Publication details
Data sharing system describing the COVID-19 epidemic in the Czech Republic
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| Year of publication | 2021 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| Citation | |
| Description | At the time when the COVID-19 pandemic began to pose a dramatic threat to the Czech Republic, a team of experts from the Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic (IHIS CR) and the Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses at the Faculty of Medicine of the Masaryk University (IBA FM MU), under the methodical guidance of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, focused on the design and development of conceptual processing and publication of data. With regard to characteristics of data on the COVID-19 epidemic, it is obviously not possible to publish primary records that are kept in central databases, mainly due to personal data protection as well as the provision of valid and correctly interpreted information. This contribution aims to introduce a comprehensive system of data preparation, processing and visualisation, which is intended for the general public, media, and academic institutions as well as for crisis management. A detailed knowledge of methodical processes employed in epidemiology and healthcare provision is of key importance, and the same applies for the know-how needed for an effective data analysis and the development of software tools. In practice, an interconnection of various teams and specialties has been achieved, namely regional and national methodology specialists in data collection from the Regional Public Health Authorities, specialists reporting positive records, developers of central registries, analysts, developers of web applications, the central management team of the COVID-19 epidemic, and the leadership of the healthcare department. All these efforts have led to regular reporting on the epidemiological situation in the Czech Republic, which consists of static presentations including data sources, online visualisation platforms, open data sets and a secure application programming interface for data distribution on the level of individual regions. All static and interactive reports have been built on the same data basis, which has been continuously developed according to current requirements and the changing epidemiological situation. Open data have indisputably the biggest potential for the future, as they offer a standardised way of either machine-based or manual processing. The entire system of publishing data on the COVID-19 epidemic strives to provide comprehensive and correct information to the above-mentioned target audience. |