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- Page navigation anchor for RE: Open Access COVID-19 line list data and an interactive map for the Indochina and South East Asia regionsRE: Open Access COVID-19 line list data and an interactive map for the Indochina and South East Asia regions
Since the beginning SARS-CoV-2 in December, it has created a tidal wave of data for scientists, experts, and policymakers to utilize in the fight against the virus. In these tough times, it has proven that the right to access to public data is now more critical than ever as it can be an essential tool for crafting data-driven responses, allotting resources, and assessing the effectiveness of intervention policies.
John Hopkins University is the pioneer in the COVID-19 data sharing initiative when providing up-to-date COVID-19 cases data at national and subnational since January. It has helped researchers, public health authorities, and the general public to keep track of the pandemic as it unfolds [1]. However, the data provided by JHU, along with many other sources, i.e., European CDC [2], are over-aggregated at the national level which could conceal significant local and regional variation, omit insights for inter-nation comparisons given the vast social, demographic, and economic differences in the world [3].
On this ground, multiple researchers have created publicly available un-aggregated COVID-19 cases data, such as [4] for China and [5] for Canada, and this has allowed others to explore and uncover new understandings, create an ecosystem of collaborators across the globe. Nonetheless, line list data are still rarely available openly and difficult to access in real-time during an outbreak, especially in developing countries and regions.
When the...
Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared.References
- Dong, E., H. Du, and L. Gardner, An Interactive Web-based Dashboard to Track COVID-19 in Real-time. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2020. 20(5): p. 533-534.
- European CDC, Data On the Geographic Distribution of COVID-19 Cases Worldwide, E.C.f.D.P.a. Control, Editor. 2020.
- Balsari, S., C. Buckee, and T. Khanna, Which Covid-19 Data Can You Trust? Harvard Business Review, 2020.
- Xu, B., et al., Open Access Epidemiological Data from the COVID-19 Outbreak. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2020. 20(5): p. 534.
- Isha Berry, Jean-Paul R. Soucy, Ashleigh Tuite, et al. Open access epidemiologic data and an interactive dashboard to monitor the COVID-19 outbreak in Canada. CMAJ 2020;192:E420-E420.