COVID 19 is a contagious disease caused by a betacoronavirus, which began in Wuhan, China in late 2019. Until now, this new illness has affected more than 6 million people worldwide, and has claimed more than 300 000 human lives. Governments around the globe were faced with the coronavirus pandemic crisis and designed strategies to slow or halt viral transmission. Measures undertaken included enforcing countrywide lockdowns, banning mass gatherings, closing schools and businesses and halting international travel.

1. Overview of COVID 19 disease in Albania
Dr. Enida Xhaferi1
, Dr. Fatbardha Lamaj2
, Klejda Tani1
, Florjan Risilia3
1
University of Medicine/Faculty of Medical Technical Sciences, Tirana, Albania
2
Intermedica Laboratory, Tirana, Albania
3
AKBPM, Tirana, Albania
COVID 19 is a contagious disease caused by a betacoronavirus, which began in Wuhan, China
in late 2019. Until now, this new illness has affected more than 6 million people worldwide,
and has claimed more than 300 000 human lives. Governments around the globe were faced
with the coronavirus pandemic crisis and designed strategies to slow or halt viral transmission.
Measures undertaken included enforcing countrywide lockdowns, banning mass gatherings,
closing schools and businesses and halting international travel. Studies show, that the virus
which causes this infective pathology, SARS-CoV-2, similar to SARS-CoV, uses angiotensin-
converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as a receptor for cell entry. COVID-19 is thought to have a 14
days incubation period, following exposure and cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, dyspnea,
fever, chills, myalgia are some of the most commonly observed clinical manifestations. The
spectrum of illness severity is broad, and ranges from asymptomatic/mild cases to infections
with acute respiratory distress syndrome and multiorgan dysfunction. The following short
review intends to present a brief overview of COVID 19 disease in Albania.
Background. An outbreak of severe pneumonia cases was reported in the province of Wuhan,
China in December 2019. Samples from infected patients were analyzed and a novel
betacoronavirus, named 2019-nCoV was isolated in human epithelial cells. The International
Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses renamed the new virus: SARS-CoV-2, due to similarities
with the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV), and the disease that it causes was termed COVID-
19 by the WHO.
Members of the Coronaviridae family are enveloped, single-stranded RNA viruses, that can be
isolated in different species (bats, livestock, mice, humans etc). These viruses, which manage
to transverse species, can cause human diseases ranging from the common cold to more severe
pathologies. Two important viruses of this family are SARS-CoV (causing the Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome/SARS infection) which triggered a large-scale epidemic, with 800
deaths, and MERS-CoV (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome/MERS infection) that provoked
an outbreak with 800 deaths, which started in the Arabic Peninsula.
The novel and contagious infection spread quickly around the world, and on March 11, 2020,
the WHO, announced COVID-19 global pandemic.
Objective. To report the impact of COVID 19 in Albania and describe some of the measures
taken by the Government to cope with this disease.
Methods. Data from the Ministry of Health and Institute of Public Health were reviewed and
analyzed. The demographic distribution of active cases as of May 30, 2020 was mapped, and
disease progress and impact examined and visualized.
Results. The first confirmed case of COVID 19 in Albania was reported in March 9, 2020.
Since then, a total of 1122 individuals have been infected with SARS-CoV-2. 76% of patients

2. have recovered (857 cases) and the mean number of new cases was 13.5 (M= 13.5; SD= 7.79;
95% CI, 11.8 - 15.2). There have been 33 deaths in these three months of pandemic, and
currently there are 232 active cases. The Government took swift measures to reduce
transmission and contain the spread of infection. Some of these measures are: shifting online
university and school classes, closing restaurants and bars, stopping public gatherings, applying
travel restrictions and placing the population under lockdown. These measures are being eased
gradually.
Graphic 1: COVID 19 situation in Albania as of May 30,2020.
Conclusion. COVID 19 is a new contagious disease which has infected more than 4.9
million people worldwide. Albania is not affected as severely as the neighboring Italy by this
pandemic, but the crisis has challenged profoundly the government and health organizations,
which did their best to find effective countermeasures and avoid catastrophic consequences. At
the moment prevention aimed at reducing transmission in the community is the best approach,
but scientists and research companies across the planet are working tirelessly and there are
many active initiatives which aim to develop quickly a vaccine, and efficient therapeutics
References
1. Zhu N, Zhang D, Wang W, et al. A Novel Coronavirus from Patients with Pneumonia in China, 2019. N Engl J Med.
2020;382(8):727‐733. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2001017.
2. Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) situation reports - World Health Organization (WHO).
3. CDC. 2019 Novel Coronavirus, Wuhan, China. CDC. Available at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-
ncov/about/index.html. January 26, 2020.
4. Gallegos A. WHO Declares Public Health Emergency for Novel Coronavirus. Medscape Medical News. Available
at https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/924596. January 30, 2020.
5. Coronavirus Updates: The Illness Now Has a Name: COVID-19. The New York Times. Available
at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/11/world/asia/coronavirus-china.html. February 11, 2020.
6. Data source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries
7. Data source: https://shendetesia.gov.al/.
8. Data source: www.ishp.gov.al
9. CDC. Symptoms of Coronavirus. CDC. Available at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-
testing/symptoms.html. March 20, 2020.

3. 10. Zhou P, Yang XL, et al. A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin. Nature 2020;
579:270-3.
11. Rothan HA, Byrareddy SN. The epidemiology and pathogenesis of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. J
Autoimmum 2020:102433.
12. Chan JF, Yuan S, et al. A familial cluster of pneumonia associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus indicating person-
to-person transmission: a study of a family cluster. Lancet 2020; 395:514.
13. Li Q, Guan X, Wu P, et al. Early Transmission Dynamics in Wuhan, China, of Novel Coronavirus-Infected Pneumonia.
N Engl J Med 2020; 382:1199.
14. Guan WJ, Ni ZY et al. Clinical Characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in China. N Engl J Med 2020; 382:1708.
Bibliography
Enida Xhaferi has finished Medical School at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Tirana, in July 2002
and completed Clinical Rheumatology residency in Tirana in March 2007. She has been working for the
University of Medicine of Albania since 2010, where she teaches Internal Medicine and Management of
Patients during Disasters.