Epidemiological and clinical features of the first cohort of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in Bahrain

Background: This study investigates the clinical characteristics of the first confirmed cases of Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) in Bahrain. Methods: This is a retrospective, cross-sectional study including the first 247 confirmed cases in Bahrain. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were extracted from electronic medical records. Results: Mean Standard Deviation (SD) age of patients was 44.15 (16.5) years. More males were affected by the disease (61%;151/274). Mean (SD) of the duration between confirmation and discharge was 9.8 (5.1) days. Of 247 patients, 4 deaths were reported (1.6%);17.5% (24/137) showed a temperature of >37- on admission, with 4% (6/148) yielding an oxygen saturation of 94% or less. Leukopenia was reported in 36.8% of patients (63/171). One quarter of patients (25.5%) received oseltamivir, 24.7% received hydroxychloroquine sulfate (24.7%), and 1.2% received steroids. Conclusion: In this study, the authors have captured the epidemiological and clinical profiles of the first cases of COVID-19 pertaining to the first wave of the pandemic in Bahrain. The early strict measures may have contributed to the lower incidence as well as lower morbidity and mortality of COVID-19 infection in Bahrain. Major gaps in our knowledge of the clinical spectrum of COVID-19 and its prognosis, outcomes, and associated risk factors indicate the need for further research.

Successful Role of Data Science In Managing Covid-19 Battle

The corona pandemic's wild and unchecked spread over more than a few months around the world is a worldwide problem. To solve this worldwide issue, information technology innovation is employed along with medicine, biotechnology, and medical equipment. The fight against COVID-19 is greatly aided by Machine-Learning (ML), Artificial-Intelligence (AI), and data science (DS). By utilising such technologies, there is a good chance that the pandemic may be stopped, and that life can return to normal, as it did before the pandemic. In this essay, many technologies are analysed in relation to various situations, including social exclusion and prevention, confinement and isolation, corona virus testing and detection, management of the hospital, patient care, and therapy. This study provides transparent planning, technological techniques, digital procedures, together with the most recent smart technology in a number of disciplines, to battle the severity of the coronavirus. © 2023 IEEE.

The Vulnerability of Jobs to Mobility Restrictions: Malaysia's Experience during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Using the mobility restrictions implemented by Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study, this paper relies on detailed data on employment patterns and on the possibility to work from home and without physical proximity to estimate the extent and distribution of jobs most vulnerable to mobility restrictions. It finds that about 64.5 per cent of jobs in Malaysia cannot be performed from home, after adjusting for Internet access, while about 50.9 per cent of jobs require high levels of physical proximity. These are the jobs that are most vulnerable to strict mobility restrictions, such as those imposed during the pandemic. Workers most at risk are primarily those with relatively low education, low level of income and advanced or very young age. Jobs in less developed regions of Malaysia are also particularly vulnerable. Against this backdrop, the paper argues that Malaysia's experience during the COVID-19 pandemic provides some vital lessons in supporting those who are most vulnerable to job losses during mobility restrictions. These lessons include improving the targeting of cash transfers, scaling up wage subsidies in supporting worker retention and hiring and leveraging upskilling/reskilling initiatives with a focus on non-routine cognitive analytical and interpersonal skills. © 2022 ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute.

SARS-CoV-2 vaccines from A to Z: A review of the current challenges

COVID-19 pandemic is a major worldwide health disaster firstly reported in December 2019. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has offered the public hope of halting it, authorizing vaccinations for emergency use with more than 85% efficacy against serious acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2). Recent outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 variations including spike-protein mutations, the key vaccines viral target for immune response, have prompted a thorough investigation into the vaccine's long-term effectiveness. Consequently, this review assayed the details on SARS-CoV-2 infection mechanism and how to control the infection by different types of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, and their effectiveness against other mutant strains. Additionally, the review summarized the different complaints which have been recorded after vaccination. In conclusion, these negative effects must be constantly weighed against the predicted advantages in terms of disease prevention. Although COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for everyone aged 5 years and older, SARS-CoV-2 is high likely to continue to be a pandemic infectious as a result of the broadcasting of variants of the virus. Therefore, a booster vaccination, wearing a mask, and social distancing should be maintained. © 2023 Global NEST.

Effect Of Covid-19 Pandemic On Malaysian Security And Development (Kesban): East Coast Economic Region (Ecer) Case Study

The purpose of this paper is to discuss an approach and actions taken by Malaysian government in facing COVID-19 from the point of view of KESBAN Strategy focus on Malaysian East Coast Economic Region (ECER) as a case studies. This study using qualitative approach by In-depth interviews were conducted with Malaysian Health Ministry (MOH), Malaysian National Security Council (NSC), Malaysian Royal Police (RMP), Malaysian Armed Force (MAF), East Coast Economic Region (ECER), Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang State Economic Planning Unit and National Special Operations Force (Malaysia) to analyze COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on the socio-economic development & security enforcement in ECER on security and health policy documents and reports in order to investigate the roles and practices of the Malaysian security and development agencies during the COVID-19 pandemics. This study finds the crisis has pushed Kelantan, Terengganu, and Pahang's socio-economic stability into uncertainty. Various issues and challenges have arisen, and those have the potential to impede all ECER development plans and projects. Nevertheless, the government has taken steps to restructure its strategy to prioritise resources for the implementation of strategic and high-impact projects and programmes, as well as to provide optimal benefits for investors and people in the region, allowing them to continue operating and ensuring their survival. On the other hand, from a security perspective, national border control has been strengthened through the integration and collaboration of all related agencies. This measure is critical in preventing any illegal activities, particularly the influx of immigrants who are contributing to the rise in COVID-19 statistics. As a result, security may certainly provide a conducive atmosphere for development purposes. Similarly, development can also strengthen all security factors. Therefore, security and development must be determined to go hand in hand to ensure the sovereignty and stability of a country. © 2022, Association Res Militaris. All rights reserved.

Perceived Stress Analysis of Undergraduate Students during COVID-19: A Machine Learning Approach

Stress is a state of mind when an individual experiences emotional or physical tensions originating from any event that results in frustration, anger, or nervousness. Unfortunately, since the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been massively witnessed among university students due to persistent usage of e-learning gears for the last two years. Due to the severity of the observed stress, accurate and early prediction and detection should play a pivotal role in treating a student. In this work, a questionnaire-based dataset on Jordanian students has been analyzed using the 5-point Likert Scale. One of the most widely used psychological instrument Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is used to identify the stressrelated symptoms of the students. Based on the dataset, several machine learning (ML) algorithms were applied for regression and classification analysis by which mental stress has been predicted and classified. After simulation in Python, the ML regressors were evaluated through the performance metrics such as R2 Score, Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Mean Percentage Absolute Error (MAPE), and ML classifiers were assessed by accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-Score. It is observed that Linear Regression (LR) performed the best among all the regression models whereas the Logistic Regression Classifier (LRC) portrayed the highest accuracy of 97.8% among all the classifiers. Therefore, ML-based stress analysis can significantly contribute to analyzing students' mental stress during COVID-19 in an automated manner.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Audit Quality: Lessons and Opportunities

This study aims to identify the impact of COVID-19 on audit quality based on the investigation of three auditing aspects, namely: audit fees, audit procedures, and auditors' salaries in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. For data collection, fifty-five (55) questionnaires were distributed to internal auditors, external auditors, managers of audit offices, and financial managers. Eleven managers of audit offices and auditors were interviewed. A descriptive, regression analysis, and T-test were used. The study results reveal that the audit quality has been significantly affected due to the devastating effect of COVID-19 on audit fees, audit procedures, and audit staff salaries. In addition, the results show that Yemen is severely affected due to several factors, which include a lack of modern auditing systems. Also, private ownership of establishments and the absence of laws for determining audit fees negatively impacted the audit quality. Being the first of a practical kind, this study provides a significant contribution to the existing literature on the impact of COVID-19 on the quality of auditing. This would be useful for corporations, audit offices, auditors, and researchers. Moreover, this study can bridge the identified research gap on this topic and provide empirical evidence about the impact of COVID-19 on audit quality. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee ESJ, Italy.

Prevalence of Low Birth Weight Neonates during COVID-19 Pandemic in a Tertiary Care Hospital at Larkana, Sindh, Pakistan

In comparison to other middle-income countries, Pakistan has a high prevalence of low birth weight. Currently the situation has worsened because of the COVID-19 pandemic where stress can have a negative impact on intrauterine development, leading to a rise in preterm birth rates and the incidence of low birth weight babies. The goal of this study is to estimate the prevalence of low birth weight in a tertiary care hospital in Larkana, Sindh, Pakistan, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this cross-sectional study, the hospital records of two thousand, two hundred and seventy eight neonates were analyzed from patients' data register for the year 2020. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel spread sheet. Of 2278 children admitted to the neonatal ward, only 29.2% babies had birth weight within normal range, 0.7% neonates were high birth weight, and the rest of the admitted babies (70.1%) during the year 2020 had birth weight below 2500 grams. Smallest birth weight observed in the study was 0.9 kg and 4.8 kg was highest birth weight (mean 2.35 kg, SD 0.88, SE 0.012). Female neonates were 895 (39.3%) and the rest of the 1383 (60.7%) babies were male. This study revealed that in Sindh province of Pakistan, the prevalence of low birth weight is extremely high during COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the findings suggest that there is need for a lot more emphasis on improving maternal mental health, nutrition and several other relevant factors to reduce the prevalence of low birth weight.

The Activation of Learners’ Metacognition to Promote Learning Autonomy of Good Language Learners

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the mode of teaching and learning shifted from mostly offline into the online process. In online learning, interaction and engagement are limited. Thus, it is urgent to prepare students to become autonomous. The activation of students’ metacognition is one aspect assumed to be crucial in their learning autonomy. So, this research aimed to describe the relationship between the learning autonomy of good language learners and the activation of their metacognition. This article employed a case study of qualitative design. Thirty participants categorized as autonomous language learners were chosen purposively. They are categorized as autonomous good language learners since they meet the five criteria of autonomous learners by Holec (1981). The data were analyzed through contextual coding. The result shows that 92% of the participant has activated their metacognition. Meanwhile, 8% of participants become autonomous learners without activating their metacognition. This 8% of participants fulfill two of them: orchestrating learning strategies and evaluating learning. Thus, it can be assumed that the activation of metacognition relates to the learning autonomy implemented by good language learners. However, it is not a decisive factor. It needs further study to analyze other learner intrinsic behaviors that probably influence the learning autonomy of good language learners, such as learners’ anxiety, motivation, and self-esteem. © 2021. Pegem Egitim ve Ogretim Dergisi. All rights reserved.

Symptoms and blood character in COVID-19

Introduction: People with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms, ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms may appear 2 to 14 days after exposure to the virus. COVID-19 is accompanied by specific changes in the circulating blood cells that are analyzed by a full blood count. The objective of this study is to evaluate symptoms and ratios between different blood cell in patients with COVID-19. Method: The study was done between June 2020 and December 2020 in the outpatient clinic of Minia University Hospital (tertiary hospital). A total of 33 patients with COVID- 19 and 33 controls were selected randomly from patients attending the otolaryngology (ORL) outpatient clinic. Both groups were matched in age and gender. Both groups were subjected to ORL and systematic examination;a blood sample was taken from each subject for complete blood count and C-reactive protein testing. We evaluated the white blood cell/ red blood cells ratio, neutrophils/lymphocyte ratio, platelets/ lymphocytes ratio, and lymphocyte/monocyte ratio. Computed tomography (CT) of the chest was also performed in all patients to assess chest condition. Results: Our data showed that anosmia was present in 55% of cases, burning sensation of the nose in 63.6%, nasal obstruction in 9%, fever in 57.6%, cough in 55.5%, burning of the throat in 45.5%, diarrhea in 9%, general fatigue in 75.8%, dysgusia in 51.6%, and elevated C-reactive protein in 66.7%. With regard to blood ratios, there was a negative correlation between study and control groups in all studied ratios. In all cases of anosmia and with other COVID-19 symptoms (excluding cases with cough), CT findings revealed inflammation of the lung (ground-glass appearance). Conclusion: COVID-19 infection results in otorhinolaryngological symptoms in variable numbers of patients and burning sensation of the nose is the most frequent symptom. Blood ratios were negatively correlated with the control group. CT chest is needed in cases without cough to avoid severe chest symptoms.

The role of digital marketing in assisting small rural entrepreneurs amidst Covid-19 movement control order (MCO): A case study in Peninsular Malaysia

The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is causing a global health crisis, which has inevitably led to a worldwide economic slowdown. In Malaysia, the small business sector is most affected by the movement control order (MCO). The MCO has caused the closure of the retail and transport sectors that has sharply curtailed the daily operations of the majority of small entrepreneurs, leading to a loss in income. However, if small business communities make optimal use of digital applications for their business activities, their income will be less affected by the current Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the everyday use of ICT has the potential to create numerous landscape improvement and business continuity, specifically for small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs). This, in turn, would increase community participation in entrepreneurship. Therefore, it is crucial to study the role of digital marketing in strengthening new business norms among small entrepreneurs during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is also imperative to identify other factors that can help boost digital business. This research examined the relationship between ICT use in empowering rural entrepreneurs during MCO in Malaysia. The study design consisted of a quantitative form for each research instrument using the Google Form online survey. This study's sample was selected using a particular sampling method (purposive sampling) and snowball sampling (snowball sampling) involving 158 small rural entrepreneurs in Penang, Malaysia. The data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 27.0 software. The findings showed that the respondents navigated the Covid-19 pandemic by carrying out business activities on the digital platform and took full advantage of the ICT applications as part of their new business norms. This study can provide input for the government to formulate strategies related to ICT in increasing awareness among rural entrepreneurs. Additionally, the input of this study can offer programs and activities to further enhance the entrepreneurs' skills in using ICT. © 2021 Abdul Rashid et al.. This is an open access article licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)

The Impact of COVID-19: A Need for SMEs to Understand Business Model Innovation

This paper reveals the meanings of business model innovation process that helps entrepreneurs with the new paradigm so a new business model that can cope with changing environment can be created. Therefore, the findings on SMEs that relates to business model is revealed as a guideline. It is essential for SMEs to understand the business model innovation to generate more money. This study employs qualitative research method from three cases of a tuition centre and data collected were transcribed and coded to develop themes of the study. Findings reveal that SMEs with positive attitude and strategic actions culture helps to generate income. The themes that emerge are ‘The interaction strategy’, ‘The golden opportunities’, and ‘The killer teacher’. Future research should focus on the interactionism of SMEs within other industries with difference geography and strategy. This study expects to contribute to the business growth for the short and long term. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Examining readiness of e-learning implementation using Aydin and Tasci model: A rural university case study in Indonesia

Humankind throughout the world are currently in a state of collapse due to the outbreak of Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) which began in Wuhan, China. Later on, it was announced as the pandemic situation according to WHO. Overall countries have implemented social distancing, while Indonesia has implemented a policy of learning from home, working from home, and worship at home or better known as work from home (WFH). This study aimed to determine the level of readiness to implement e-learning during WFH due to the pandemic COVID-19 spreads along with the challenges in the 4.0 revolution in millennials. The model that used was the Aydin & Tasci model which measures four main factors namely technology, innovation, people, and self-development. Data collection was conducted online using Google Form, while data processing uses a descriptive statistical method mapped based on the Aydin & Tasci version of the e-learning readiness index. The results showed that the overall e-learning readiness index might indicate that the system was ready to be implemented, but required a slight increase in several factors, namely innovation increase, human, and self-development factors. The results and discussion of the study showed the readiness of e-learning to follow the demands of Revolution 4.0, even though it was done during WFH because of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. © 2021 Author(s).

Healthcare workers issues and COVID-19 pandemic: A review

Background: Since December 2019, COVID-19 pandemic has continued to grow it spread and has currently affected more than 200 countries and for the last four months, healthcare workers (HCW) has worked performed their duties endlessly, more than the norms at their respective health care facility. Therefore this review paper aims to describe healthcare workers issues in managing the current COVID-19 pandemic Materials and Methods: Articles were chosen using a structured search via three electronic databases, namely PubMed, Scopus, and Direct Science coupled with a combination of keywords namely "healthcare workers"OR "health staff"AND "COVID19". Other inclusion criteria include full accessible, original studies in English language, published in peer-reviewed journals from December 2019 till 30th April 2020. Result and Discussion: A total of 17 articles were chosen to be reviewed which can be further broadly categorised into three domains which are;physical effects, psychological effects and socioeconomic effects. COVID-19 infection among healthcare workers is not uncommon as they represent the essential human resources in managing the pandemic. Of the three effects, mental health burden ranging from anxiety to burnout was studied along with its risk and protective factors discussed. Socioeconomic factors describe how prevention and control measures adopted has given a toll to this vulnerable group. Conclusion: Health-related effects and unforeseen factors has impacted healthcare workers such as the direct effect of the infection, issues related to the use of personal protective equipment, the spectrum of mental health burden as well as the socio-economic effects as a result of the demands faced by them in responding and providing healthcare needs.