COVID-19 outbreak in Iraqi Kurdistan: The first report characterizing epidemiological, clinical, laboratory, and radiological findings of the disease

Introduction: On March 11, 2020, the novel coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. The disease was named COVID-19 standing for coronavirus disease 2019. The objectives were to determine the epidemiological, clinical, laboratory, and radiological characteristics of COVID-19 patients. Methods: In this prospective descriptive study, 15 confirmed hospitalized cases of COVID-19 between 18th March and April 7, 2020 were followed-up till discharge. Results: There were 15 reported patients infected by 3 imported index cases from Europe. The mean age of the patients was 28.06 (SD: 16.42 years). The patients' age stratification was as follows: 0-5 (2,13.3%); 6-18 (2, 13.3); 19-50 (10, 66.7%), and 51-64 years (1, 6.7%). The patients were male (9, 60.0%) and female (6, 40.0%). Most of the patients had mild disease severity (13, 86.7%), followed by mild-moderate (1, 6.7%) and moderate-severe (1, 6.7%). The study revealed that 6 patients were asymptomatic, and 9 patients were symptomatic. The most common symptoms were: fever (n = 8; 53.3%), cough (n = 7; 46.7%), shortness of breath (n = 3; 20.0%), fatigue (n = 3; 20.0%), and taste and smell disorders (n = 4; 26.7%). All patients were recovered and discharged over a median of 8 between 8 and 21 days. The mean and Std. deviation values of the hematological were: WBC: 6.57 (1.86); neutrophil count: 3.75 (1.26); lymphocyte count: 1.87 (0.41); Hb: 13.89 (1.26); platelet count: 207.67 (52.21). Conclusion: All COVID-19 cases were linked to foreign visits with few local transmissions to close contacts without community transmission. The majority of cases were mild illnesses with full recovery. (C) 2020 Diabetes India. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.