A Report on Statistics of an Online Self-screening Platform for COVID-۱۹ and Its Effectiveness in Iran

BackgroundThe most recent emerging infectious disease, coronavirus disease ۲۰۱۹ (COVID-۱۹), is pandemic now. Iran is a country with community transmission of the disease. Telehealth tools have been proved to be useful in controlling public health disasters. We developed an online self-screening platform to offer a population-wide strategy to control the massive influx to medical centers. MethodsWe developed a platform operating based on given history by participants, including sex, age, weight, height, location, primary symptoms and signs, and high risk past medical histories. Based on a decision-making algorithm, participants were categorized into four levels of suspected cases, requiring diagnostic tests, supportive care, not suspected cases. We made comparisons with Iran STEPs (STEPwise approach to Surveillance) ۲۰۱۶ study and data from the Statistical Centre of Iran to assess population representativeness of data. Also, we made a comparison with officially confirmed cases to investigate the effectiveness of the platform. A multilevel mixed-effects Poisson regression was used to check the association of visiting platform and deaths caused by COVID-۱۹. ResultsAbout ۳۱۰ ۰۰۰ individuals participated in the online self-screening platform in ۳۳ days. The majority of participants were in younger age groups, and males involved more. A significant number of participants were screened not to be suspected or needing supportive care, and only ۱۰.۴% of males and ۱۲.۰% of females had suspected results of COVID-۱۹. The penetration of the platform was assessed to be acceptable. A correlation coefficient of ۰.۵۱ was calculated between suspected results and confirmed cases of the disease, expressing the platform’s effectiveness. ConclusionImplementation of a proper online self-screening tool can mitigate population panic during wide-spread epidemics and relieve massive influx to medical centers. Also, an evidence-based education platform can help fighting infodemic. Noticeable utilization and verified effectiveness of such platform validate the potency of telehealth tools in controlling epidemics and pandemics.

کلیدواژه ها:

COVID-۱۹ ، Self-screening ، Epidemics ، Iran ، Public Health