Establishment of a hospital-based health care workers surveillance programme to keep them safe during the COVID-19 pandemic

摘要

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a highly transmissible virus, mak- ing hospitals potential loci for outbreaks and placing health care workers (HCWs) at risk of acquir- ing the infection. The high demand for hospital care and the associated morbidity and mortality in the early phases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the urgent need to protect the safety and health of HCWs. With over 15.7 million cases [1], countries worldwide are cur- rently in different stages of COVID-19 transmission. Countries are gradually re-opening their economies and easing large-scale restrictive public health measures. However, there remains clusters of cases in high vulnerability locations such as in the health care setting [2]. Therefore, it remains salient to protect the hospital community from being a COVID-19 transmission hub. In April, 22073 cases of COVID-19 among HCWs from 52 countries were reported to the World Health Organiza- tion [3]. In June, it was estimated that 7% of all infections worldwide were among HCWs [4]. As of July, Italy, a nation particularly affected by the epidemic, had alone reported more than 29800 infections among HCWs, amounting to 12% of all infections [5], further crippling a health care sys- tem under duress.