Household transmission investigation protocol for 2019-novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection

Overview

The household transmission investigation is a case-ascertained prospective study of all identified household contacts of a laboratory confirmed 2019-nCoV infection (see 2.2 Study population). It is intended to provide rapid and early information on the clinical, epidemiological and virological characteristics of 2019-nCoV. 

There are three primary objectives of this household transmission study:

1. To better understand the extent of transmission within a household by estimating the secondary infection rate for household contacts at an individual level, and factors associated with any variation in the secondary infection risk.
2. To characterize secondary cases including the range of clinical presentation, risk factors for infection, and the extent and fraction of asymptomatic infections.
3. To characterize serologic response following confirmed 2019-nCoV infection (highly encouraged, but optional depending on laboratory capacity and resources)

Early investigations are critical to carry out early in an outbreak of a new virus.

The data collected from the study protocols provided here can be used to refine recommendations for surveillance and case definitions, to characterize the key epidemiological transmission features of 2019-nCoV, help understand spread, severity, spectrum of disease, impact on the community and to inform operational models for implementation of countermeasures such as case isolation, contact tracing and isolation.

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