Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemiology reports, Australia

Changes to COVID-19 epidemiology reporting

As the Australian Government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic has transitioned from emergency response to routine management, an opportunity has arisen to integrate and streamline the national surveillance and reporting of acute respiratory illnesses.

The Australian Respiratory Surveillance Report (ARSR) will be published fortnightly initially, presenting a national overview of acute viral respiratory infections in Australia, including COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), drawing information from several different surveillance systems. The ARSR aims to inform the public and a range of stakeholders on:

• the distribution of acute viral respiratory illness activity in the community
• the severity of disease
• which populations might be at risk severe disease
• the impact of acute viral respiratory illness on the community and health system in Australia.

The ARSR combines the previously separate COVID-19 in Australia Epidemiology Reports (published in Communicable Diseases Intelligence) and the Australian Influenza Surveillance Report and represents the first public national reporting on RSV epidemiology. Surveillance indicators presented in the ARSR are based on the Australian National Surveillance Plan for COVID-19, Influenza and RSV.