Abstract

COVID -19 demonstrated the value of comprehensive, adaptable and scalable surveillance systems for infectious disease prevention and control. In Australia, surveillance plans and systems – co-designed by multi-disciplinary teams from public health, epidemiology and data analytics and modelling – provided decision makers with invaluable intelligence to support the response. Existing approaches to respiratory pathogen surveillance, such as community testing, were rapidly scaled up at the beginning of the pandemic to support isolation and contact tracing activities. And enhanced or new surveillance activities and associated data analysis pipelines were developed to provide enhanced situational awareness, supporting strategic decision making. In this presentation, I will describe how the unprecedented circumstances of the COVID -19 pandemic revealed both strengths and weaknesses in traditional surveillance systems and associated planning processes and reporting mechanisms. I will highlight were additional research, stronger engagement with experts in infectious disease dynamics, and cross-sector collaboration can drive improved outcomes in infectious disease prevention and control.