Related Articles Clinical characteristics of asymptomatic and symptomatic COVID 19 patients in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia J Infect Public Health 2020 Dec 17 14 1 6 11 Authors AlJishi JM Alhajjaj AH Alkhabbaz FL AlAbduljabar TH Alsaif A Alsaif H Alomran KS Aljanobi GA Alghawi Z Alsaif M Al Tawfiq JA Abstract BACKGROUND The first case of COVID 19 infection in Saudi Arabia was reported in Qatif on March 2nd 2020 Here we describe the clinical characteristics of the initial COVID 19 patients in that area METHODS This is an observational study describing the clinical presentation radiographic and laboratory data of COVID 19 cases RESULTS From March 1st 2020 to April 5th 2020 we identified a total of 82 adult COVID 19 patients The median age of the patients was 50 years with a range of 30 to 60 years and most of patients were female 54 65 9 Of all the patients 29 35 4 were contacts and 43 52 4 were returning travelers mainly from Iraq 65 of the total returning travelers Comorbidities were present in 50 of patients G6PD deficiency in 33 hypertension in 27 and diabetes mellitus in 26 Chest radiographs were abnormal in 46 of symptomatic and 15 5 of asymptomatic patients P value 0 0035 Of all patients 4 4 87 required intensive care admission There was no significant difference in time to negative RT PCR with mean days to negativity of 13 6 and 16 9 for asymptomatic and symptomatic group respectively P value 0 42 CONCLUSIONS In the initial Epicenter of the COVID 19 in Saudi Arabia the majority of the patients were asymptomatic and were returning travelers Comorbidities were present in nearly half of the patients PMID 33341486 PubMed as supplied by publisher