Global analysis of the infection by COVID-19

• Autor(a) principal: Buckeridge,Marcos Silveira
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Ambiente & Sociedade (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1414-753X2020000100909
• topic: COVID-19; infection; global analysis; social distancing; testing

Abstract The evolution of the pandemic of COVID-19 globally has generated one of the most significant historical events of the 21st Century, with unpredictable consequences to the economy, environment, and world health. Here I compiled data available in databases to examine the levels of infections of 56 countries displaying over 5,000 confirmed cases and calculated the percentage of infection by 100,000 inhabitants. The pattern found revealed a striking difference between Asian and European countries, with much higher infection levels in the later. Countries from Latin America and the Middle East were intermediate. Three factors might have generated the observed pattern: social distancing strategy, genetic factors, and testing level. I conclude that pandemic evolution would be better explained as a multifactorial phenomenon that would be better viewed systemically.