Study of R₀ of COVID-19 and pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 based on systematic review

  Objective  The compare transmission efficiency of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and influenza A (H1N1) pdm09 by a systematic review based on R₀ calculation.

  Methods  We conducted a literature retrieval by using the databases of CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, BioRxiv and MedRxiv for the research of COVID-19 and influenza A (H1N1) pdm09. Two reviewers independently screened the literatures, extracted and calculated related data and systematically compared the R₀ of the two outbreaks.

  Results  A total of 163 papers were included 54 about influenza A (H1N1) pdm09 and 109 about COVID-19. The median R₀ of COVID-19 2.860 (IQR: 2.350−3.546) was higher than that of influenza A (H1N1) pdm09 1.508 (IQR: 1.336−1.836) in the world. In China, the median R₀ of COVID-19 was 2.930 (IQR: 2.215–3.453) and the median R₀ of COVID-19 before implementing strict traffic control strategy in Wuhan 3.430 (IQR: 2.500−4.710) was higher than that after the strict strategy 2.500 (IQR: 1.673−3.030).

  Conclusion  The transmission efficiency of COVID-19 is stronger than influenza A (H1N1) pdm09. The spread of COVID-19 in China has been controlled owe to the strict traffic control strategy.