Abstract: medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.07.13.21260428; this version posted July 16, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-ND 4.0 International license . Epidemiology and Clinical Characteristics in Individuals with Confirmed SARS-CoV-2 Infection During the Early COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia Fatimah S. Alhamlan1,2,3*, Reem S. Almaghrabi4, Edward B. Devol5, Anwar B. Alotaibi5, Saleh M. Alageel5, Dalia A. Obeid1,6, Basem M. Alraddadi7, Sahar I. Althawadi3, Maysoon S. Mutabagani3, Ahmed A. Al-Qahtani1,2 1 Department of Infection and Immunity, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 3 Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 4 Department of Medicine, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 5 Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Scientific Computing, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 6 National Health laboratory, Saudi Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 7 Department of Medicine, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 2 Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, Epidemiology, COVID-19 Treatment Regimens *Corresponding author. Fatimah S. Alhamlan Tel.: 966 11 442 4365, Fax: 966 11 442 4519. Email address: falhamlan@kfshrc.edu.sa 1 NOTE: This preprint reports new research that has not been certified by peer review and should not be used to guide clinical practice. medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.07.13.21260428; this version posted July 16, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-ND 4.0 International license . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Abstract 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 Soon after the novel corona virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2), emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, its transmission from human to human established a foothold worldwide [1, 2]. In Saudi Arabia, the first case of a SARS-CoV-2– infected person was reported on March 2, 2020, a Saudi national who had returned to the country from Iran [3]. As of July 11, 2021, there have been over 500,000 confirmed cases, 481,241 recovered cases, and 7963 deaths in Saudi Arabia [4]. The number of confirmed positive cases had been escalating until now, July 2021, despite the country’s strict control measures. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of the catastrophic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic. This study aimed to provide epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of patients with confirmed COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia and to determine whether characteristic profiles differ between patients who are symptomatic vs. asymptomatic for the disease. The first 492 consecutive patients diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Saudi Arabia between March and September 2020..