Clinical and Epidemiological Characteristics of COVID-19 in a Multi-National Cohort in the Middle East

Clinical and Epidemiological Characteristics of COVID-19 in a Multi-National Cohort in the Middle EastThe Kingdom of Bahrain, a country of around 1.5 million [1], reports as of February 2021, over 100,000 cases, and 420 deaths [2], ranking it as the 14th-highest country in terms of cases per 100,000, but the 90th highest in deaths per 100,000 [3].In terms of public health measures, Bahrain's Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) Stringency level score peaked at 78.7 in late March/April.Enforced measures included school closure, cancellation of public events, use of face masks in public, international travel restrictions, comprehensive contact tracing, and a coordinated public campaign [4].We conducted retrospective clinical and population-based analysis of COVID-19 cases reported from February 24, 2020-when the first case was diagnosed-to November 10, 2020.All cases were diagnosed as COVID-19 based on reverse transcriptasepolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests of nasopharyngeal samples.We report findings from one of the largest cohorts globally and the largest in the region to date.We hope this will diversify and address important gaps in the current literature, and guide and focus clinical and public health measures in the region.