ΕΟΔΥ: Joint Bulletin on Covid, Influenza and RSV to be released every Thursday

A new reporting system to citizens of the epidemiological course of the coronavirus, as well as influenza and RSV viruses, will be “open” ΕΟΔΥ from next Thursday.

Over the past three years, the attention of health authorities around the world has been riveted on the SARS-CoV2 virus and the consequences of the pandemic, the statement said. After a three-year period, the European Center for Disease Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organization have issued technical recommendations on the organization of unified surveillance systems for viral infections of the respiratory system.

According to ΕΟΔΥ, this highlighted the need to strengthen infection surveillance for both SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses that typically cause significant numbers of cases, especially during the winter months. Surveillance recommendations include the most common pathogens such as influenza virus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

In this context, and in accordance with the recommendations of international organizations, ΕΟΔΥ has begun to strengthen the already existing surveillance systems and introduce new reporting to better reflect the epidemiological picture in the country for the three viruses.

A single epidemiological report will include data on:

1. observation of cases (positive rate), hospitalizations, intubations and deaths from covid-19, in combination with the results of genomic surveillance and the urban wastewater surveillance network,
2. disease surveillance (obtaining data from primary health care services), which will include indicators of the presence of citizens with symptoms in the community, as well as the number of hospitalizations in ΜΕΘ.
3. sentinel network respiratory virus laboratory surveillance (see point 2)
4. laboratory surveillance in a sample of people with influenza symptoms who arrived for examination in mobile medical teams (MH) ΕΟΔΥ.

The report will be published every Thursday starting from 12/22/2022.

A single report will replace the COVID-19 epidemiological report published every Tuesday. For the current week, the weekly COVID-19 report (12/20/2022) will be published as usual.

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