Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infected population during the second and third epidemiological waves in Sri Lanka

Objective: To analyze data on socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infected population whose samples were received from Medical Research Institute, Sri Lanka.Methods: Laboratory based retrospective study was done on patient samples which were tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by National Reference Virology Laboratory at the Medical Research Institute, Sri Lanka, from November, 2020 to November, 2021. Data on socio-demographic characteristics and clinical presentation of 13 126 patients were examined.Results: The mean age of the study population was (36.0 +/- 7.2) years and the majority were men (64.0%). The highest number of positive cases were found in the 21-30 years-of-age group. Two distinct peaks were noted in the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals. In addition, 42.5% of the positive samples tested positive (42.5%) were from Medical Officer of Health collection centres. Furthermore, 60.6% (7 951) of the infected subjects were asymptomatic whereas the remaining were symptomatic. The highest percentage of symptomatic patients were observed in the 91-100 years-of-age group while the highest asymptomatic subjects were found in the 31-40 years-of-age group. The percentage of asymptomatic children (65.3%) was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than that of adults (43.4%).Conclusions: The findings of this study aid decision makers to focus on the vulnerable groups, and geographic and temporal distribution of patients in the public health strategies that aim at preventing the spread of the disease and reducinig its mortalities.