Update on Long COVID management

• Have there been any major changes in your country following your possible original response in early 2022 (29 REF) when it comes to existing or planned processes for coordinated management of care for long COVID patients in your country?
• Specifically, do these processes also relate to tools for (differential) diagnosis / symptom screening for clinicians, and standardised treatment pathways for long COVID patients?
• In addition, could you briefly describe how your country organises the treatment/management of long COVID patients? Specifically, are there specialised clinics/departments/centres and are these clinics stand-alone entities or part of larger institutions such as hospitals or primary care centres?
• Does your country have a registry of Long COVID patients?

Digitalisation - going from a paper death certificate to an (100%) electronic death certificate

• Could you describe the dataflow, from the source filling in the death certificate to the final destination (statistical institute or others)? The different stages through which a death certificate passes would be of interest.
• If necessary, could you describe the process of making this transition between paper registration and electronic registration? What were the specific periods & phases? Have you planned a hybrid situation (paper/electronic) or an exit from the paper system and a direct transition to electronics?
• Have you implemented direct cause-of-death coding using ICD-10 codes in the registration tool or does the doctor have to type? If you implemented direct ICD-10 coding in the tool, who set it up and is there still manual code checking? Does it contain a kind of decision tree to fill it out/to avoid obvious errors?
• Is there a real time use of this digital data? And if not, have you planned a direct use of the data in case of epidemiological emergencies (such as COVID-19).

​​​​​​Vaccine priorites and trials addressing public health needs

• Which of the following issues have the highest public health priority in your country in relation to future COVID-19 vaccination strategy and vaccine trials: Vaccine efficacy, vaccine development, specific populations, or any other?
• Is there any example in your country of COVID-19 vaccine trials that are addressing public health needs?

Upcoming school and kindergarten year 2022/23

With regard to the upcoming school and kindergarten year and as follow-up to the situation in 2021:

• Are there still mandatory measures in place or only voluntary initiatives? Are voluntary measures publicly supported?
• If there are mandatory measures in place or planned for autumn/winter season what is foreseen in regard to quarantine / mask wearing / testing strategy in schools and kindergartens?

Cost-effectiveness of vaccines and NPIs

• What kind of research are you developing in terms of the cost-evectiveness of vaccines and non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) in your country?
• In the past since start of the pandemic, has existing evidence on cost-effectiveness of interventions already factored into political decision-making (if so, please provide details)? For future strategies on NPIs in your country, is evidence on cost-effectiveness forseen to play a role (if so, please provide details)?
• Will it be sustainable economically to keep vaccination to the entire population? Will there be priority groups as forseen in your country?

Healthcare workforce conditions before and since the pandemic

In your country, what were

• the average hours worked per week by doctors/nurses before the pandemic vs. now?
• the average monthly salary of doctors/nurses before the pandemic vs. now?

If possible, please provide separate answers for both:

• doctors/nurses in hospitals and
• doctors/nurses in the outpatient sector

COVID-19 deaths and mortality statistics

• In your country, are deaths where COVID-19 is reported as a contributory cause of death and not as underlying cause of death also included in mortality statistics reported to ECDC?
• What definition is currently used in your country to report COVID-19 deaths?
• If a person dies suddenly or of unknown cause or external cause of death and requires an autopsy, is a test for COVID-19 carried out post-mortem?
• In reporting mortality statistics due to COVID-19, are all COVID-19 deaths (community + nursing homes + hospital) included or just hospital deaths?
• Does a COVID-19 death require a positive laboratory diagnosis or is clinical diagnosis sufficient?

Comparing the European COVID-19 situation at the beginning of Summer 2020 and 2021 with Summer 2022

• Is the current overall COVID-19 situation in your country similar to that at the beginning of the two previous Summer seasons (2020 and 2021), or are there clear differences?
• Have the expectations expressed in last summer seasons regarding the European pandemic status in the Summer of 2022 come true, or has the situation developed differently from what was expected?
• What do you expect for the 2022 Autumn season?

Protecting vulnerable groups

• Is your country currently taking any actions to protect vulnerable groups (i.e. groups who are, due to their own health status, highly susceptible to severe COVID-19)? For example, if no obligatory mouth nose protection needs to be worn, are there e.g. specific train compartments where masks are worn or similar measures?
• How do you define vulnerable groups? (Are these primarily groups who define themselves as vulnerable or are defined as vulnerable based on existing evidence?)

National public vaccination plans

• Do you have a publicly funded plan with recommended vaccinations (for everyone or only for kids)? If yes, please provide the link if it is published.
• In the light of Chickenpox and Diphtheria, are there any plans to update publicly funded vaccination plan? For which disease(s) and for which age-cohort?
• If not, when did the last update take place in regard to which disease or booster jab?