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Background Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, people have undermined their mental health. It has been reported that post-COVID conditions at a certain rate. However, information on the mental health of people with post-COVID conditions is limited. Thus, this study investigated the relationship between post-COVID conditions and mental health. Methods Design of the present study was an International and collaborative cross-sectional study in Japan and Sweden from March 18 to June 15, 2021. The analyzed data included 763 adults who participated in online surveys in Japan and Sweden and submitted complete data. In addition to demographic data including terms related to COVID-19, psychiatric symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress were measured by using the fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), General Anxiety Disorder-7 item (GAD-7), and Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). Results Of the 135 COVID-19 survivors among the 763 total participants, 37.0% ( n  = 50/135) had COVID-19-related sequelae. First, the results of the Bonferroni-corrected Mann Whitney U test showed that the group infected SARS-CoV-2 with post-COVID conditions scored significantly higher than those without one and the non-infected group on all clinical symptom scales ( P  ≤ .05). Next, there was a significant difference that incidence rates of clinical-significant psychiatric symptoms among each group from the results of the Chi-squared test ( P  ≤ .001). Finally, the results of the multivariate logistic model revealed that the risk of having more severe clinical symptoms were 2.44–3.48 times higher among participants with post-COVID conditions. Conclusion The results showed that approximately half had some physical symptoms after COVID-19 and that post-COVID conditions may lead to the onset of mental disorders. Trial registration The ethics committee of Chiba University approved this cross-sectional study (approval number: 4129). However, as no medical intervention was conducted, a clinical trial registration was not necessary.

Background The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) and the associated coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) have spread throughout China. Previous studies predominantly focused on its place of origin, Wuhan, causing over estimation of the disease severity due to selection bias. We analyzed 465 confirmed cases in Zhejiang province to determine the epidemiological, clinical, and virological characteristics of COVID‐19. Methods Epidemiological, demographic, clinical, laboratory, and management data from qRT‐PCR confirmed COVID‐19 patients from January 17, 2020, to January 31, 2020, were collected, followed by multivariate logistic regression analysis for independent predictors of severe/critical‐type COVID‐19 and bioinformatic analysis for features of SARS‐CoV‐2 from Zhejiang province. Results Among 465 COVID‐19 patients, median age was 45 years, while hypertension, diabetes, and chronic liver disease were the most common comorbidities. History of exposure to the epidemic area was present in 170 (36.56%) and 185 (39.78%) patients were clustered in 77 families. Severe/critical‐type of COVID‐19 developed in 49 (10.54%) patients. Fever and cough were the most common symptoms, while diarrhea/vomiting was reported in 58 (12.47%) patients. Multivariate analysis revealed eight risk factors for severe/critical COVID‐19. Glucocorticoids and antibiotics were administered to 60 (12.90%) and 218(46.88%) patients, respectively. Bioinformatics showed four single amino acid mutations and one amino acid position loss in SARS‐CoV‐2 from Zhejiang province, with more similarity to humans than to viruses. Conclusions SARS‐CoV‐2 showed virological mutations and more human transmission in Zhejiang province, indicating considerable epidemiological and clinical changes. Caution in glucocorticoid and antibiotics use is advisable.

We aerosolized severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and determined that its dynamic aerosol efficiency surpassed those of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus and Middle East respiratory syndrome. Although we performed experiment only once across several laboratories, our findings suggest retained infectivity and virion integrity for up to 16 hours in respirable-sized aerosols.

A new coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has recently emerged to cause a human pandemic. Although molecular diagnostic tests were rapidly developed, serologic assays are still lacking, yet urgently needed. Validated serologic assays are needed for contact tracing, identifying the viral reservoir, and epidemiologic studies. We developed serologic assays for detection of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing, spike protein-specific, and nucleocapsid-specific antibodies. Using serum samples from patients with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections, other coronaviruses, or other respiratory pathogenic infections, we validated and tested various antigens in different in-house and commercial ELISAs. We demonstrated that most PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2-infected persons seroconverted by 2 weeks after disease onset. We found that commercial S1 IgG or IgA ELISAs were of lower specificity, and sensitivity varied between the 2 assays; the IgA ELISA showed higher sensitivity. Overall, the validated assays described can be instrumental for detection of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies for diagnostic, seroepidemiologic, and vaccine evaluation studies.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is the causative agent of the ongoing coronavirus disease pandemic. Initial estimates of the early dynamics of the outbreak in Wuhan, China, suggested a doubling time of the number of infected persons of 6-7 days and a basic reproductive number (R ) of 2.2-2.7. We collected extensive individual case reports across China and estimated key epidemiologic parameters, including the incubation period (4.2 days). We then designed 2 mathematical modeling approaches to infer the outbreak dynamics in Wuhan by using high-resolution domestic travel and infection data. Results show that the doubling time early in the epidemic in Wuhan was 2.3-3.3 days. Assuming a serial interval of 6-9 days, we calculated a median R value of 5.7 (95% CI 3.8-8.9). We further show that active surveillance, contact tracing, quarantine, and early strong social distancing efforts are needed to stop transmission of the virus.

Since early January 2020, after the outbreak of coronavirus infection in Wuhan, China, ≈365 confirmed cases have been reported in Shenzhen, China. The mode of community and intrafamily transmission is threatening residents in Shenzhen. Strategies to strengthen prevention and interruption of these transmissions should be urgently addressed.

The etiologic agent of an outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan, China, was identified as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in January 2020. A patient in the United States was given a diagnosis of infection with this virus by the state of Washington and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on January 20, 2020. We isolated virus from nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal specimens from this patient and characterized the viral sequence, replication properties, and cell culture tropism. We found that the virus replicates to high titer in Vero-CCL81 cells and Vero E6 cells in the absence of trypsin. We also deposited the virus into 2 virus repositories, making it broadly available to the public health and research communities. We hope that open access to this reagent will expedite development of medical countermeasures.

Recent epidemiologic, virologic, and modeling reports support the possibility of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission from persons who are presymptomatic (SARS-CoV-2 detected before symptom onset) or asymptomatic (SARS-CoV-2 detected but symptoms never develop). SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the absence of symptoms reinforces the value of measures that prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 by infected persons who may not exhibit illness despite being infectious. Critical knowledge gaps include the relative incidence of asymptomatic and symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, the public health interventions that prevent asymptomatic transmission, and the question of whether asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection confers protective immunity.

To determine distribution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in hospital wards in Wuhan, China, we tested air and surface samples. Contamination was greater in intensive care units than general wards. Virus was widely distributed on floors, computer mice, trash cans, and sickbed handrails and was detected in air ≈4 m from patients.

Background Based on routine surveillance data, Japan has been affected much less by COVID‐19 compared with other countries. To validate this, we aimed to estimate SARS‐CoV‐2 seroprevalence and examine sociodemographic factors associated with cumulative infection in Japan. Methods A population‐based serial cross‐sectional seroepidemiological investigation was conducted in five prefectures in December 2021 (pre‐Omicron) and February–March 2022 (Omicron [BA.1/BA.2]‐peak). Anti‐nucleocapsid and anti‐spike antibodies were measured to detect infection‐induced and vaccine/infection‐induced antibodies, respectively. Logistic regression was used to identify associations between various factors and past infection. Results Among 16 296 participants (median age: 53 [43–64] years), overall prevalence of infection‐induced antibodies was 2.2% (95% CI: 1.9–2.5%) in December 2021 and 3.5% (95% CI: 3.1–3.9%) in February–March 2022. Factors associated with past infection included those residing in urban prefectures (Tokyo: aOR 3.37 [95% CI: 2.31–4.91], Osaka: aOR 3.23 [95% CI: 2.17–4.80]), older age groups (60s: aOR 0.47 [95% CI 0.29–0.74], 70s: aOR 0.41 [95% CI 0.24–0.70]), being vaccinated (twice: aOR 0.41 [95% CI: 0.28–0.61], three times: aOR 0.21 [95% CI: 0.12–0.36]), individuals engaged in occupations such as long‐term care workers (aOR: 3.13 [95% CI: 1.47–6.66]), childcare workers (aOR: 3.63 [95% CI: 1.60–8.24]), food service workers (aOR: 3.09 [95% CI: 1.50–6.35]), and history of household contact (aOR: 26.4 [95% CI: 20.0–34.8]) or non‐household contact (aOR: 5.21 [95% CI:3.80–7.14]) in February–March 2022. Almost all vaccinated individuals (15 670/15 681) acquired binding antibodies with higher titers among booster dose recipients. Conclusions Before Omicron, the cumulative burden was >10 times lower in Japan (2.2%) compared with the US (33%), the UK (25%), or global estimates (45%), but most developed antibodies owing to vaccination.