RESEARCH PAPER SERIES, 2019–20   27 May 2020

Australian and international case reporting and select resources on COVID-19: a quick guide

Rebecca Storen

Social Policy

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a quickly evolving situation that has seen a huge amount of information become rapidly available. CaseThis influx of information makes it difficult to keep up to date and identify the most reliable sources, especially given the pandemic’s impact has been and continues to be much broader than its immediate public health effects.

This quick guide provides annotated links to a select number of national and international reports on COVID-19 that are regularly updated, with a primary focus on case reporting for Australia and the twenty countries with the highest number of COVID-19 cases as at the end of May 2020. It also identifies a select number of organisations that provide additional resources and analysis on the international response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This quick guide is one of a number of publications on COVID-19 by the Parliamentary Library.

1 Australian COVID-19 reporting and response

Australian Government

The Australian Government’s website on Coronavirus (COVID-19) for the general public includes information such as:

• health alerts and advice

• restrictions and safety advice

• business and employer information

• financial support

• support for individuals, families, and communities

• education and child care information and

• state and territory government information.

The Department of Health provides a national overview of the current situation, which is updated daily. This includes the current status of confirmed cases (e.g. people recovered), the number of tests conducted in each state and territory, and cases in aged care services by location. In addition to this, the Department of Health also has a wide range of health-specific information on
COVID-19, such as weekly epidemiology reports and information on the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC). The AHPPC is made up of all state and territory Chief Health Officers and is chaired by the Australian Chief Medical Officer, with one of its roles being to advise on mitigating emerging health threats related to infectious diseases.

State and territory government reporting information

Each state and territory government has COVID-19 case information and details of its policy responses on its website. The information available includes restriction measures that are in force and policy initiatives that are being implemented to support the population or a sub-section of the population in that specific jurisdiction. Table 1 provides links to this regularly updated information.

Table 1: links to state and territory government COVID-19 case information and responses

State/territory

COVID-19 case information and government website

Australian Capital Territory

ACT Government COVID-19 Dashboard

ACT Government COVID-19 website

New South Wales

NSW COVID-19 case statistics

NSW Government COVID-19 information

Northern Territory

NT COVID-19 current status

NT Government COVID-19 website

Queensland

Queensland COVID-19 statistics

Queensland Government COVID-19 information

South Australia

SA Government Dashboard and daily update

SA Government COVID-19 website

Tasmania

Tasmanian Government cases and testing updates

Tasmanian Government Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) website

Victoria

Coronavirus COVID-19 in Victoria dashboard

Victorian Government Coronavirus information

Western Australia

WA COVID-19 statistics

WA Government COVID-19 coronavirus information

Collation of government responses in Australia

The Parliamentary Library has published an overview of the COVID-19 roles and responsibilities of Australian Public Service departments and agencies, which is available from the Parliamentary Library’s ‘COVID-19 publications and resources’ webpage. This page contains links to Library publications and other Australian and international parliamentary information.

The Grattan Institute’s ‘coronavirus announcements tracker’ provides a record of Commonwealth and state and territory government policy announcements in response to COVID-19.

2 International and global COVID-19 reporting and responses

Global reporting and resources

Health and other impacts

World Health Organization

The WHO provides a global overview of COVID-19, which includes daily situation reports, technical guidance and public communication material. Its dashboard has interactive tools that allow users to explore the data for different countries, territories and areas. In addition, the global data is available for download, which provides a day-to-day update (since the first reported case) by country.

The WHO has also created a database on the global literature on coronavirus disease, which is regularly updated. As at 25 May, this database included almost 20,000 full-text articles. Hyperlinks are also provided to other organisations that have made COVID-19 literature readily available, for example, The Lancet and Science.

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control

The ECDC provides COVID-19 public health information, risk assessments and advice to European Union member states and the EU Commission. Information is readily available on its website and includes preparedness publications and global situation updates.

Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University has developed the Coronavirus Resource Centre, which includes the global dashboard and critical trend articles on the global and United States situations.

Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, University of Oxford

The CEBM has developed the Oxford COVID-19 Evidence Service that provides rapid evidence reviews, data analysis, and commentary on the COVID-19 pandemic.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

The LSHTM has produced a series of resources on the COVID-19 pandemic, which includes an interactive tool on COVID-19 vaccine development.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UNESCO has published information on the COVID-19 impact on education, which includes the global monitoring of school closures due to COVID-19.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

The UNHCR’s ‘COVID-19 situation’ webpage includes information on the impact of COVID-19 on refugees. This includes global, regional and country updates.

ACAPS

ACAPS (formerly the Assessment Capacities Project) is a non-profit project of a consortium of Save the Children and the Norwegian Refugee Council. It has published a number of resources on the COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on the secondary effects in the immediate to medium-term, such as the impact on humanitarian operations and anticipated challenges for specific countries.

Policy responses

International Monetary Fund

The IMF has compiled information on the global policy response to COVID-19 that summarises the key economic responses by governments and includes 193 economies.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

The OECD has compiled information on the global response to COVID-19, which includes the policy response of most countries through its Country Policy Tracker.

Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford

The Blavatnik School of Government has produced the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker, with the aim of tracking and comparing worldwide government responses in a consistent and rigorous manner. To achieve this, the project group has identified a series of indicators that allow each country’s response to be compared. However, it does not measure the effectiveness or appropriateness of a country’s response.

School of Management, Yale

The Program on Financial Stability at the Yale School of Management has compiled and published information on the response by governments around the world to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the COVID-19 Financial Response Tracker.

International case reporting

Most countries that have reported cases of COVID-19 have some form of publicly available case information. Table 2 provides a list of countries with the highest number of reported cases as identified by the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 Dashboard (as at 27 May 2020) and links to each country’s case reporting information. The twenty countries are listed from highest to lowest reported case numbers.

Table 2: links to case information for the twenty countries with the highest number of reported COVID-19 cases (as at 27 May 2020)

Country

COVID-19 case information

Confirmed COVID-19 cases (27 May 2020)*

United States

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): cases, data and surveillance

1 676 401

Brazil

Ministry of Health
Coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemiological bulletins

374 898

Russia

Ministry of Health
COVID-19 distribution map

362 342

United Kingdom

UK Government
Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the UK data dashboard

266 590

Spain

Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare
Novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19: current situation

236 259

Italy

Ministry of Health
COVID-19 situation in Italy

230 555

France

French Government
COVID-19 maps and data

182 847

Germany

Robert Koch Institute
COVID-19: case numbers in Germany and worldwide

181 189

Turkey

Turkish Government
COVID-19 current situation

158 762

India

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
COVID-19 India

150 793

Iran

Islamic World Science Citation Center
See also COVID-19 visualizer

139 511

Peru

Ministry of Health
Peru COVID-19 situation room

123 979

Canada

Government of Canada
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): outbreak update

88 057

China

National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China
Daily briefings

84 102

Chile

Ministry of Health
Confirmed cases in Chile COVID-19

77 961

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Center for Disease Prevention and Control
Covid-19 Disease Interactive Dashboard

76 726

Mexico

Mexican Government
International and national information about new Coronavirus (COVID-19)

71 105

Pakistan

National Institute of Health
COVID-19

57 705

Belgium

Belgian Institute for Health
COVID-19

57 455

Qatar

Ministry of Public Health
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

47 207

*the confirmed COVID-19 case numbers are taken from the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard as at 27 May 2020 at 8:30 am (AEST). At this time, Australia had reported 7,132 cases.

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