Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) technical guidance by WHO Household transmission investigation protocol | Page 12

Once a case of COVID-19 infection has been identified and recruited into the investigation, a home visit will need to be conducted to identify all eligible household contacts; to collect relevant sociodemographic and clinical information; and to allow molecular confirmation of secondary infections and establish baseline antibody status (or at a minimum to collect serum to test seroprevalence once serology capacity is available). Follow-up would occur as described in the case investigation algorithm (see Fig. 2). 2.4.2 Use of the Go.Data tool Go.Data is an electronic field data-collection tool that has been designed to be used by WHO, the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) (16), Member States and partners, to support and facilitate outbreak investigation including field data collection, contact tracing and visualization of chains of transmission (17). The tool includes functionality for case and contact data collection, contact follow-up and visualization of chains of transmission. It has two components: a web application and an optional mobile app. The tool is targeted at any outbreak responders, including WHO staff, and staff from ministries of health and partner institutions. Go.Data can be used to run a household contact investigation. Key features of the Go.Data software include (for more details and screen shots, please refer to Appendix C):  it is open source and free for use with no licensing costs;  it offers different types of operation (server or stand-alone) on different platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac);  it allows for data collection from cases and contacts, including laboratory data;  it is not built for a specific disease or specific country; it is highly configurable, with configurable reference, outbreak and location data;  one Go.Data installation can be used to collect data for many outbreaks;  it provides multilingual support, with the possibility to add and manage additional languages though the user interface;  it allows granular user roles and permissions, including the possibility to provide user access at outbreak level;  outbreak templates are included for easier creation of outbreak data-collection forms;  it generates a contact follow-up list and visualizes chains of transmission;  users with appropriate rights can configure the case investigation form, contact follow-up form and laboratory data-collection form; and  it has an optional mobile app (Android and iOS) focused on case and contact data collection and contact tracing and follow-up. The standardized household contact questionnaires are available in Go.Data for country use, adaptation, and, if needed, translation into local language. Several options are available for Go.Data hosting in countries (see Appendix C). For further information contact: [email protected] or visit https://www.who.int/godata (19). -12-