Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) technical guidance by WHO Household transmission investigation protocol | Page 13

2.4.3 Follow-up of cases and contacts
For the purposes of this investigation, data and specimens will be collected through home visits from
cases and household contacts on the day of recruitment (Day 1), followed by home visits on Day 7,
Day 14 and Day 28 if possible.
COMMENT: For surveillance, follow-up needs to be more frequent. The specimen collection
schedule for the household transmission investigation described here, is added on top of normal
follow-up of contacts.
For cases, data will be collected using Form 1A for the first visit, followed by Forms 2, 3 and 4. For
contacts, data will be collected using Form 1B for the first visit, followed by Forms 2, 3 and 4 (see
Table 1 and Fig. 3).
Symptom diaries (template available in Appendix A of this protocol) will be provided for all
household contacts to complete for a minimum of 14 days, and up to 28 days, after the
administration of the baseline questionnaire, to record the presence or absence of various signs or
symptoms. A proxy may fill out the symptom diaries on behalf of those unable to complete the form
themselves.
Any household contact with clinical symptoms within 14 days of the last exposure/contact with the
primary case should be considered as a symptomatic contact and so a possible/suspected case, and
therefore managed as such.
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