Author/Authors :
Moradi, Leila Department of Epidemiology - School of Public Health - Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran
Abstract :
Background: In late December 2019, a coronavirus outbreak first occurred in Wuhan, China, and then spread worldwide, which
became a major global emergency. This severe respiratory illness called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is transmitted through
respiratory droplets and contaminated surfaces.
Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the epidemiology of COVID-19 in continental America.
Methods: This study was an ecological study describing the epidemiological features of COVID-19 in the Americas. The data of iden-
tified definitive cases and deaths from this disease and other information were extracted from the reports of the World Health Orga-
nization and transferred to SPSS software (version 24). Furthermore, the case fatality rate was separately calculated for each country.
Results: The highest number of COVID-19 reported cases and the highest COVID-19 mortality rate were in the United States, with
72,186,963 and 1,896,955 cases, respectively. Moreover, the highest case fatality rate was reported as 9.38% in Peru.
Conclusions: The prevention of COVID-19 transmission in countries is possible with general vaccination and observation of social
distancing. These measures reduce the transmission of COVID-19 and are effective ways to control this global health problem.