Improving the surveillance of novel and emerging infections

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Early identification and surveillance of novel and emerging infectious diseases, and understanding the structural factors that contribute to delays, are important for timely public health responses and situational awareness. The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 demonstrated that even though an outbreak was readily detected, the ability to contain the pathogen within source countries and prevent international dissemination may fail. This programme of work will consider the following research questions: (1) What factors may delay the reporting of new disease cases and may indicate an underdeveloped national reporting infrastructure; (2) What are the practical limits on detecting and containing novel outbreaks before international dissemination occurs; (3) Can international travel and passenger information be used to infer incidence in countries/regions with significant underreporting of a new or emerging infectious disease?