Medical Waste Increase During COVID-19 Pandemic in Asia: A Meta-analysis

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) prevalence increased hospital admissions and caused a higher rate of medical waste. In this study, the status of medical wastes and recommended disinfecting methods were reviewed before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia. The published papers, library searching, and website browsing with no language restrictions were used to conduct this analytical-descriptive study before the pandemic until the early months of 2020. The results showed that generation rates of medical waste (GRMW), including surgical gloves, face masks, and the like increased by 10%, 12%, 23%, 28%, 97%, 425, and 1262% in Iran, Tehran, China, Malaysia, Dhaka, Wuhan, and King Abdullah University Hospital, respectively, in 2020 regarding the normal period without any pandemic. The capital or the most engaged city in each country produced higher GRMW compared with the whole country so that the GRMW in Iran, Bangladesh, and China were 13.2%, 29.2%, and 70.4% lower than that in Tehran, Dhaka, and Wuhan, respectively. The GRMW also indicated reverse trends with the number of hospital beds, population, and accumulated confirmed cases.