Nazdar Qudrat Abas; Muhammad Amen; Nazanin Abbas; Muhamad Yusif; Dilshad Jaff
Abstract
Background: First COVID-19 case was recorded on February 26th, 2020 in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). Shortly after the number of cases increased significantly. Limited research has been conducted to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the population in the region about the pandemic. ...
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Background: First COVID-19 case was recorded on February 26th, 2020 in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). Shortly after the number of cases increased significantly. Limited research has been conducted to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the population in the region about the pandemic. Objectives: The objective of this study was to gain a better understanding of the people’s awareness and their attitude towards the pandemic by conducting a knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) survey. Materials and Methods: A quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional online survey, and non-probability, convenient sampling of 325 adults, was conducted during a complete lockdown period from 5th to 20th of April, 2020 in KRI. Results: High levels of knowledge and practice, with divided positive and negative attitudes, were found among participants. The study found a positive relationship between knowledge and attitudes and the resulting practice. Conclusions: Studies about the COVID-19 pandemic are very scarce in the KRI. There were no significance differences between the socio-demographic characteristics and levels of knowledge, attitudes and practices. We encourage further KAP studies in the KRI regarding COVID-19 for setting health awareness campaigns in promoting practical information on preventive measures to stop the spread of the virus accordingly.
Karzan Sidiq
Abstract
The COVID-19 is an on-going viral pandemic that has been affecting the public health, routine life and global economy. The disease is caused by a novel strain of coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2 virus. The COVID-19 outbreak has been reporting in Kurdistan region of Iraq since March 2020. However, few studies ...
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The COVID-19 is an on-going viral pandemic that has been affecting the public health, routine life and global economy. The disease is caused by a novel strain of coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2 virus. The COVID-19 outbreak has been reporting in Kurdistan region of Iraq since March 2020. However, few studies investigated the epidemiology of COVID-19 and SARS CoV-2 virus in the region. This study aims at investigating the epidemiological situations of COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 variants in Kurdistan region over a year of the pandemic. The results revealed that the prevalence of COVID-19 is 1.9% in the region and is still in parallel to the neighbouring countries and the entire world. The mortality is 59 per 100,000 populations that may be related with age, as 25 % of the patients are older than 50 years old, and underlying health conditions of the patients might be another reason. Meanwhile, the recovery rate is high (90.5%), suggesting a standard medical management of COVID-19 in the region. It was observed that males comprise the greater number of COVID-19 patients. Like other countries, Kurdistan region passed through two waves of COVID-19 and currently tackling the third wave. On the other hand, the investigated spike proteins of nine isolates of SARS-CoV-2 in Kurdistan showed five isolates with single (D614G) mutation and four isolates with multiple amino acid substitutions (A348S, T478K and D614G), (L452R, E583D and D614G) and (N501Y, A570D and D614G), of which A348S, L452R and T478K and N501Y are in the receptor binding domain (RBD). Interestingly, all the isolates in Kurdistan contained D614G mutation. The D614G mutation alone and in combination with other mutations makes the SARS-CoV-2 virus more infectious and transmissible, so virulent variants of the virus is currently circulating and might be the cause of third wave of COVID-19 in Kurdistan region. The detection of N501Y and A570D mutations indicate the circulation of the UK variant of concern in Kurdistan region. Moreover, the results showed that the altered amino acids (A348S, L452R and T478K and N501Y) in the RBD of spike protein are located in the predicted B-cell epitopes. This could possibly reduce the sensitivity of some neutralizing antibodies, produced after infection with the previous variants or after vaccination. This and future investigations of COVID-19 epidemiology and SARS-CoV-2 variants definitely provide insights to the Kurdistan health officials to evaluate, control and predict the course of COVID-19 pandemic and to order the right version of vaccine.
Information technology
Mohammed Y. Shakor; Nigar M. Shafiq Surameery
Abstract
The global spread of Covid-19 has enhanced the adoption of virtual education and the use of technology in order to reduce the risk of contagion. Recently, the academics have turn out to be more technology-orientated and the educational establishments continue to seek opportunities in order to adopt an ...
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The global spread of Covid-19 has enhanced the adoption of virtual education and the use of technology in order to reduce the risk of contagion. Recently, the academics have turn out to be more technology-orientated and the educational establishments continue to seek opportunities in order to adopt an environment where all researchers could have access to high-quality scientific resources at anytime and anywhere in the world. Cloud computing is a model, which provides the users with services and application software on-demand, using the Internet. While the use of cloud computing applications is growing, there are ongoing research challenges related to guaranteeing security, privacy and the integration of the cloud applications. To the extent of our knowledge, the present study is the first from this type to thoroughly present the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on cloud computing environment in higher education institutions in Iraqi universities. This study will critically analysis the views of the faculty staff and researchers in Iraqi universities on cloud computing. It also tries to take a quick look at how Iraqi university staff responded to the epidemic in terms of research activities. The results shows that about 99% of the respondents considered the cloud applications to have great role in encouraging the research works in their institutes. Concerning the benefits of cloud services, the availability and saving cost were selected as most important factors that encouraging the adoption of cloud services. On the other hand, issues related to performance, lack of user control were selected as major problems in applying cloud services in Iraqi institutionsFinally, it can be concluding that reducing the risks of the security, authorization, control and providing better performance of cloud services can enhance the use of cloud applications by researchers at Iraqi universities.
