Lessons learned from surveillance and contact tracing for COVID-19 in South-East Asia

Project Details

The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly challenged and disrupted communities, health systems, and health workers throughout the world. Surveillance and contact tracing are critical tools for infectious disease outbreak and epidemic response, but had never previously been applied at the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Countries took varied approaches to surveillance and contact tracing during the pandemic. This project reviewed the lessons learned regarding COVID-19 surveillance and contact tracing in the WHO South-East Asia region, including reviewing the performance and utility of digital technologies deployed to support surveillance and contact tracing.

Our work will assist WHO in strengthening preparedness and response to for future infectious disease outbreaks and pandemics in the South-East Asia region.

Researchers

Dr Melanie Bannister-Tyrrell

Dr Daniel Strachan

Ms Clare Strachan

Dr Anna Barrett

Dr Tiara Marthias

Ms Kirsty Teague

Collaborators

Dr Florian Vogt, Senior Research Fellow at the Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales

Funding

This project is funded by WHO

Research Publications

COVID 19 surveillance and contact tracing in the WHO South-East Asia Region Regional Review - January 2025