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.