Surveillance of COVID-19 Using Geospatial Data: An Emergency Department Perspective

BACKGROUND: The outbreak of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) which emerged in December 2019 spread rapidly and created a public health emergency. Geospatial records of case data are needed in real time to monitor and anticipate the spread of infection. METHODS: This study aimed to identify the emerging hotspots of COVID-19 using a geographic information system (GIS)-based approach. Data of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients from March 15 to June 12, 2020, who visited the emergency department of a tertiary specialized academic hospital in Dubai were evaluated using ArcGIS Pro 2.5. Spatiotemporal analysis, including optimized hotspot analysis, was performed at the community level. RESULTS: The cases were spatially concentrated mostly over the inner city of Dubai. Moreover, the optimized hotspot analysis showed statistically significant hotspots (p < 0.01) in the north of Dubai. Waxing and waning hotspots were also observed in the southern and central regions of Dubai. Finally, there were nonsustaining hotspots in communities with a very low population density. CONCLUSION: This study identified hotspots of COVID-19 using geospatial analysis. It is simple and can be easily reproduced to identify disease outbreaks. In the future, more attention is needed in creating a wider geodatabase and identifying hotspots with more intense transmission intensity.