Urupare ki te KOWHEORI-19 / COVID-19 Response
COVID-19 health intelligence services
ESR is currently providing national and international health intelligence to the Ministry and the wider health sector about the global pandemic of COVID-19.
The more we know about COVID-19, the better equipped New Zealand is to fight the pandemic, so we have a broad range of experts from scientists to researchers, virologists and data pros working on COVID-19.
Here’s a look at how we’re involved in the COVID-19 response.
- Diagnostic lab testing to confirm COVID-19 – exclusively for samples sent by medical professionals from New Zealand and the South Pacific.
- Sequencing the genome of positive COVID-19 samples(external link).
- Surveillance planning and wastewater testing(external link).
- Risk assessment and epidemiological analyses to inform national and local decision making
- Monitor the performance of testing regimes and processes
- Explore the need to change testing strategies when necessary
- Assist diagnostic laboratories to set up their own testing service
- Data and intelligence – we set up and manage the national results repository(external link)
- Automation of health intelligence data streams
- Informatics such as interactive dashboards(external link)
- Modelling and research
- COVID-19 Wastewater Result Dashboard(external link)
ESR maintains the end-to-end system for testing, validating, analysing and reporting on COVID-19, and we are stewards of national public health data on current cases. We have been conducting research across several disciplines – from genome sequencing, saliva testing, wastewater testing, and environmental swabbing, to COVID-19 testing.
The latest COVID-19 heath advice can be found on the Ministry of Health webpage.(external link)
COVID-19 intelligence dashboard
The dashboard provides a wealth of information for the public and the Ministry of Health on COVID-19 cases
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COVID-19 research and services
ESR has been conducting research across several disciplines
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Enhancing national surveillance
ESR is working closely with the Ministry of Health to enhance communicable disease surveillance for COVID-19.
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