Rapid establishment of a national surveillance of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Belgium.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In response to the COVID-19 epidemic, caused by a novel coronavirus, it was of great importance to rapidly collect as much accurate information as possible in order to characterize the public health threat and support the health authorities in its management. Hospital-based surveillance is paramount to monitor the severity of a disease in the population.

Methods

Two separate surveillance systems, a Surge Capacity survey and a Clinical survey, were set up to collect complementary data on COVID-19 from Belgium's hospitals. The Surge Capacity survey collects aggregated data to monitor the hospital capacity through occupancy rates of beds and medical devices, and to follow a set of key epidemiological indicators over time. Participation is mandatory and the daily data

SUBMITTER: Van Goethem N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7673251 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature