TY - JOUR AU - Suthar, Amitabh AU - Schubert, Sara AU - Garon, Julie AU - Couture, Alexia AU - Brown, Amy AU - Charania, Sana T1 - Coronavirus Disease Case Definitions, Diagnostic Testing Criteria, and Surveillance in 25 Countries with Highest Reported Case Counts T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2022 VL - 28 IS - 1 SP - 148 SN - 1080-6059 AB - We compared case definitions for suspected, probable, and confirmed coronavirus disease (COVID-19), as well as diagnostic testing criteria, used in the 25 countries with the highest reported case counts as of October 1, 2020. Of the identified countries, 56% followed World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations for using a combination of clinical and epidemiologic criteria as part of the suspected case definition. A total of 75% of identified countries followed WHO recommendations on using clinical, epidemiologic, and diagnostic criteria for probable cases; 72% followed WHO recommendations to use PCR testing to confirm COVID-19. Finally, 64% of countries used testing eligibility criteria at least as permissive as WHO. We observed marked heterogeneity in testing eligibility requirements and in how countries define a COVID-19 case. This heterogeneity affects the ability to compare case counts, transmission, and vaccine effectiveness, as well as estimates derived from case surveillance data across countries. KW - COVID-19 KW - coronavirus disease KW - SARS-CoV-2 KW - severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 KW - viruses KW - respiratory infections KW - zoonoses DO - 10.3201/eid2801.211082 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/28/1/21-1082_article ER - End of Reference