The Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant in Kurdistan Region/Iraq

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Published: May 29, 2023
Keywords:
COVID-19 epidemiology Iraq Surveillance hospitalization clinicalcharacteristics

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Akam Mustafa Hasan
MSc, PhD student, Anesthesia department, College of Health and Medical Technology, Sulaimani Polytechnic University, Sulaimani, Iraq.
Zhian Salah Ramzi
PhD, Community Medicine department, College of Medicine, University of Sulaimani, Sulaimani, Iraq.
Aram Mohammed Bra
MSc, Community Health department, College of Health Technology, Cihan University, Erbil,Iraq.

Abstract

The epidemiological characteristics of patients who infected with delta SARS-CoV-2 variant was studied in Kurdistan Region of Iraq.  A cross-sectional study has been carried out among positive patients of SARS-CoV-2 to compare Alpha, Delta and Omicron variants. The Alpha group included 1050 positive subjects diagnosed between June 10 and July 21, 2021, and 9505 patients diagnosed with delta variant enrolled to this study between July 20 August and December 10, 2021, Omicron variant enrolled 1418 cases between 20th December of 2021 to 30th of 2022. A descriptive statistics of the three groups' included the clinical and demographic featureof participants. Delta group had a significantly higher percent of patients with severe and moderate symptoms in comparison to the Alpha group (P value <0.05). Among vaccinated individuals, the percentage of symptomatic patients was higher in Delta group compared to Alpha and Omicron group. Odds ratios of symptomatic patients infected with delta variant was 3.08 (95% CI, 2.55–3.72) and it was1.10 (95% CI, 0.80–1.41) for hospitalization. Vaccination rate improvement of COVID-19 is considered as main concern to reduce the impacts of the virus on patients’ outcome. Additional strategies, such as social distancing, outdoor masking could be crucial in limiting the spread covid-19  infection.

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How to Cite
Akam Mustafa Hasan, Zhian Salah Ramzi, & Aram Mohammed Bra. (2023). The Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant in Kurdistan Region/Iraq. Journal of Coastal Life Medicine, 11(2), 1398–1404. Retrieved from https://www.jclmm.com/index.php/journal/article/view/1175
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Vol. 11: Number 2, 2023
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Abbreviations:VOC: variant of conver, WHO: World Health Organization, CDC: center of disease control.