key: cord-0844259-nhdx944g
authors: Tanno, Luciana Kase; Casale, Thomas; Demoly, Pascal
title: CORONAVIRUS DISEASE (COVID)-19: WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION DEFINITIONS AND CODING TO SUPPORT THE ALLERGY COMMUNITY AND HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
date: 2020-05-11
journal: J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract
DOI: 10.1016/j.jaip.2020.05.002
sha: eb6101996e199bff9314730bb5c4ebd9bb235bf8
doc_id: 844259
cord_uid: nhdx944g

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The first and last authors contributed to the construction of the document (designed the 31 study, analysed and interpreted the data, and wrote the manuscript). All the authors critically 32 revised and approved the final version of the manuscript and agree to be accountable for all 33 the aspects of the work.

Key words: allergy, coronavirus, COVID-19, e-health, hypersensitivity, treatment, prevention, 

However, the concern is higher in low-and middle-income countries, where the health 88 resources are limited.

Although there is still no specific treatment to the COVID-19, knowledge in the field is 

There is no doubt that specific actions have been proven to be essential to prevent the 

In order to support governmental bodies, healthcare professionals, and monitoring 110 systems, the WHO issued and updates periodically the Global Surveillance for human infection 111 with COVID-19 document (10), which includes case definitions for easy reference as described 112 in Table 1 .

For confirmed asymptomatic cases, the period of contact is measured as the 2 days 114 before through the 14 days after the date on which the sample was taken, which led to 115 confirmation. Although there are reports that the upper limit can be extended for more days 116 (11), the parameter of 14 days is used officially by the WHO. Since the content of this 117 document is based on the WHO statements, we kept 14 days as the upper limit.

Recently, the WHO Classification and Terminology Unit, proposed updates in the ICD-10 (12) 119 and ICD-11 (13) COVID-19 related situations classification and coding (Table 2 ). Since the 120 COVID-19 disease outbreak has been declared a public health emergency of international 121 concern, an emergency ICD-10 code of "U07.1 COVID-19, virus identified" is assigned to a 

World Health Organization, Collaborating Centres list website

We would like to dedicate this document to all colleagues and health professionals dedicating 197 Table 1 : Case definitions based on the World Health Organization oficial recommendations (10, adapted) (m = meters, ft = feet, min = minutes) A suspected case is defined when the patient fits one of the 3 situations:(I) Acute respiratory illness (fever and at least one sign/symptom of respiratory disease, e.g., cough, shortness of breath), AND a history of travel to or residence in a location reporting community transmission of COVID-19 during the 14 days prior to symptom onset; (II) Acute respiratory illness AND contact with a confirmed or probable COVID-19 case in the last 14 days prior to symptom onset; (III) Acute respiratory illness (fever and at least one sign/symptom of respiratory disease, e.g., cough, shortness of breath; AND requiring hospitalization) AND in the absence of an alternative diagnosis that fully explains the clinical presentation. A probable case is defined when the patient fits one of the 2 situations:(I) A suspected case for whom testing for the COVID-19 virus is inconclusive (inconclusive being the result of the test reported by the laboratory); (II) A suspect case for whom testing could not be performed for any reason. A confirmed case is determined as a person with laboratory confirmation of the COVID-19 infection following the WHO technical guidance for laboratory testing, irrespective of clinical signs and symptoms. Contact is defined as a person who experienced any one of the following exposures during the 2 days before and 14 days after the onset of symptoms of a probable or confirmed case:(I) Face-to-face contact with a probable or confirmed case within 1 m (or 3.28084 ft) and for more than 15 min (being in the same setting with the confirmed case without necessarily having direct physical contact); (II) Direct physical contact with probable or confirmed case (faceto-face contact with direct physical contact); (III) Direct care for patient with probable or confirmed COVID-19 disease without using proper personal protection equipment (prolonged direct physical contact with cases). (IV) Other situations as indicated by local risk assessment (e.g.:agglomerations in public settings, public transport). Symptomatic transmission refers to transmission from a person while symptoms and signs are present. Preliminary data suggest that individuals may be more contagious around the time of the symptom onset as compared to later on in the disease. Epidemiological and virology studies provide evidence that COVID-19 is primarily transmitted from symptomatic subjects to others who are in close contact through respiratory droplets, by direct contact with infected persons, or by contact with contaminated objects and surfaces. Pre-symptomatic transmission is the period between the exposure to the virus (becoming infected) and the onset of the symptoms in which the transmission can occur from an infected non-symptomatic subject. This period, also known as incubation period for COVID-19 is on average 5 to 6 days, but can be up to 14 days. Asymptomatic transmission refers to transmission of the virus from a person who does not develop symptoms. An asymptomatic laboratory confirmed case is a person infected with COVID-19 who does not develop symptoms. COVID-19 death is defined for surveillance purposes as a death resulting from a clinically compatible illness in a probable or confirmed COVID-19 case, unless there is a clear alternative cause of death that cannot be related to COVID disease (e.g.: trauma). There should be no period of complete recovery between the illness and death. In emergency situations codes are not always accessible in electronic systems. The specification of category U07 in the way it is done here will make sure this category and the subcategories are available in every electronic system at any time and that they can be used upon instruction by WHO, immediately.