An outbreak response tool to effectively support surveillance of suspect, probable and confirmed incidence cases while staying safe in COVID-19

During the burst of the coronavirus pandemic, in early-midst 2020, public health authorities worldwide considered appropriate identification, isolation and contact tracing as the most appropriate strategy for infection containment. This work presents an outbreak response tool, designed for public health authorities to effectively track suspect, probable and confirmed incidence cases in a pandemic by means of a mobile app used by citizens to provide immediate feedback. It is developed based on an already existing personal health record app, which has been extended to properly accommodate specific needs that emerged during the crisis. The aim is to better support human tracers and should not be confused with proximity tracking apps. It respects safety and security regulations, while at the same time it conforms to international standards and widely accepted medical protocols. Issues relevant to privacy concerns, and interoperability with available patient registries and data analytics tools are also examined to better support public healthcare delivery and contain the spread of the infection.