Spatial distribution of COVID-19 patients in Sri Lanka

BACKGROUND: A new type of viral pneumonia, which has been named Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) began in Wuhan, China in late 2019 and has spread across the world since then. It has claimed more than 370 million confirmed cases and over 5.6 million deaths have been reported globally by the end of January 2022. This study aimed to analyze the trends, highly-nuanced patterns, and related key results relative to COVID-19 epidemiology in Sri Lanka. METHODS: Data on COVID-19 from March 2020 to January 2022 were obtained from published databases maintained by the Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry of Health in Sri Lanka and information regarding populations in administrative districts was obtained from the Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka. Descriptive spatiotemporal analysis and autocorrelations were analyzed using SPSS statistical software. RESULTS: In Sri Lanka, the first case of COVID-19 was a Chinese national and the first local case was identified in the second week of March. As of 31(st) of January 2022, a total of 610,103 COVID-19 cases had been recorded in the country, and 15,420 patients had died. At the beginning, the disease was mainly concentrated in the Western province and with time, it spread to other provinces. However, very low numbers of patients were identified in the North, Eastern, North Central, and Uva provinces until April 2021. The peak of COVID-19 occurred in August and September 2021 in all provinces in Sri Lanka. Then a decreasing trend of COVID-19 cases showed after September 2021. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 is an emerging public health problem in Western and Southern Sri Lanka where the population density is high. A decreasing trend of COVID-19 cases showed in all provinces after September 2021. Public awareness programs for the prevention and control of the disease in endemic regions are essential to reduce the incidence of this infection.