Screening & Risk Assessment of Healthcare Workers & Infection Control in University & COVID-19 Quarantine Hospitals

A prospective investigation and screening of all HCWs working in all governmental university hospitals and the affiliated COVID-19 quarantine hospitals using an online survey and laboratory testing using rapid serological tests and PCR. To date, the Ministry of Higher Education has dedicated quarantine hospitals at the following governmental universities: Ain Shams, Cairo, Helwan, Alexandria, Mansoura, Assiut, Minia. This list may be expanded in the future. The project will be pilot tested in Ain Shams University, then extended to other universities subsequently. For risk categorization of HCWs exposed to COVID-19 virus and assessment of infection control needs, an online survey questionnaire will be administered to all HCWs in the governmental university hospitals involved in emergency and intensive care and in the provision of care for COVID-19 patients in the affiliated COVID-19 quarantine hospitals. For confirmation of infection and determination of the secondary infection rate, paired serological samples at baseline and after exposure will be collected. For measuring the validity of the available rapid serological tests, a respiratory sample will be taken for viral detection by RT-PCR. A real-time interactive map using geographical information system programming will be developed to flag hotspots for HCWs' risk and infection control needs that originated from the online survey risk categorization in governmental university and COVID-19 quarantine hospitals. Policy and decision makers will use the map to manage emergency healthcare resource mobilization based on HCWs' risk and infection control needs.