Epidemiology and Health

COVID-19: Original Article

Epidemiological characteristics of a COVID-19 outbreak caused by religious activities in Daegu, Korea: Jong-Yeon Kim, Yu-Mi Lee, Hwajin Lee, Jung-Whan Kim, Shin-Woo Kim; Epidemiol Health. 2021;43:e2021024. Published online April 14, 2021; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4178/epih.e2021024

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Abstract

OBJECTIVES
A coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak triggered by religious activities occurred in Daegu, Korea in February 2020. This outbreak spread rapidly to the community through high-risk groups. This study describes the characteristics of COVID-19 cases based on S religious group membership and summarizes the Daegu municipal government’s processes and responses to control the outbreak.

METHODS

The epidemiological characteristics of confirmed cases were obtained through basic and in-depth epidemiological surveys. General characteristics, the proportion of asymptomatic cases, the case-fatality rate, and the time-to-event within each group were presented after stratifying confirmed cases according to S religious group membership.

RESULTS

Overall, 7,008 COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Daegu from February 18, 2020 to June 30, 2020, and 61.5% (n= 4,309) were S religious group members. Compared with non-members, members had a higher proportion of female (p< 0.001) and younger age (p< 0.001), as well as lower disease prevalence. At the time of the investigation, 38.4% of cases in members were asymptomatic versus 23.7% of cases in non-members (p< 0.001). The case-fatality rate of non-members aged ≥ 60 years was significantly higher than that of members (p< 0.001). Compared with non-members, members had longer intervals from symptom onset to diagnosis (p< 0.001) and from diagnosis to admission (p< 0.001), and a shorter interval from admission to discharge (p< 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The epidemiological features of S religious group members, including the proportion of asymptomatic cases, case-fatality rate, and time-to-event, differed from non-members. The Daegu authorities prevented further COVID-19 spread through immediate isolation and active screening tests of all S religious group members.

Summary

Korean summary
2020년 2월 대구에서는 종교활동에 의한 코로나바이러스감염증-19(COVID-19) 유행이 발생하였다. 2020년 2월 18일부터 6월 30일까지 대구에서 7,008명이 확진되었으며, 이 중 약 61.5%가 S 종교집단의 신도였다. 비신도인 확진자에 비하여 S 종교집단의 신도인 확진자는 높은 여성 비율, 낮은 연령, 낮은 기저질환 유병률, 높은 무증상 감염율, 동일 연령대에 비하여 낮은 치명률을 보였다. 대구시 보건당국은 S 종교집단의 모든 회원에 대한 즉각적인 격리와 적극적인 선별검사를 통해 지역사회 내 더욱 광범위한 COVID-19 확산을 막을 수 있었다.

Key Message
A coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak triggered by religious activities occurred in Daegu, Korea in February 2020. Overall, 7,008 COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Daegu from February 18, 2020 to June 30, 2020, and approximately 61.5% were S religious group members. Compared with non-members, members had a higher proportion of women, younger age, and lower disease prevalence, higher proportion of asymptomatic cases and lower case-fatality rate within the same age group. The Daegu authorities prevented further COVID-19 spread through immediate isolation and active screening tests of all S religious group members.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by

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