OBJECTIVES: Since the onset of the covid-19 epidemic, many studies have been conducted to gather data in order to better anticipate this disease. This study aims to describe the main characteristics of Covid-19 patients during the first six months of the epidemic in Algeria.

METHODS: We conducted a prospective observational study at the University Hospital of El Biar in Algiers between April and September 2020. A pre-established questionnaire recorded comorbidities, clinical symptoms as well as data from physical and complementary examinations.

RESULTS: In the present study, a total of 1008 patients (493 (49%) female, 515 (51%) male), with covid-19 infection were included. The mean age was 52 years old.

Among patients with comorbidities, 311 (30.9%) had hypertension, 236 (23.4%) had diabetes, and 59 (5.9%) had chronic respiratory disease.

A PCR test was performed in 57.6% of patients, with a positive result in 52.5% (529) of them. A computed tomography (CT) scan was performed in 92.8% (935) of patients and identified signs consistent with covid-19 pneumonia in 86.7% of patients, of which 35.1% had a damage of 10-25%.

The most frequent inaugural symptoms were asthenia (71.6%) and cough (56.1%). The most frequent complication was the discovery of diabetes in 37 patients (3.7%), followed by dehydration in 26 patients (2.6%). Severe forms (CT damage > 50% and/or oxygen therapy) represented 10.7% of the cases.

The average hospital stay was of 10 days. A total of 15 patients were admitted to the intensive care unit following an acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), i.e. a prevalence of 1.5%, and 10 deaths were recorded, giving a case fatality rate of 1.0%.

CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that a small proportion of COVID-19 patients were admitted to the ICU and the case fatality rate is similar to what has been observed worldwide.