TY - JOUR T1 - The COVID-19 pandemic: diverse contexts; different epidemics—how and why? JF - BMJ Global Health JO - BMJ Global Health DO - 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003098 VL - 5 IS - 7 SP - e003098 AU - Wim Van Damme AU - Ritwik Dahake AU - Alexandre Delamou AU - Brecht Ingelbeen AU - Edwin Wouters AU - Guido Vanham AU - Remco van de Pas AU - Jean-Paul Dossou AU - Por Ir AU - Seye Abimbola AU - Stefaan Van der Borght AU - Devadasan Narayanan AU - Gerald Bloom AU - Ian Van Engelgem AU - Mohamed Ali Ag Ahmed AU - Joël Arthur Kiendrébéogo AU - Kristien Verdonck AU - Vincent De Brouwere AU - Kéfilath Bello AU - Helmut Kloos AU - Peter Aaby AU - Andreas Kalk AU - Sameh Al-Awlaqi AU - NS Prashanth AU - Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum AU - Placide Mbala AU - Steve Ahuka-Mundeke AU - Yibeltal Assefa Y1 - 2020/07/01 UR - http://gh.bmj.com/content/5/7/e003098.abstract N2 - It is very exceptional that a new disease becomes a true pandemic. Since its emergence in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19, has spread to nearly all countries of the world in only a few months. However, in different countries, the COVID-19 epidemic takes variable shapes and forms in how it affects communities. Until now, the insights gained on COVID-19 have been largely dominated by the COVID-19 epidemics and the lockdowns in China, Europe and the USA. But this variety of global trajectories is little described, analysed or understood. In only a few months, an enormous amount of scientific evidence on SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 has been uncovered (knowns). But important knowledge gaps remain (unknowns). Learning from the variety of ways the COVID-19 epidemic is unfolding across the globe can potentially contribute to solving the COVID-19 puzzle. This paper tries to make sense of this variability—by exploring the important role that context plays in these different COVID-19 epidemics; by comparing COVID-19 epidemics with other respiratory diseases, including other coronaviruses that circulate continuously; and by highlighting the critical unknowns and uncertainties that remain. These unknowns and uncertainties require a deeper understanding of the variable trajectories of COVID-19. Unravelling them will be important for discerning potential future scenarios, such as the first wave in virgin territories still untouched by COVID-19 and for future waves elsewhere. ER -