Introduction
The respiratory disease COVID-19 was initially reported in Wuhan-Hubei
province-China. 1 The disease has since become a
global pandemic. COVID-19 spreads rapidly by human-to-human
transmission, primarily through respiratory droplets, physical contact
and via fomites. 2 Compared with influenza, COVID-19
is thought to have a higher reproductive number of 2-2.5 (more people
will be infected per index case) but a longer serial interval of 5-6
days (compared with 3 days for influenza). 3 COVID-19
typically presents with fever, myalgia, fatigue and dyspnoea or with
less common gastrointestinal symptoms and headache. 2Chest imaging shows bilateral patchy shadows, and blood tests often
reveal lymphopaenia. 4 A fatality rate of 2.3% across
all age groups, 14.8% in patients ≥80 years old and 8.0% in those
70-79 of age has been reported. 5 Mortality was found
to be higher in patients with pre-existing comorbidities.5 Most of the available data in the literature is
derived from Chinese cohorts of patients. The objective of this case
series is to collect clinical data on patients’ characteristics,
clinical presentations, laboratory findings, and progression of patients
admitted to a District General Hospital in the UK with confirmed
COVID-19 tests. Our aim is to contribute the clinical experience of a
single British clinical centre to the rapidly growing global data pool
on this new life-threatening respiratory disease.