A citizen science initiative for open data and visualization of COVID-19 outbreak in Kerala, India

A near real-time electronic health record-based COVID-19 surveillance system: An experience from a developing country

CONTEXT

Access to real-time data that provide accurate and timely information about the status and extent of disease spread could assist management of the COVID-19 pandemic and inform decision-making.

AIM

To demonstrate our experience with regard to implementation of technical and architectural infrastructure for a near real-time electronic health record-based surveillance system for COVID-19 in Iran.

METHOD

This COVID-19 surveillance system was developed from hospital information and electronic health record (EHR) systems available in the study hospitals in conjunction with a set of open-source solutions; and designed to integrate data from multiple resources to provide near real-time access to COVID-19 patients' data, as well as a pool of health data for analytical and decision-making purposes.

OUTCOMES

Using this surveillance system, we were able to monitor confirmed and suspected cases of COVID-19 in our population and to automatically notify stakeholders. Based on aggregated data collected, this surveillance system was able to facilitate many activities, such as resource allocation for hospitals, including managing bed allocations, providing and distributing equipment and funding, and setting up isolation centres.

CONCLUSION

Electronic health record systems and an integrated data analytics infrastructure are effective tools to enable policymakers to make better decisions, and for epidemiologists to conduct improved analyses regarding COVID-19.

IMPLICATIONS

Improved quality of clinical coding for better case finding, improved quality of health information in data sources, data-sharing agreements, and increased EHR coverage in the population can empower EHR-based COVID-19 surveillance systems.

Characteristics and specifications of dashboards developed for the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review

Aim

The use of information-based solutions such as dashboards is on the rise for taking fact-based actions against the COVID-19 crisis. This scoping review aimed to comprehensively investigate COVID-19 dashboards from different technical perspectives.

Subject and methods

Three main bibliographic databases, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus, were searched on 28 August 2021 to retrieve relevant studies. Arksey and O'Malley's (Int J Soc Res Methodol 8(1):19-32, 2005) methodological framework and the enhanced version of this methodology developed by Levac et al. (Implement Sci 5(1):1-9, 2010) were adopted for conducting this review.

Results

In total, 26 articles were included. The COVID-19 dashboards mainly focused on the infected (n = 25), deceased (n = 17), and recovered cases (n = 13), as well as the performed test (n = 10). Most of the dashboards were interactive, with public accessibility targeting various user groups. While some dashboards were both informative and supportive (38%), most were mainly informative (92%). The dashboard data were generally analyzed using simple techniques (58%) and delivered through web-based applications (88%).

Conclusion

Dashboards can help immediately manage, analyze, and summarize a huge amount of information about a COVID-19 outbreak. The findings revealed that the developed COVID-19 dashboards share more or less analogous characteristics that could lay the groundwork for designing and developing dashboards for any other pandemic.

A call for citizen science in pandemic preparedness and response: beyond data collection

The COVID-19 pandemic has underlined the need to partner with the community in pandemic preparedness and response in order to enable trust-building among stakeholders, which is key in pandemic management. Citizen science, defined here as a practice of public participation and collaboration in all aspects of scientific research to increase knowledge and build trust with governments and researchers, is a crucial approach to promoting community engagement. By harnessing the potential of digitally enabled citizen science, one could translate data into accessible, comprehensible and actionable outputs at the population level. The application of citizen science in health has grown over the years, but most of these approaches remain at the level of participatory data collection. This narrative review examines citizen science approaches in participatory data generation, modelling and visualisation, and calls for truly participatory and co-creation approaches across all domains of pandemic preparedness and response. Further research is needed to identify approaches that optimally generate short-term and long-term value for communities participating in population health. Feasible, sustainable and contextualised citizen science approaches that meaningfully engage affected communities for the long-term will need to be inclusive of all populations and their cultures, comprehensive of all domains, digitally enabled and viewed as a key component to allow trust-building among the stakeholders. The impact of COVID-19 on people’s lives has created an opportune time to advance people’s agency in science, particularly in pandemic preparedness and response.

Analysis of non-pharmaceutical interventions and their impacts on COVID-19 in Kerala

In the absence of an effective vaccine or drug therapy, non-pharmaceutical interventions are the only option for control of the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019, a pandemic with global implications. Each of the over 200 countries affected has followed its own path in dealing with the crisis, making it difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of measures implemented, either individually, or collectively. In this paper we analyse the case of the south Indian state of Kerala, which received much attention in the international media for its actions in containing the spread of the disease in the early months of the pandemic, but later succumbed to a second wave. We use a model to study the trajectory of the disease in the state during the first four months of the outbreak. We then use the model for a retrospective analysis of measures taken to combat the spread of the disease, to evaluate their impact. Because of the differences in the trajectory of the outbreak in Kerala, we argue that it is a model worthy of a place in the discussion on how the world might best handle this and other, future, pandemics.

The experiences of 33 national COVID-19 dashboard teams during the first year of the pandemic in the World Health Organization European Region: A qualitative study

Background

Governments across the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region have prioritised dashboards for reporting COVID-19 data. The ubiquitous use of dashboards for public reporting is a novel phenomenon.

Objective

This study explores the development of COVID-19 dashboards during the first year of the pandemic and identifies common barriers, enablers and lessons from the experiences of teams responsible for their development.

Methods

We applied multiple methods to identify and recruit COVID-19 dashboard teams, using a purposive, quota sampling approach. Semi-structured group interviews were conducted from April to June 2021. Using elaborative coding and thematic analysis, we derived descriptive and explanatory themes from the interview data. A validation workshop was held with study participants in June 2021.

Results

Eighty informants participated, representing 33 national COVID-19 dashboard teams across the WHO European Region. Most dashboards were launched swiftly during the first months of the pandemic, February to May 2020. The urgency, intense workload, limited human resources, data and privacy constraints and public scrutiny were common challenges in the initial development stage. Themes related to barriers or enablers were identified, pertaining to the pre-pandemic context, pandemic itself, people and processes and software, data and users. Lessons emerged around the themes of simplicity, trust, partnership, software and data and change.

Conclusions

COVID-19 dashboards were developed in a learning-by-doing approach. The experiences of teams reveal that initial underpreparedness was offset by high-level political endorsement, the professionalism of teams, accelerated data improvements and immediate support with commercial software solutions. To leverage the full potential of dashboards for health data reporting, investments are needed at the team, national and pan-European levels.

Indonesia COVID-19 cases report using Linked Open Data

Coronavirus disease is a worldwide pandemic. The need for accurate data and information become an important thing in this pandemic situation. In Indonesia, the government provides an official website for displaying COVID-19 spread statistics. However, the data provided does not follow the 5-star open data. As a result, the data is not reusable and integrated easily into another dataset and application. In this paper, we proposed an RDF vocabulary for presenting COVID-19 data in Indonesia. In addition, two queries are presented as an example for using our vocabulary and dataset as part of Linked Open data movement.

A Comprehensive Survey on Data Utility and Privacy: Taking Indian Healthcare System as a Potential Case Study

Background: According to the renowned and Oscar award-winning American actor and film director Marlon Brando, “privacy is not something that I am merely entitled to, it is an absolute prerequisite.” Privacy threats and data breaches occur daily, and countries are mitigating the consequences caused by privacy and data breaches. The Indian healthcare industry is one of the largest and rapidly developing industry. Overall, healthcare management is changing from disease-centric into patient-centric systems. Healthcare data analysis also plays a crucial role in healthcare management, and the privacy of patient records must receive equal attention. Purpose: This paper mainly presents the utility and privacy factors of the Indian healthcare data and discusses the utility aspect and privacy problems concerning Indian healthcare systems. It defines policies that reform Indian healthcare systems. The case study of the NITI Aayog report is presented to explain how reformation occurs in Indian healthcare systems. Findings: It is found that there have been numerous research studies conducted on Indian healthcare data across all dimensions; however, privacy problems in healthcare, specifically in India, are caused by prevalent complacency, culture, politics, budget limitations, large population, and existing infrastructures. This paper reviews the Indian healthcare system and the applications that drive it. Additionally, the paper also maps that how privacy issues are happening in every healthcare sector in India. Originality/Value: To understand these factors and gain insights, understanding Indian healthcare systems first is crucial. To the best of our knowledge, we found no recent papers that thoroughly reviewed the Indian healthcare system and its privacy issues. The paper is original in terms of its overview of the healthcare system and privacy issues. Social Implications: Privacy has been the most ignored part of the Indian healthcare system. With India being a country with a population of 130 billion, much healthcare data are generated every day. The chances of data breaches and other privacy violations on such sensitive data cannot be avoided as they cause severe concerns for individuals. This paper segregates the healthcare system’s advances and lists the privacy that needs to be addressed first.

COVID-19: Need for Equitable and Inclusive Pandemic Response Framework

When a new infectious disease emerges as an epidemic or pandemic, strict and appropriate mitigation strategies are critical. Appropriate steps that facilitate defining of cases, carrying out accurate clinical diagnoses, and forming a powerful health surveillance that addresses public health policies and procedures are necessary. Tracking the number of COVID-19 cases over time and flattening the curve is another important element to establish research settings and identify therapeutic components to expedite and develop effective interventions. Addressing the various sections of the society in a philanthropic way is crucial to acquiring the public cooperation that is essential to controlling a disease like COVID-19. In this study, we discuss various strategies and measures adopted by Kerala, an Indian state, to combat the COVID-19 outbreak. Regular and timely updates by government public relations and health departments were used in many of the adopted strategies. The engagement of health information systems, together with the application of decentralized governance and community engagement, has contributed to effective population health management and surveillance of the pandemic.