Socio-Economic Factors Affecting the Regional Spread and Outbreak of COVID-19 in China

Liren Yang; Cuifang Qi; Zixuan Yang; Li Shang; Guilan Xie; Ruiqi Wang; Landi Sun; Mengmeng Xu; Wenfang Yang; Mei Chun Chung

doi:10.18502/ijph.v50i7.6620

Socio-Economic Factors Affecting the Regional Spread and Outbreak of COVID-19 in China

Iran J Public Health. 2021 Jul;50(7):1324-1333. doi: 10.18502/ijph.v50i7.6620.

Authors

Liren Yang^{1

2}, Cuifang Qi¹, Zixuan Yang³, Li Shang^{1

2}, Guilan Xie^{1

2}, Ruiqi Wang^{1

2}, Landi Sun^{1

4}, Mengmeng Xu^{1

5}, Wenfang Yang¹, Mei Chun Chung⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maternal & Child Health Center, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710061, P.R. China.
² School of Public Health, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710061, P.R. China.
³ Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200030, P.R. China.
⁴ Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, P.R. China.
⁵ Henan University, Kaifeng, Henan 475001, P.R. China.
⁶ Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Massachusetts Boston, United States of America.

Abstract

Background: This study investigated the impact of socio-economic factors on the spread and outbreak of COVID-19 based on Chinese data.

Methods: Cumulative confirmed cases were collected and divided into the First-stage cases cluster dominated by imported cases, and the Second-stage cases cluster dominated by secondary cases, according to the time of emergency state and Wuhan city lockdown. The linear regression was used for data analysis.

Results: A total of 12,877 cases in 30 provinces were analyzed in the study. The First-stage cases cluster included 675 cases and Second-stage cases cluster included 12,202 cases. The socio-economic factors were significantly associated with the cases (P<0.05). The GDP and proportion of population moving out of Wuhan were associate with the First-stage dominated by imported cases (β>0, P<0.05). The First-stage cases cluster, proportion of population moving out of Wuhan and urban population were associate with the Second-stage dominated by secondary cases (β>0, P<0.05).

Conclusion: Socio-economic factors had impacts on the spread and outbreak of COVID-19. The combination of different socio-economic indicators at different stages of the epidemic may help control the epidemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; China; Epidemic; Outbreak; Socio-economic; Spread.