{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,16]],"date-time":"2026-06-16T14:56:26Z","timestamp":1781621786197,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,15]],"date-time":"2026-06-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781481600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Urban environments may influence COVID-19 transmission.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>To examine how urban form, population size, and density relate to COVID-19 spread in Saudi Arabian cities.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A cross-sectional study of 18 major cities categorized as centralized, linear, or grid-patterned. Data on confirmed cases, population, area, and density were analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlation analyses.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Total COVID-19 cases strongly correlated with city population size (\n                      <jats:italic>r<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.942,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001) and moderately with cases per density (\n                      <jats:italic>r<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.506,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.032). Population density alone was not significant. Centralized cities exhibited higher infection rates than linear or grid-patterned cities.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Population size drives COVID-19 spread, while urban form and connectivity shape local transmission dynamics. Urban planning and targeted interventions in centralized areas can support pandemic mitigation.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1825759","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,15]],"date-time":"2026-06-15T05:37:05Z","timestamp":1781501825000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Influence of urban morphology on COVID-19 transmission in Saudi Arabia: lessons for the post-COVID era"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Arwa","family":"Alumran","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Public Health, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University","place":["Dammam, Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shayma","family":"Alumran","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Design, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University","place":["Dammam, Saudi 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