COVID-EC Study: Clinical Characteristics of Patients With COVID-19 in Guayaquil, Ecuador

In December 2019, an outbreak of pneumonia of initially unknown cause was detected in Wuhan (Hubei, China), and it was quickly determined that it was caused by a new coronavirus, that is, the SARS-CoV- 2 virus, causing the disease called COVID-19. Since then, the outbreak has spread to 5 continents, affecting 185 countries or regions, with more than 2,500,000 confirmed cases as of April 21, 2020. Ecuador, the 9th country according to territorial extension, and the 7th according to the number of inhabitants in South America, is the 4th country with the highest number of cases in that region of the world, only behind Brazil, Peru and Chile. According to data from the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) of Ecuador, as of April 20, 2020, the National Institute for Public Health Research (INSPI) has registered 33,279 samples, of which 10,128 are positive for SARS-CoV-2. By far, the province of Guayas where Guayaquil is located, the main city in terms of number of inhabitants of the country, is the region with the highest number of affected, with 6921 confirmed cases and 6274 with suspicion. Given the importance of this infection, the severity in some cases, its rapid distribution, and the differences in the Ecuadorian population with respect to the other countries where infected patients have been reported, the investigators consider that an updated analysis of cases, taking as a reference, patients seen in various hospitals of the city of Guayaquil can help identify the clinical characteristics and severity of the disease.