The aim of this study was to assess the risks in confronting the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the ongoing lockdown effectiveness in each of Italy, Germany, Spain, France, and the United States using China’s lockdown model simulation, and cases forecast until the plateau phase.

Quantitative and qualitative historical data analysis. Total Risk Assessment (TRA) evaluation tool was used to assess the pre-pandemic stage risks, pandemic threshold fast responsiveness, and the ongoing performance until plateau. The Infected Patient Ratio (IPR) tool was developed to measure the number of patients resulting from 1 infector during the incubation period. Both IPR and TRA were used together to forecast inflection points, plateau phases, intensive care units’ and ventilators’ breakpoints, and the Total Fatality Ratio.

In Italy, Spain, France, Germany, and the United States, an inflection point is predicted within the first 15 d of April, to arrive at a plateau after another 30 to 80 d. Variations in IPR drop are expected due to variations in lockdown timing by each country, the extent of adherence to it, and the number of performed tests in each.

Both qualitative (TRA) and quantitative (IPR) tools can be used together for assessing and minimizing the pandemic risks and for more precise forecasting.

At the end of 2019, an outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia, called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 1 (SARS-CoV-2), was first identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. It subsequently spread throughout China and elsewhere, becoming a global health emergency. In February 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated the disease coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The objective of this study was to investigate the degree of knowledge of young Italians about COVID-19 and their current attitudes toward the SARS-CoV-2 and to determine if there were prejudices emerging toward Chinese.

An online survey was conducted on February 3, 4, 5, 2020, with the collaboration of Italian website “Skuola.net”. Young people had the opportunity to participate by answering an ad hoc questionnaire created to investigate knowledge and attitudes about the new coronavirus, using a link published on the homepage.

A total of 5234 responses were received, of which 3262 were females and 1972 were males. Most of the participants showed generally moderate knowledge about COVID-19. Male students, middle school students, and those who do not attend school, should increase awareness of the disease; less than half of responders say that their attitudes toward the Chinese population has worsened in the last period.

Global awareness of this emerging infection should be increased, due to its virulence, the significant risk of mortality, and the ability of the virus to spread very quickly within the community.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) began to spread across Wuhan, China, by the end of 2019, and patients were unable to be hospitalized because medical resources were limited.

A questionnaire survey was conducted among 108 participants with mild COVID-19 who have isolated at home under the guidance of doctors. The results of the questionnaire and outpatient data were integrated to evaluate participants’ compliance with various epidemic prevention measures.

During isolation, most participants were able to follow epidemic prevention measures under the guidance of doctors. After 14 d from the start of isolation, 45.37% of the participants recovered. Approximately half of the participants were relieved of symptoms, and most of them were transferred to mobile cabin hospitals to continue isolation. Three participants with worsening symptoms were transferred to the designated hospitals. There were no deaths of the participants, but there were 7 family members that were infected.

During a period of home isolation under the guidance of a doctor, individuals can comply with epidemic prevention measures and symptoms can be improved. Scientific home isolation may be an effective way to relieve the strain of medical and social resources during the epidemic of COVID-19.

The outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) provided an opportunity to undertake an online survey to study the relationships between body weight changes with changes in physical activity and lifestyle during an unusual event of forced isolation, or quarantine.

We distributed an electronic questionnaire using the popular social application WeChat to adults from any province of China except Hubei Province, the epicenter of the outbreak. The questionnaire asked for demographic information, body weight, physical activity, and lifestyle factors before and during the quarantine.

Of 376 questionnaires returned, 339 were valid (90.2%). During the period of semi-lockdown, both females and males with BMI <24 gained weight, males with BMI ≥24 lost weight, and females with BMI ≥24 gained weight. The average steps per day and the average moderate or vigorous-intensity exercise declined significantly for both males and females during the semi-lockdown. Changes in body weight inversely correlated with changes in steps per day and moderate or vigorous-intensity exercise during the quarantine.

Normal weight individuals, who are not normally troubled by overweight or obesity, had less awareness of weight gain than people with a BMI ≥ 24. Under the conditions of the semi-lockdown, they tended to gain weight.

In late December 2019, a cluster of patients with pneumonia caused by an unknown pathogen was reported from Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The pathogen has been identified as a novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the disease has been named as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The objective of this study was to perform the first holistic scientometric evaluation of coronavirus publications.

Our main source for this study was Web of Science Collection database. All items published between 1980 and 2019 were included. A distribution map of global production in coronavirus literature and scientometric networks were generated.

The United States, China, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Netherlands were the most productive countries. Publications in coronavirus literature have been produced from almost every country in the world, except for some countries in Asia and Africa.

While in the 1980s, the United States and developed countries from Europe were major source countries and the virus was identified only as an animal disease in the literature and its biological and genetic structure was investigated, in the 2000s, China became a major contributor of coronavirus literature because the SARS outbreak originated from southern China. Almost all most-cited publications in this period are related to SARS and the ACE2 protein.

National interpersonal distance preference is considered a cultural characteristic. Interpersonal distance is critical for the spread dynamics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). COVID-19’s spread trend shows various characteristics in different countries. We believe that 1 of the factors influencing this variation could be national interpersonal distance preference.

We used regression analysis based on data of national interpersonal distance preferences (social, personal, and intimate) presented by Sorokowska et al. and COVID-19 rate of spread data for 40 different countries that were calculated using Our World in Data’s data.

National interpersonal distance preferences, with its 3 dimensions, significantly influence the rate of spread of COVID-19 in countries.

Understanding the relation between national interpersonal distance preference and spread of COVID-19 might be very useful information in decision-making processes of individuals, societies, and governments to develop culturally well-suited counter-pandemic policies, strategies, and procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic or any epidemic or pandemic threats in the future, instead of standard fit-to-all strategies.