Task 1 Improving laboratory-based reporting
Under Work Package 2 Outbreak Detection, Task 1 “Improving Laboratory-based Reporting”, two workshops were held back-to-back on 26 and 27 April in Copenhagen. Hosted by Statens Serum Institut (SSI, DK) and facilitated by the task leads from SSI and the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM, NL), these workshops kickstarted the planned work within WP2/Task 1.
During the first workshop, countries that are actively engaged in task 1 presented their respective national lab-based surveillance systems, challenges and planned developments. Results from a survey among consortium members on needs and gaps with regards to lab-based reporting with a focus on legal, policy and organizational, technical and financial aspects were also presented and discussed. The workshop was held in a hybrid format allowing both actively engaged and passively following countries, as well as representatives from the European Commission (EC), the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) to participate.
During the second workshop, countries that are planning pilot projects on improving their lab-based reporting systems within WP2/Task 1presented their current data model and engaged in technical discussions around which elements a logical data model should entail. Furthermore, the plans for the upcoming pilot projects were presented.
Task 2 Outbreak and signal detection
On 30 and 31 May 2023 the workshop on outbreak detection use cases took place in Berlin at the Robert Koch Institute. Over the two days, 30 participants from national public health institutes of 16 European countries discussed the integration of automated outbreak detection tools into national surveillance systems within the EU. Epidemiologists and data scientists exchanged their expectations and views on how to further develop and implement tools to surveillance data of infectious diseases. Results of this collaborative work under work package 2 Task 2 will contribute to increase the capacity of member states to run an automated early warning system.
