Coronavirus Disease (COVID 19): Handling Challenges in Kuwait

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In this manuscript, authors provided details of challenges handled to control the coronavirus spread in Kuwait. The manuscript is well written and details explained properly. I have the following one concern

 

Authors should update all the values including infection counts, death, recovery rate, etc based on the current data. Also, should update these counts in the figures and tables. It is better to include some details of the coronavirus to improve the quality of the manuscript. 

Author Response

Authors should update all the values including infection counts, death, recovery rate, etc based on the current data. Also, should update these counts in the figures and tables. It is better to include some details of the coronavirus to improve the quality of the manuscript. We updated the values with a brand new figure (Figure 1) of the total number of Kuwait and Non-Kuwaiti COVId-19 Cases in Kuwait (between 28th of February and 17th of April, 2020). The figure has also the measures that implemented to control COVID-19 in Kuwait. We obtained the data from the Ministry of Health on a separate funded project.

Reviewer 2 Report

The paper presents general information about the actual situation of Kuwait about the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors bring and show information about what is the number of cases and deaths there. Also, a set of restrictions and suggestions from the OMS and Health authority is presented. The main trouble of this paper is about the presentation quality of the number os cases and death, and especially dates in which each number occurs. It is suggested to meditate about that.

 

- Below other questions are indicated

Try to use only one shape of word COVID-19 or COVID 19. 

The first paragraph of the introduction sounds to be very long. It could be separated into two parts. [Viral ... 2019 [5,6].]

Figure 1 could be better presented. In fact, the figure shows other information based on different days. I suggest adapting the figure in order to improve the progress of numbers, or only keep the numerical information, not lines. 

An excellent source of data with numerical information is https://ourworldindata.org/covid-cases?country=~KWT . There, information about all world countries is available. Could you confront numerical information?

One of the biggest issues of the paper is the date limit used to present the number and statistics. The first COVID-19 case in Kuwait is about February 24 and the limit data presented in this paper is about the l of April month with about 3700 cases. However, at submission date, May 12, was bout 9286 cases. In the final of May is more than 26 thousand cases. 

Question: how the author explains the increment of the number of new cases, even with social lockdown procedures and government orientations?

There is a mistake in the text "Figure 4 shows that Kuwait’s daily COVID-19 confirmed cases are 9286, 2907 recovered, and 65 deaths, and that, on a global COVID-19 trajectory, USA is at the top and Kuwait at the bottom". Figure 4 presents information about historical series of cases confirmed up to April 18th, but on this day was just confirmed a total of 1,658. The 9,286 cases are on the day of May 12th. Maybe the authors need to check correctly these numbers, correct the text informing dates, and separate figure 4 in two parts.

Improve and update the quality of the figures.

Provide an English revision language. 

Considers the articles about Kuwait COVID sitution

https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.03.20089771

http://dx.doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.2894

https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.21.20108639

https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.09.20096495

https://doi.org/10.3390/app10103402

Kuwait will scramble to make up lost COVID-19 ground

 

 

Author Response

The paper presents general information about the actual situation of Kuwait about the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors bring and show information about what is the number of cases and deaths there. Also, a set of restrictions and suggestions from the OMS and Health authority is presented. The main trouble of this paper is about the presentation quality of the number os cases and death, and especially dates in which each number occurs. It is suggested to meditate about that. - Below other questions are indicated Try to use only one shape of word COVID-19 or COVID 19. The first paragraph of the introduction sounds to be very long. It could be separated into two parts. [Viral ... 2019 [5,6].] Figure 1 could be better presented. In fact, the figure shows other information based on different days. I suggest adapting the figure in order to improve the progress of numbers, or only keep the numerical information, not lines. An excellent source of data with numerical information is https://ourworldindata.org/covid-cases?country=~KWT . There, information about all world countries is available. Could you confront numerical information? One of the biggest issues of the paper is the date limit used to present the number and statistics. The first COVID-19 case in Kuwait is about February 24 and the limit data presented in this paper is about the l of April month with about 3700 cases. However, at submission date, May 12, was bout 9286 cases. In the final of May is more than 26 thousand cases. Question: how the author explains the increment of the number of new cases, even with social lockdown procedures and government orientations? There is a mistake in the text "Figure 4 shows that Kuwait’s daily COVID-19 confirmed cases are 9286, 2907 recovered, and 65 deaths, and that, on a global COVID-19 trajectory, USA is at the top and Kuwait at the bottom". Figure 4 presents information about historical series of cases confirmed up to April 18th, but on this day was just confirmed a total of 1,658. The 9,286 cases are on the day of May 12th. Maybe the authors need to check correctly these numbers, correct the text informing dates, and separate figure 4 in two parts. Improve and update the quality of the figures. Provide an English revision language. Considers the articles about Kuwait COVID sitution https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.03.20089771 http://dx.doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.2894 https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.21.20108639 https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.09.20096495 https://doi.org/10.3390/app10103402 Response to Reviewer #2 Authors’ Response: The paper presents general information about the actual situation of Kuwait about the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors bring and show information about what is the number of cases and deaths there. Also, a set of restrictions and suggestions from the OMS and Health authority is presented. The main trouble of this paper is about the presentation quality of the number os cases and death, and especially dates in which each number occurs. It is suggested to meditate about that. We have improved the quality of the numbers of cases and death and dates of occurrence. See below. - Below other questions are indicated Try to use only one shape of word COVID-19 or COVID 19. We used COVID-19 throughout the text. The first paragraph of the introduction sounds to be very long. It could be separated into two parts. [Viral ... 2019 [5,6].]. We separated the first paragraph into two parts. Figure 1 could be better presented. In fact, the figure shows other information based on different days. I suggest adapting the figure in order to improve the progress of numbers, or only keep the numerical information, not lines. We replaced the figure with brand new figure using recently obtained data from the Ministry of Health. An excellent source of data with numerical information is https://ourworldindata.org/covid-cases?country=~KWT . There, information about all world countries is available. Could you confront numerical information? We use this excellent source of data to get the exact counts of COVID-19 cases and death. One of the biggest issues of the paper is the date limit used to present the number and statistics. The first COVID-19 case in Kuwait is about February 24 and the limit data presented in this paper is about the l of April month with about 3700 cases. However, at submission date, May 12, was bout 9286 cases. In the final of May is more than 26 thousand cases. We limited our reporting up to April 17, 2020 since the pandemic is still evolving. We will update the situation in another paper. Question: how the author explains the increment of the number of new cases, even with social lockdown procedures and government orientations? We believed it is the behavior of the people who did not follow through on government’s guidelines in what is called “intervention fatigue”. There is a mistake in the text "Figure 4 shows that Kuwait’s daily COVID-19 confirmed cases are 9286, 2907 recovered, and 65 deaths, and that, on a global COVID-19 trajectory, USA is at the top and Kuwait at the bottom". Figure 4 presents information about historical series of cases confirmed up to April 18th, but on this day was just confirmed a total of 1,658. The 9,286 cases are on the day of May 12th. Maybe the authors need to check correctly these numbers, correct the text informing dates, and separate figure 4 in two parts. We decided to cover only the period from February to April 17, 2020. Improve and update the quality of the figures. We improved and updated the quality of the figures. Provide an English revision language. We also provided an English language revision. Considers the articles about Kuwait COVID situation. We considered the suggested articles below. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.03.20089771 by A-Shammari et al that presented a real-time tracking and forecasting tool for COVID-19 in Kuwait (Mathematical Modelling Study). http://dx.doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.2894 by Dr Eiman Alwadhi et al that provided behavioral insights during COVID-19 outbreak in Kuwait with measures to react to misinformation or suddenly increasing risk perceptions and panics. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.21.20108639 by Al Youha et al came up with a Kuwait progression indicator score for predicting progression of severity in COVID-19. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.09.20096495 by Sulaiman et al on the clinical characteristics, …, of the 1st 1,096 COVID-19 patients in Kuwait. https://doi.org/10.3390/app10103402 by Almeshal et al that showed a forecasting spread of COVID-19 in Kuwait (we used this reference in the revised version of our paper).

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear Authors,

Please see my comments and suggestions in attached pdf.

I believe this experience and perspective is important to share, however this article needs additional work to provide breadth, depth and impactful points. Thank you for the opportunity to review.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear Authors, Please see my comments and suggestions in attached pdf. I believe this experience and perspective is important to share, however this article needs additional work to provide breadth, depth and impactful points. Thank you for the opportunity to review. Response to Reviewer #3 Authors’ Response (See below): Dear Authors, Please see my comments and suggestions in attached pdf. I believe this experience and perspective is important to share, however this article needs additional work to provide breadth, depth and impactful points. Thank you for the opportunity to review. We provided breadth, depth and impactful points using the suggested checks for updates in pdf you highlighted in the text (Please revised manuscript).

Reviewer 4 Report

The paper is very interesting, it is very important to increase the literature on COVID-19. Knowing how different countries are fighting the pandemic could help to find a better and more efficient common strategy and line of action.

GENERAL ASPECTS: Some mistakes occurred, for exaple the the “-” between COVID and 19 (COVID-19 not COVID 19) which sometimes is missing.

TITLE: Fine but attention to write COVID-19.

ABSTRACT: Fine

KEYWORDS: Fine

INTRODUCTION:

Row 4 COVID-19 is the acronym to Corona Virus Disease 2019, so the first time the authors use the acronym, they should add the extended version.

The period at the end of the paragraph, where the Authors talk about method of control the spread, is to be moved directly to the methods paragraph.

The authors should add also the aim of the study, how written in the abstract.

METHODS AND PROCEDURES

It is a descriptive study without a real methodology.

It is missing the bracket after the word COVID-19;

The measures about migrant and airport could be moved as list items.

About the point one of the list, could be useful explain if the student are returned at school or they are still at home.

The plasma therapy is used also in Italy.

The authors could spend some words on the use but especially on the availability of surgical masks and personal protective equipment in the methods and procedures paragraph. Their lack has been found in many countries during the pandemic, but it is an ever-present problem how reported in a brief report that I suggest to read, because it highlights how the lack of PPE has been reported during other epidemics as Ebola. The report is Troiano G., Nante N. “Political and medical role in the last Ebola outbreak” Journal of Preventive Medicine and Hygiene, 58, 201-202, 2017.

DISCUSSION

The Authors should pay attention to how write COVID-19. Attention also at the use of the word “significant” which involves a statistic analysis.

About the figure, it is recommended to use more trusted sources than twitter.

CONCLUSION

Fine but attention to COVID-19

Author Response

The paper is very interesting, it is very important to increase the literature on COVID-19. Knowing how different countries are fighting the pandemic could help to find a better and more efficient common strategy and line of action. GENERAL ASPECTS: Some mistakes occurred, for exaple the the “-” between COVID and 19 (COVID-19 not COVID 19) which sometimes is missing. TITLE: Fine but attention to write COVID-19. ABSTRACT: Fine KEYWORDS: Fine INTRODUCTION: Row 4 COVID-19 is the acronym to Corona Virus Disease 2019, so the first time the authors use the acronym, they should add the extended version. The period at the end of the paragraph, where the Authors talk about method of control the spread, is to be moved directly to the methods paragraph. The authors should add also the aim of the study, how written in the abstract. METHODS AND PROCEDURES It is a descriptive study without a real methodology. It is missing the bracket after the word COVID-19; The measures about migrant and airport could be moved as list items. About the point one of the list, could be useful explain if the student are returned at school or they are still at home. The plasma therapy is used also in Italy. The authors could spend some words on the use but especially on the availability of surgical masks and personal protective equipment in the methods and procedures paragraph. Their lack has been found in many countries during the pandemic, but it is an ever-present problem how reported in a brief report that I suggest to read, because it highlights how the lack of PPE has been reported during other epidemics as Ebola. The report is Troiano G., Nante N. “Political and medical role in the last Ebola outbreak” Journal of Preventive Medicine and Hygiene, 58, 201-202, 2017. DISCUSSION The Authors should pay attention to how write COVID-19. Attention also at the use of the word “significant” which involves a statistic analysis. About the figure, it is recommended to use more trusted sources than twitter. CONCLUSION Fine but attention to COVID-19 Response to Reviewer #4 Authors’ Response (see below): The paper is very interesting, it is very important to increase the literature on COVID-19. Knowing how different countries are fighting the pandemic could help to find a better and more efficient common strategy and line of action. GENERAL ASPECTS: Some mistakes occurred, for exaple the the “-” between COVID and 19 (COVID-19 not COVID 19) which sometimes is missing. We took care of those mistakes. TITLE: Fine but attention to write COVID-19. We fixed it. ABSTRACT: Fine KEYWORDS: Fine INTRODUCTION: Row 4 COVID-19 is the acronym to Corona Virus Disease 2019, so the first time the authors use the acronym, they should add the extended version. We did that. The period at the end of the paragraph, where the Authors talk about method of control the spread, is to be moved directly to the methods paragraph. We moved it. The authors should add also the aim of the study, how written in the abstract. We added the aim of the study here in the introduction. METHODS AND PROCEDURES It is a descriptive study without a real methodology. Yes, it is a descriptive study. It is missing the bracket after the word COVID-19; We added the bracket. The measures about migrant and airport could be moved as list items. We did that. About the point one of the list, could be useful explain if the student are returned at school or they are still at home. By April 17, 2020, students were still at home (even today as we are writing this). The plasma therapy is used also in Italy. Yes. The authors could spend some words on the use but especially on the availability of surgical masks and personal protective equipment in the methods and procedures paragraph. Their lack has been found in many countries during the pandemic, but it is an ever-present problem how reported in a brief report that I suggest to read, because it highlights how the lack of PPE has been reported during other epidemics as Ebola. The report is Troiano G., Nante N. “Political and medical role in the last Ebola outbreak” Journal of Preventive Medicine and Hygiene, 58, 201-202, 2017. We included in the Procedures the use of use of surgical masks and ppe. We also cited the report on Ebola. DISCUSSION The Authors should pay attention to how write COVID-19. Attention also at the use of the word “significant” which involves a statistic analysis. We used the word “COVID-19” consistently throughout the text. We also replaced the word “significant” in the text About the figure, it is recommended to use more trusted sources than twitter. We removed twitter as source of information. CONCLUSION Fine but attention to COVID-19. We did pay attention to COVID-19.

Reviewer 5 Report

As most of the reviewers are now recommending acceptance, I am also in favour of acceptance. I have checked the manuscript and it is nicely written, although more of a review than a standard experimental piece. I have also noted that some of the figures may be taken from other sources, such as the Ministry of Health. I assume that this does not pose any copyright issues.

Author Response

As most of the reviewers are now recommending acceptance, I am also in favour of acceptance. I have checked the manuscript and it is nicely written, although more of a review than a standard experimental piece. I have also noted that some of the figures may be taken from other sources, such as the Ministry of Health. I assume that this does not pose any copyright issues. Thank you.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

       

Author Response

approved Thank you.

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors made the corrections requested by the reviewers.  

Author Response

The authors made the corrections requested by the reviewers. Thank you.

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear Authors,

I read the last revision in tracked changes but I have not seen any author responses to my earlier review so not sure if those were provided. My main concern is to my earlier comment:

Migrant workers are examples of population that have less income and resources to address their quality of life. They likely have less access to personal protective equipment, social distancing, and affordable healthcare given their working arrangements. Suggest describing their situation in a more objective manner (e.g. Migrant workers are at greater risk due to their living conditions...so they can accelerate the transmission...
The paragraph reads as the migrant workers are a stigma and they are part of an economic system where their sponsors should be accountable for their well-being.
Related, I also suggest changing the last sentence of the abstract.

It appears this paragraph on p. 2 was edited and cited, but I do not believe it is addressed objectively or appropriately. Please see this recent New York Times article for related context:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/world/middleeast/coronavirus-saudi-domestic-workers-maids-arab.html

I recommend revising this section at minimum to provide a more fair and objective analysis. Thank you.

 

Author Response

I read the last revision in tracked changes but I have not seen any author responses to my earlier review so not sure if those were provided. My main concern is to my earlier comment: Migrant workers are examples of population that have less income and resources to address their quality of life. They likely have less access to personal protective equipment, social distancing, and affordable healthcare given their working arrangements. Suggest describing their situation in a more objective manner (e.g. Migrant workers are at greater risk due to their living conditions...so they can accelerate the transmission... The paragraph reads as the migrant workers are a stigma and they are part of an economic system where their sponsors should be accountable for their well-being. Related, I also suggest changing the last sentence of the abstract. It appears this paragraph on p. 2 was edited and cited, but I do not believe it is addressed objectively or appropriately. Please see this recent New York Times article for related context: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/world/middleeast/coronavirus-saudi-domestic-workers-maids-arab.html I recommend revising this section at minimum to provide a more fair and objective analysis. Thank you. Dear reviewer, As per your suggestion, we changed the last sentence of the abstract. We also read the NYTimes article. Thanks Janvier

Reviewer 4 Report

All suggestions have been accepted 

Author Response

All suggestions have been accepted Thank you.