| Abstract [eng] |
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic remains a pressing public health issue worldwide. SARS-CoV-2 virus is constantly evolving and it is important to describe the epidemiological patterns of its strains in order to take effective preventive measures and to predict how the epidemiological patterns of the disease may change in the future. The aim of the research: To investigate the spread and epidemiological patterns of COVID-19 (coronavirus infection) caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus strains in Lithuania in 2020-2021. Tasks: 1. To determine the changes in the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 virus strains in Lithuania, the Baltic states and Europe in 2020-2021; 2. To describe the epidemiological patterns of COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus strains in Lithuania in 2020-2021: dynamics, distribution of morbidity and mortality by administrative territory, sex and age, lethality, occupancy of hospital beds, assigned to COVID-19 patients; 3. To describe COVID-19 patients sources of infection in Lithuania in 2020-2021. Methods: A descriptive epidemiological analysis was conducted using data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Statistics Department of Lithuania and National Public Health Center under the Ministry of Health. Descriptive epidemiology of COVID-19 includes the dynamics, distribution of morbidity and mortality by administrative territory, sex and age, lethality, occupancy of hospital beds, assigned to COVID-19 patients and sources of infection. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Results: The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 virus strains in Lithuania has changed similarly to other Baltic countries and Europe. Two different variants of concern dominated in Lithuania in 2020-2021. The first two waves of COVID-19 were caused not by variants of concern, the third by Alpha and the fourth by Delta strains. During the dominance of Delta the highest incidence was recorded among children, women were more likely to get infected and bigger part of hospital beds, assigned to COVID-19 patients, were occupied. During Alpha dominance the incidence was higher in 30-39 years old persons and no difference was found between men and women. In 2020 and 2021 the highest mortality and lethality were observed in individuals over 80 years of age. The incidence of COVID-19 and mortality in different counties in Lithuania varies. It was found that while Delta dominated in Lithuania, such sources of infection as educational institutions, social care institutions, imported cases and unidentified circumstances of the infection were identified more frequently than during Alpha dominance. Conclusions: As the predominant strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus change, certain epidemiological patterns of the disease are also changing, such as age-related morbidity, souses of infection and hospital bed occupancy. |
