Abstract
The incidence of scarlet fever and pertussis has increased significantly in China in recent years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, stringent non-pharmaceutical intervention measures were widely adopted to contain the spread of the virus, which may also have essential collateral impacts on other infectious diseases, such as scarlet fever and pertussis. We compared the incidence data of scarlet fever and pertussis in Mainland China and Hong Kong from 2004 to 2021 before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The results show that the incidence of both diseases decreased significantly in 2020–2021 compared to the after-re-emergence stage in these two locations. Specifically, in 2020, scarlet fever decreased by 73.13% and pertussis by 76.63% in Mainland China, and 83.70% and 76.10%, respectively, in Hong Kong. In the absence of COVID-19, the predicted incidence of both diseases was much higher than the actual incidence in Mainland China and Hong Kong in 2020–2021. This study demonstrates that non-pharmaceutical measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic can partially reduce scarlet fever and pertussis re-emergence in Mainland China and Hong Kong.
Funder
Zhejiang Provincial Program for the Cultivation of High-level Innovative Health talents
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Beijing Natural Science Foundation
Public Health and Disease Control and Prevention, and the Major Innovation and Planning In-terdisciplinary Platform for the ‘Double-First Class’ Initiative in Renmin University of China
Subject
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health