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Methodology
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Background: With the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), an existing national laboratory based surveillance system was adapted to daily monitor the epidemiological situation of SARS-CoV-2 in the Belgium by following the number of confirmed COVID-19 infections, the number of performed tests and the positivity ratio. We present these main indicators of the surveillance over a one-year period as well as the impact of the performance of the laboratories, regarding speed of processing the samples and reporting results, for surveillance.
Methods: We describe the evolution of test capacity, testing strategy and the data collection methods during the first year of the epidemic in Belgium.
Results: Between the 1th of March 2020 and the 28th of February 2021, 9,487,470 tests and 773,078 COVID-19 laboratory confirmed cases were reported. Two epidemic waves occurred, with a peak in April and October 2020. The capacity and performance of the laboratories improved continuously during 2020 resulting in a high level performance. Since the end of November 2020 90 to 95% of test results are reported at the latest the day after sampling was performed.
Conclusions: Thanks to the effort of all laboratories a performant exhaustive national laboratory based surveillance system to monitor the epidemiological situation of SARS-CoV-2 was set up in Belgium in 2020. On top of expanding the number of laboratories performing diagnostics and significantly increasing the test capacity in Belgium, turnaround times between sampling and testing as well as reporting were optimized over the first year of this pandemic.
Keywords
COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Belgium, Laboratory based surveillance
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This is a list of supplementary files associated with this preprint. Click to download.
- Additionalfile1.xls
Title of data: Turnaround time between sampling and test result Description of data: Weekly number of tests with a test result within different timeframes after the date of sampling.
- Additionalfile2.xls
Title of data: Turnaround time between test result and reporting Description of data: Weekly number of tests with the reporting of the test result to the healthdata.be platform of Sciensano within different timeframes after the date of the test result.
- Additionalfile3.xls
Title of data: Turnaround time between sampling and reporting Description of data: Weekly number of tests with the reporting of the test result to the healthdata.be platform of Sciensano within different timeframes after the date of sampling.
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CURRENT STATUS: Under Review
Version 1
Posted 19 Apr, 2021
No community comments so far
Editorial decision: Major Revision
On 02 Jul, 2021
Review #2 received
Received 27 Jun, 2021
Review #1 received
Received 26 Jun, 2021
Reviews received
Received 08 Jun, 2021
Reviewer #2 agreed
On 07 Jun, 2021
Reviewer #1 agreed
On 07 Jun, 2021
Reviewers invited
Invitations sent on 17 Apr, 2021
Editor assigned
On 13 Apr, 2021
Submission checks complete
On 13 Apr, 2021
Editor invited
On 13 Apr, 2021
First submitted
On 12 Apr, 2021
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A new preprint design is coming!
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This preprint is under consideration at Archives of Public Health. A preprint is a preliminary version of a manuscript that has not completed peer review at a journal. Research Square does not conduct peer review prior to posting preprints. The posting of a preprint on this server should not be interpreted as an endorsement of its validity or suitability for dissemination as established information or for guiding clinical practice.
Learn more about In Review
Methodology
Badges
Prescreen
This manuscript passed our Prescreen assessment
Complete author information
Appropriate declaration statements
Potential risks to human health
Prescreen
Peer Review Timeline
CURRENT STATUS: Under Review
Version 1
Posted 19 Apr, 2021
No community comments so far
Editorial decision: Major Revision
On 02 Jul, 2021
Review #2 received
Received 27 Jun, 2021
Review #1 received
Received 26 Jun, 2021
Reviews received
Received 08 Jun, 2021
Reviewer #2 agreed
On 07 Jun, 2021
Reviewer #1 agreed
On 07 Jun, 2021
Reviewers invited
Invitations sent on 17 Apr, 2021
Editor assigned
On 13 Apr, 2021
Submission checks complete
On 13 Apr, 2021
Editor invited
On 13 Apr, 2021
First submitted
On 12 Apr, 2021
Metrics
Comments: 0
PDF Downloads: ...
HTML Views: ...
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Background: With the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), an existing national laboratory based surveillance system was adapted to daily monitor the epidemiological situation of SARS-CoV-2 in the Belgium by following the number of confirmed COVID-19 infections, the number of performed tests and the positivity ratio. We present these main indicators of the surveillance over a one-year period as well as the impact of the performance of the laboratories, regarding speed of processing the samples and reporting results, for surveillance.
Methods: We describe the evolution of test capacity, testing strategy and the data collection methods during the first year of the epidemic in Belgium.
Results: Between the 1th of March 2020 and the 28th of February 2021, 9,487,470 tests and 773,078 COVID-19 laboratory confirmed cases were reported. Two epidemic waves occurred, with a peak in April and October 2020. The capacity and performance of the laboratories improved continuously during 2020 resulting in a high level performance. Since the end of November 2020 90 to 95% of test results are reported at the latest the day after sampling was performed.
Conclusions: Thanks to the effort of all laboratories a performant exhaustive national laboratory based surveillance system to monitor the epidemiological situation of SARS-CoV-2 was set up in Belgium in 2020. On top of expanding the number of laboratories performing diagnostics and significantly increasing the test capacity in Belgium, turnaround times between sampling and testing as well as reporting were optimized over the first year of this pandemic.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
This is a list of supplementary files associated with this preprint. Click to download.
- Additionalfile1.xls
Title of data: Turnaround time between sampling and test result Description of data: Weekly number of tests with a test result within different timeframes after the date of sampling.
- Additionalfile2.xls
Title of data: Turnaround time between test result and reporting Description of data: Weekly number of tests with the reporting of the test result to the healthdata.be platform of Sciensano within different timeframes after the date of the test result.
- Additionalfile3.xls
Title of data: Turnaround time between sampling and reporting Description of data: Weekly number of tests with the reporting of the test result to the healthdata.be platform of Sciensano within different timeframes after the date of sampling.
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