Huajie Jin1, Haiyin Wang2, Xiao Li3, Weiwei Zheng4, Shanke Ye5, Sheng Zhang6, Jiahui Zhou7, Mark Pennington1. 1. King's Health Economics, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King's College London, Box 024, The David Goldberg Centre, London, SE5 8AF, England. 2. Health Technology Assessment Research Department, Shanghai Health Development Research Centre, Shanghai, China. 3. Centre for Health Economics Research and Modelling Infectious Diseases, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium. 4. School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. 5. Department of Infectious Disease, Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Shanghai, China. 6. Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China. 7. School of Population and Global Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the economic cost of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) in 31 provincial-level administrative regions and in total, in China. METHODS: We used data from government reports, clinical guidelines and other publications to estimate the main cost components of COVID-19 during 1 January-31 March 2020. These components were: identification and diagnosis of close contacts; suspected cases and confirmed cases of COVID-19; treatment of COVID-19 cases; compulsory quarantine of close contacts and suspected cases; and productivity losses for all affected residents. Primary outcomes were total health-care and societal costs. FINDINGS: The total estimated health-care and societal costs associated with COVID-19 were 4.26 billion Chinese yuan (¥; 0.62 billion United States dollars, US$) and ¥ 2646.70 billion (US$ 383.02 billion), respectively. Inpatient care accounted for 44.2% (¥ 0.95 billion/¥ 2.15 billion) of routine health-care costs followed by medicines, accounting for 32.5% (¥ 0.70 billion/¥ 2.15 billion). Productivity losses accounted for 99.8% (¥ 2641.61 billion/¥ 2646.70 billion) of societal costs, which were mostly attributable to the effect of movement-restriction policies on people who did not have COVID-19. Societal costs were most sensitive to salary costs and number of working days lost due to movement-restriction policies. Hubei province had the highest health-care cost while Guangdong province had the highest societal cost. CONCLUSION: Our results highlight the high economic burden of the COVID-19 outbreak in China. The control measures to prevent the spread of disease resulted in substantial costs from productivity losses amounting to 2.7% (US$ 382.29 billion/US$ 14.14 trillion) of China's annual gross domestic product. (c) 2021 The authors; licensee World Health Organization.
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the economic cost of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) in 31 provincial-level administrative regions and in total, in China. METHODS: We used data from government reports, clinical guidelines and other publications to estimate the main cost components of COVID-19 during 1 January-31 March 2020. These components were: identification and diagnosis of close contacts; suspected cases and confirmed cases of COVID-19; treatment of COVID-19 cases; compulsory quarantine of close contacts and suspected cases; and productivity losses for all affected residents. Primary outcomes were total health-care and societal costs. FINDINGS: The total estimated health-care and societal costs associated with COVID-19 were 4.26 billion Chinese yuan (¥; 0.62 billion United States dollars, US$) and ¥ 2646.70 billion (US$ 383.02 billion), respectively. Inpatient care accounted for 44.2% (¥ 0.95 billion/¥ 2.15 billion) of routine health-care costs followed by medicines, accounting for 32.5% (¥ 0.70 billion/¥ 2.15 billion). Productivity losses accounted for 99.8% (¥ 2641.61 billion/¥ 2646.70 billion) of societal costs, which were mostly attributable to the effect of movement-restriction policies on people who did not have COVID-19. Societal costs were most sensitive to salary costs and number of working days lost due to movement-restriction policies. Hubei province had the highest health-care cost while Guangdong province had the highest societal cost. CONCLUSION: Our results highlight the high economic burden of the COVID-19 outbreak in China. The control measures to prevent the spread of disease resulted in substantial costs from productivity losses amounting to 2.7% (US$ 382.29 billion/US$ 14.14 trillion) of China's annual gross domestic product. (c) 2021 The authors; licensee World Health Organization.
Authors: Emil Nafis Iftekhar; Viola Priesemann; Rudi Balling; Simon Bauer; Philippe Beutels; André Calero Valdez; Sarah Cuschieri; Thomas Czypionka; Uga Dumpis; Enrico Glaab; Eva Grill; Claudia Hanson; Pirta Hotulainen; Peter Klimek; Mirjam Kretzschmar; Tyll Krüger; Jenny Krutzinna; Nicola Low; Helena Machado; Carlos Martins; Martin McKee; Sebastian Bernd Mohr; Armin Nassehi; Matjaž Perc; Elena Petelos; Martyn Pickersgill; Barbara Prainsack; Joacim Rocklöv; Eva Schernhammer; Anthony Staines; Ewa Szczurek; Sotirios Tsiodras; Steven Van Gucht; Peter Willeit Journal: Lancet Reg Health Eur Date: 2021-07-30