The characteristics of overseas imported COVID-19 cases and the effectiveness of screening strategies in Beijing, China

Background In March 2020, the WHO declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. While great success in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) control has been achieved in China, imported cases have become a major challenge. This study aimed to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of imported COVID-19 cases and to assess the effectiveness of screening strategies in Beijing, China. Methods This retrospective study included all imported cases transferred to Beijing Ditan Hospital from 29 February to 20 March 2020 who were screened by both chest computed tomography (CT) and reverse-transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) at the initial presentation. Demographic, clinical and laboratory data, in addition to chest CT imaging, were collected and analysed. Results In total, 2545 cases were included, among which 71 (2.8%) were finally diagnosed with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19. The majority 63 (88.7%) were from Europe. The most common initial symptoms were cough and fever, which accounted for 49.3% and 42.3%, respectively. Only four cases (5.6%) had lymphocytopenia, and thirteen cases (18.3%) demonstrated elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP). All cases had normal serum levels of procalcitonin (PCT). At initial presentation, among the 71 confirmed cases, 59 (83.1%) had a positive RT-PCR assay, and 35 (49.3%) had a positive chest CT. Twelve (16.9%) had a negative RT-PCR assay but a positive chest CT. Conclusions A combination of RT-PCR and chest CT is an effective strategy for the screening of imported COVID-19 cases. Our findings provide important information and clinical evidence about the infection control of imported COVID-19 cases.

Automated summary

This study describes the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of imported COVID-19 cases in Beijing and assesses the effectiveness of screening strategies. The combination of RT-PCR and chest CT is found to be an effective strategy for screening imported cases.