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EU level surveillance of COVID19

For EU level surveillance, ECDC requests EU/EEA countries and the UK to report laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 within 24 hours after identification. This should be done through the Early Warning and Response System (EWRS).

ECDC and the WHO Regional Office for Europe – in collaboration with their surveillance networks in the Member States – are coordinating the rapid reporting of data as requested in the WHO case reporting form.

Case reporting forms will be collected using The European Surveillance System - TESSy.

Case definition and European surveillance for COVID-19, as of 2 March 2020

Case definition for EU surveillance of COVID-19. A case definition is a set of standard criteria for classifying whether a person has a particular disease, syndrome, or other health condition.

Areas with presumed community transmission of COVID-19

As of 2 March 2020, ECDC no longer defines areas of presumed community transmission. Please refer to WHO situation reports for country classification [hyperlink: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports/

Early Warning and Response System of the European Union (EWRS)

The Early Warning and Response System of the European Union is a tool with restricted access for monitoring public health threats in the EU. Access and posting are confidential and only accessed by ECDC, the Member States and the Directorate General Health and Food Safety (SANTE).

The European Surveillance System (TESSy)

This page describes who has the right, and how to access and use data from TESSy.
Page last updated 25 Feb 2020

More about the topic

Surveillance and disease data

Looking for the latest data on diseases under EU surveillance, tools or case definitions? Find them here

ECDC activities on surveillance

Indicator-based surveillance is the systematic ongoing collection, analysis, interpretation and dissemination of highly structured information (‘indicators’) for public health action.