ArticleJMIR public health and surveillance2020
Using Open-Source Intelligence to Detect Early Signals of COVID-19 in China: Descriptive Study.
Article in JMIR public health and surveillance, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed.
- Global Epidemiology of Outbreaks of Unknown Cause Identified by Open-Source Intelligence, 2020-2022.Emerging infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Harnessing artificial intelligence for enhanced public health surveillance: a narrative review.Frontiers in public health · 2025Review
- Modelling the drivers of outbreak communication in online media news for improved event-based surveillance.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
- Use of Open-Source Epidemic Intelligence for Infectious Disease Outbreaks, Ukraine, 2022.Emerging infectious diseases · 2024Article
- The role of social media in public health crises caused by infectious disease: a scoping review.BMJ global health · 2023Article
- Open-Source Intelligence for Detection of Radiological Events and Syndromes Following the Invasion of Ukraine in 2022: Observational Study.JMIR infodemiology · 2023Article
- Spatiotemporal and Seasonal Trends of Class A and B Notifiable Infectious Diseases in China: Retrospective Analysis.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2023Article
- Artificial intelligence in public health: the potential of epidemic early warning systems.The Journal of international medical research · 2023Review
- Preventing the next pandemic: Use of artificial intelligence for epidemic monitoring and alerts.Cell reports. Medicine · 2022Article
- Mouthrinses and SARS-CoV-2 viral load in saliva: a living systematic review.Evidence-based dentistry · 2022Review
- Lifestyle Variations during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study of Diet, Physical Activities, and Weight Gain among the Jordanian Adult Population.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy in China: A Case Study.Epidemiologia (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- SARS-CoV-2: International Investigation Under the WHO or BWC.Frontiers in public health · 2021Article
- Rapid diagnostic methods for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) detection: an evidence-based report.Journal of medicine and lifeReview
- Using open-source intelligence to identify early signals of COVID-19 in Indonesia.Western Pacific surveillance and response journal : WPSARArticle
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4 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in China was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 31, 2019, and the first cases were officially identified around December 8, 2019. Although the origin of COVID-19 has not been confirmed, approximately half of the early cases were linked to a seafood market in Wuhan. However, the first two documented patients did not visit the seafood market. News reports, social media, and informal sources may provide information about outbreaks prior to formal notification.
objectiveThe aim of this study was to identify early signals of pneumonia or severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) in China prior to official recognition of the COVID-19 outbreak in December 2019 using open-source data.
methodsTo capture early reports, we searched an open source epidemic observatory, EpiWatch, for SARI or pneumonia-related illnesses in China from October 1, 2019. The searches were conducted using Google and the Chinese search engine Baidu.
resultsThere was an increase in reports following the official notification of COVID-19 to the WHO on December 31, 2019, and a report that appeared on December 26, 2019 was retracted. A report of severe pneumonia on November 22, 2019, in Xiangyang was identified, and a potential index patient was retrospectively identified on November 17.
conclusionsThe lack of reports of SARI outbreaks prior to December 31, 2019, with a retracted report on December 26, suggests media censorship, given that formal reports indicate that cases began appearing on December 8. However, the findings also support a relatively recent origin of COVID-19 in November 2019. The case reported on November 22 was transferred to Wuhan approximately one incubation period before the first identified cases on December 8; this case should be further investigated, as only half of the early cases were exposed to the seafood market in Wuhan. Another case of COVID-19 has since been retrospectively identified in Hubei on November 17, 2019, suggesting that the infection was present prior to December.
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