tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Int J Infect Dis
. 2020 Oct 6;S1201-9712(20)32200-1.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.09.1483. Online ahead of print.
Contact tracing with digital assistance in Taiwan's COVID-19 outbreak response
Shu-Wan Jian[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Hao-Yuan Cheng[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Xiang-Ting Huang[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Ding-Ping Liu[SUP] 4 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Aim: Comprehensive case investigation and contact tracing are crucial to prevent community spread of COVID-19. We demonstrated a utility of using traditional contact tracing measures supplemented with symptom tracking and contact management system to assist public health workers with high efficiency.
Methods: A centralized contact tracing system was developed to support data linkage, cross-jurisdictional coordination, and follow-up of contacts' health status. We illustrated the process of how digital tools support contact tracing and management of COVID-19 cases and measured the timeliness from case detection to contact monitoring to evaluate system performance.
Results: Among the 8,051 close contacts of the 487 confirmed cases (16.5 close contacts/case, 95% CI [13.9-19.1]), the median elapsed time from last exposure to quarantine was three days (IQR 1-5). By implementing the approach of self-reporting using automatic text-messages and web-app, the percentage of health status updates from self-reporting increased from 22.5% to 61.5%. The high proportion of secondary cases detected via contact tracing (88%) might reduce the R0 to under one and minimize the impact of local transmission in the community.
Conclusion: Comprehensive contact tracing and management with complementary technology would still be a pillar of strategies for containing outbreaks during de-escalation or early in the next wave of COVID-19 pandemic.
Keywords: COVID-19; contact tracing; coronavirus; digital tool; outbreak response.
. 2020 Oct 6;S1201-9712(20)32200-1.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.09.1483. Online ahead of print.
Contact tracing with digital assistance in Taiwan's COVID-19 outbreak response
Shu-Wan Jian[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Hao-Yuan Cheng[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Xiang-Ting Huang[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Ding-Ping Liu[SUP] 4 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 33035674
- PMCID: PMC7537669
- DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.09.1483
Abstract
Aim: Comprehensive case investigation and contact tracing are crucial to prevent community spread of COVID-19. We demonstrated a utility of using traditional contact tracing measures supplemented with symptom tracking and contact management system to assist public health workers with high efficiency.
Methods: A centralized contact tracing system was developed to support data linkage, cross-jurisdictional coordination, and follow-up of contacts' health status. We illustrated the process of how digital tools support contact tracing and management of COVID-19 cases and measured the timeliness from case detection to contact monitoring to evaluate system performance.
Results: Among the 8,051 close contacts of the 487 confirmed cases (16.5 close contacts/case, 95% CI [13.9-19.1]), the median elapsed time from last exposure to quarantine was three days (IQR 1-5). By implementing the approach of self-reporting using automatic text-messages and web-app, the percentage of health status updates from self-reporting increased from 22.5% to 61.5%. The high proportion of secondary cases detected via contact tracing (88%) might reduce the R0 to under one and minimize the impact of local transmission in the community.
Conclusion: Comprehensive contact tracing and management with complementary technology would still be a pillar of strategies for containing outbreaks during de-escalation or early in the next wave of COVID-19 pandemic.
Keywords: COVID-19; contact tracing; coronavirus; digital tool; outbreak response.