China CDC: China has initially established a multi-channel infectious disease surveillance system

During a special press conference held on March 16 by the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments, Dr. Chang Zhaorui, a researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), stated that China has initially established a multi-channel infectious disease surveillance system, which helps to timely and effectively grasp the trend of epidemics.

Dr. Chang Zhaorui introduced that the National Health Commission and the National Health Commission have closely cooperated to strengthen the coordination between medical treatment and prevention, share monitoring information from medical institutions, and carry out case reporting and sentinel hospital monitoring. This has initially formed a multi-channel infectious disease surveillance system that takes into account both normal and emergency situations, imported and domestic cases, urban and rural areas, as well as the general population and key populations. The country will continue to optimize and improve the multi-channel surveillance system, carry out monitoring and early warning for infectious diseases such as COVID-19 and influenza, and strengthen the analysis of epidemic situations and trend predictions.

Dr. Chang Zhaorui, Researcher at China CDC: Firstly, multiple departments will strengthen the monitoring of imported cases and new variants, as well as the regular monitoring of key places and key populations. Secondly, a multidisciplinary team of experts will be improved to conduct rapid risk assessments for viral variants and abnormal epidemic signals, conducting verification, assessment, and early warning simultaneously to enhance response timeliness. Thirdly, the infectious disease network reporting system will continue to play a fundamental role in epidemic prevention and control. It will implement the reporting responsibilities of medical and health institutions and the first diagnosis responsibility, urging all levels of medical and health institutions to report epidemic information lawfully, timely, accurately, and completely. In line with the needs of prevention and control work, the infectious disease network reporting function will be improved, and the reporting module for relevant monitoring data will be enriched to enhance the informatization and intelligence level of data collection.