Standards Development

Scope

This document specifies the contact tracing of the confirmed cases of infectious diseases for a public health emergency (PHE) response. The scope of the document includes:

overview and general procedures of contact tracing requirements and privacy protection guidance in contact tracing

The procedures given in this document may be applicable to the contact tracing except that the procedures do not follow the regulations or laws, where the procedures are applied.

Purpose

Contact investigation and contact tracing are fundamental activities that involve working with a patient (symptomatic and asymptomatic) who has been diagnosed with an infectious disease to identify and provide support to people (contacts) who may have been infected through exposure to the patient.

This process prevents further transmission of disease by separating people who have (or may have) an infectious disease from people who do not. It is a core disease control measure that has been employed by public health agency personnel for decades.

Contact investigation and contact tracing are most effective when part of a multifaceted response to an outbreak.

Conventional contact investigation and contact tracing are based on a proxy interview with the patient, however omission and errors can occur in that interview caused by incomplete recollection of the route or any possible intent for hiding the route of the patient.

It confirms the reliability of the data given during the interview to use contact tracing driven by location information (Global Positioning System (GPS)), credit card transactions, closed-circuit television (CCTV), automated sign-up information of visitors like QR-code identification.