Abstract:

Malaria epidemic data in 31 Provinces/Municipalities/Autonomous regions (Taiwan region, Hong Kong and Macao excluded) of China in 2020 were collected and sorted through the Information System for Parasitic Disease Prevention and Control. The epidemiological characteristic of malaria was analyzed. In 2020, a total of 1 086 malaria cases were reported in China, which declined by 59.4% compared to that in 2019 (2 674). Of these cases, 1 085 imported cases and 1 long incubation case infected with Plasmodium malaria were identified. None of them were indigenous cases. In addition, 1 051 cases were of Chinese nationality (96.8%, 1 051/1 086) and 35 cases were of foreign nationality (3.2%, 35/1 086). Most of the cases were within the age range of 30-49 years (57.5%, 624/1 086), with a male-to-female ratio of 13.7 ∶ 1. The reported cases included 234 cases of P. vivax infection (21.5%, 234/1 086), 610 cases of P. falciparum infection (56.2%, 610/1 086), 23 cases of P. malariae infection (2.1%, 23/1 086), 204 cases of P. ovale infection (18.8%, 204/1 086) and 15 cases with mixed-infection (1.4%, 15/1 086). The cases were reported from 29 Provinces/Municipalities/Autonomous regions, with the top 5 being Guangdong, Yunnan, Jiangsu, Sichuan and Shandong provinces, from which 570 cases (52.5%, 570/1 086) were reported. Totally 6 deaths (0.6%, 6/1 086) were reported from Guangdong (3 cases), Fujian (2 cases) and Hubei (1 case) provinces, which was decreased by 68.4% compared to the 19 deaths in 2019. Noticeably, there has been no report of indigenous cases since the last four years. Nevertheless, it is imperative to continuously strengthen the surveillance on imported malaria and the cases in border area, prevent from re-transmission of imported malaria, reduce the death risk and consolidate the achievements of malaria elimination in China.

Key words: Malaria, Epidemiological characteristics, China