The data platform should be ready in the next few weeks. It will enable researchers to access pandemic data.
The Covid data platform commissioned by Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) from Gesundheit Österreich GmbH (GÖG) is to be implemented in the next few weeks. Anschober writes on Twitter that the Advisory Board has now been set up to oversee the implementation and release of the tool. He reports to Maria Kletečka-Pulker, from the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute (LBI) for Digital Health and Patient Safety.
For scientific purposes
The data of the epidemiological reporting system (EMS) should be anonymously accessible via the platform for scientific purposes. The EMS registers people who develop a notifiable disease such as Covid-19 in order to better monitor and fight such infections in Austria, according to the website of the Ministry of Social Affairs.
While access to this data is standard for scientists in other countries such as Italy and Spain, such data sets for research are currently missing in Austria. In an open letter, for example, scientists wrote to Anschober and asked for the EMS data to be released.
This is an English translation of a press release published in German on 14.05.2020.