A report on incidence of COVID-19 among febrile patients attending a malaria clinic.

Context: Screening for malaria and coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in all patients with acute febrile illness is necessary in malaria-endemic areas to reduce malaria-related mortality and to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 by isolation.

Aims: A pilot study was undertaken to determine the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among febrile patients attending a malaria clinic.

Subjects and methods: All patients were tested for malaria parasite by examining thick and thin blood smears as well as by rapid malaria antigen tests. COVID-19 was detected by rapid antigen test and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction in patients agreeing to undergo the test.

Results: Out of 262 patients examined, 66 (25.19%) were positive for Plasmodium vivax, 45 (17.17%) for Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) with a slide positivity rate of 42.40%, and Pf% of 40.50%. Only 29 patients consented for COVID-19 testing along with malaria; of them, 3 (10.34%) were positive for COVID-19 alone and 2 (6.89%) were positive for both COVID-19 and P. vivax with an incidence of 17.24%. A maximum number of patients (196) did not examine for COVID-19 as they did not agree to do the test.

Conclusion: Diagnosis of COVID-19 among three patients (10.34%) is significant both in terms of identification of cases and to isolate them for preventing transmission in the community. Detection of COVID-19 along with malaria is equally important for their proper management.