epidemiological study of infection and death due to covid-19 in fars province, iran, from february to september 2020

Background: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (sars-cov-2) has entered our lives with the fear of outbreak, death, and recurrence. our objective in this study is to evaluate the epidemiological features of coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) infection and death in fars province, iran. methods: a cross-sectional study was conducted from february 18th to september 30th, 2020, where age, history of underlying diseases, sex, community-wide quarantine, nationality, close contact, pregnancy, medical staff job, traveling , and residency were compared between alive and deceased groups. data were analyzed using ibm spss software, version 22.0, and the significance level was set at 0.05. results: regarding 57958 new cases of covid-19, the basic reproduction number (r0) was estimated as 2.8, requiring a minimum of 65% immunization to reach herd immunity. moreover, an r0=0.36 was required to reach the endemic state in the region. the incidence, mortality, fatality, and recurrence rates of covid-19 were estimated as 1347.9 per 100,000 dwellers, 209.5 per 1000,000 dwellers, 1.6 %, and 3.1 per 100,000 dwellers, respectively. age, history of underlying diseases, urban residency, and the male sex were significantly higher in the deceased group (or=1.09, 5.48, 1.24, and 1.32; all ps<0.001, <0.001, 0.005, and <0.001, respectively). in addition, the recurrence rate among positive cases was estimated as 0.23% with a median±inter-quartile range equal to 84±46.25 days. community-wide quarantine was shown to be a protective factor for death due to covid-19 (or=0.58, p=0.005). conclusion: community-wide quarantine blocks the transmission of covid-19 effectively. covid-19 enjoys no solid immunity. history of underlying diseases, the male sex, urban residency, and age were among the most significant causes of death due to covid-19. further investigations are recommended on the genetic structure of sars-cov-2, treatments, and vaccination