Application of healthcare big data in active case finding of COVID-19 in Yinzhou district of Ningbo

Abstract

During the prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic, identifying and controlling the source of infection has become one of the most important prevention and control measures to curb the epidemic in the absence of vaccines and specific therapeutic drugs. While actively taking traditional and comprehensive "early detection" measures, Yinzhou district implemented inter-departmental data sharing through the joint prevention and control mechanism. Relying on a healthcare big data platform that integrates the data from medical, disease control and non-health sectors, Yinzhou district innovatively explored the big data-driven COVID-19 case finding pattern with online suspected case screening and offline verification and disposal. Such effort has laid a solid foundation and gathered experience to conduct the dynamic and continuous surveillance and early warning for infectious disease outbreaks more effectively and efficiently in the future. This article introduces the exploration of this pattern in Yinzhou district and discusses the role of big data-driven disease surveillance in the prevention and control of infectious diseases.