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Article History

Received: 20 July 2020

Accepted: 13 November 2020

First Online: 25 November 2020

Ethics approval and consent to participate

: This was a public health emergency and the Ministry of Health (MoH) gave the directive to conduct epidemiological investigations for on persons with SARS-CoV-2 infection in the country. The investigation directive from MoH applied to all confirmed cases; however, we sought verbal consent from respondents in their respective languages during data collection. Participants were told that their participation was voluntary and that there would be no negative consequences if they refused to participate (none declined). During data collection, respondents were assigned unique identifiers instead of names to protect their confidentiality. Information was stored in password-protected computers and was not shared with anyone outside the investigation team. As this was a public health emergency, disclosure of patient information for the purposes of contact tracing was limited to the minimum needed to conduct contact tracing activities.The Office of the Associate Director for Science, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, determined that this activity was in response to a public health emergency with the primary intent of public health practice (epidemic disease control activity). It was determined therefore to not be human subjects research.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare they have no competing interest.