Coronavirus: New global surveillance system tracks virus outbreaks, how fast it’s moving

A new global surveillance system is allowing users to track where the novel coronavirus is, where it is going and how fast it will arrive and if that speed is accelerating.

The new dashboard released on Thursday in 195 countries is available on Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine’s website. Officials hope the dashboard will help answer questions such as:

Are there fewer new COVID-19 cases per day than the previous week? Are the number of new cases declining day-to-day and is the day-to-day decline in the number of cases bigger than the previous week?

“Now we can easily identify outbreaks at their beginning,” said Lori Post, the co-lead investigator and director of the Buehler Center for Health Policy and Economics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “You want to know where the pandemic is accelerating, how fast it is moving and how that compares to prior weeks.”

Northwestern said the new surveillance system can “help U.S. embassies and missions support partnering countries to formulate and implement policies that mitigate COVID-19 or adverse outcomes such as food insecurity, and understand which policies are working best.”

To view the new dashboard and the latest data, click here.

Cox Media Group