Epidemiological and Clinical Characteristics of COVID-19 Suspect Cases at the Triage of Ain Shams University Hospitals during the First Wave

Background: In December 2019, a cluster of patients with unexplained viral pneumonia was identified in Wuhan, China. Since March 11th 2020 the WHO declared COVID 19 as a pandemic with rising number of cases all over the world. Aim of the work: The aim of the study was to measure the percentages of possible, probable and provisionally excluded cases among the first 500 attendants of the triage of Ain Shams University Hospital and describe their epidemiological and clinical characteristics. Patients and Methods: This was a retrospective descriptive case series study including the first 500 patients attending the triage of Ain Shams university Hospitals from March 29th to May 31st. A constructed questionnaire in the form of a scoring system was used and data was collected through interviewing the patients after appropriate consent. Results: As regard the scoring system, 72.2% of patients had new onset of cough or old worsened cough in the previous 3 days, 59.2% had sore throat and 59% had dyspnea. Out of the 500 cases 33.2% were probable, 38.2% were possible and 28.2% were provisionally excluded. Conclusion: COVID-19 pneumonia usually occurred at an age younger than 47 years and it was more predominant in the male gender. The most common initial clinical presentations were new dry cough or chronic cough with worsening over the last 3 days, sore throat and/or runny nose and fever. thirty eight percent were classified as possible COVID-19 cases, and 33% were classified as probable.