned risk factors.Results: United States shows approximately 0.20% of confirmed cases and it has about 4.85% of CFR. Luxembourg shows the highest percentage of confirmed cases of 0.55% but a low 2.05% of CFR, showing that a high percentage of confirmed cases does not necessarily lead to high CFR. There is a significant association between CFR, people aged 65 and above (β=4.70; p = 0.035).Conclusion: Countries with high proportion of older people above 65 years old have a significant risk of having high CFR from COVID-19. Nevertheless, gender differences and smoking prevalence failed to prove a significant relationship with COVID-19 mortality rate and CFR.

Background: Public misconception and demand for the indication of antibiotics could lead to inappropriate prescribing and consumption. Successful treatment can only be achieved when the public and industrial users have knowledge on antibiotic use and resistance. This survey is aimed to assess antibiotic usage and knowledge regarding antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among undergraduate students of Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), public university located in Brunei Darussalam. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed using a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was adapted from the World Health Organization (WHO) Antibiotic Resistance, Multi-country public awareness survey distributed online. Students at UBD were invited to participate in the online survey through internal email. The questionnaire consisted of 5 sections: demographic information, antibiotic usage, knowledge on antibiotics, antibiotic resistance (AMR) and use of antibiotics in agriculture. Data were analyzed descriptively and appropriate inferential statistics was used accordingly. Cronbach’s alpha was also done to determine the internal consistency. The section on antibiotic use and knowledge showed good internal consistency of Cronbach’s alpha 0.66 and 0.86 respectively. Research ethics approval was obtained from the PAPRSB Institute of Health Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD). Results: A total of 145 students returned the complete questionnaire. The result of the study found that 50% of the students had good level of knowledge of antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance with a mean total knowledge score of 11.4 out of 14. Respondents reported the use of antibiotic in the past (69%). Many of the students could identify the use of antibiotics for the treatment of bacterial infection. However, there were also students who incorrectly thought that antibiotics can be used for cold and flu (43%) and fever (41%). Moreover, 76% of the respondents mistakenly believed that antibiotic resistance is the result of the body becoming resistant to antibiotics. Only 12% of the respondents were found to have poor knowledge in the study. Conclusions: Misconceptions in regards to the use of antibiotics for conditions related to viral illnesses was noticed among the respondents in our study. Thus, improving knowledge on antibiotics is crucial to address those beliefs.