COVID-19 Surveillance in France During the Pandemic

What did the surveillance system implemented by Santé publique France entail, and what tools were used? Learn all about the measures put in place to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this article

From the very start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Santé publique France has been working to establish effective surveillance systems by building on existing ones, refining them, and creating new ones. With one constant goal: to provide public authorities with the essential indicators needed to manage this unprecedented health crisis. This surveillance system has evolved over time in response to the different phases of the pandemic.

In order to monitor the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic and provide real-time updates to both policymakers and the general public, Santé publique France implemented a new national automated system for collecting screening data on May 13, 2020, through which all results of virological tests (initially RT-PCR, then antigen tests starting December 8, 2020) conducted by city laboratories and hospital laboratories were systematically recorded. As an integral part of the surveillance system, virological test results enabled the tracking of viral spread. Specimens collected for virological testing could also facilitate the detection of mutations of interest and/or the characterization of the variant involved.

The burden of the epidemic was documented by adapting the SurSaUD syndromic surveillance system for community-based care (SOS Médecins) and in the emergency departments of the Oscour network. In addition, the SI-VIC crisis management tool was deployed for hospital-based monitoring with the assistance of healthcare professionals responsible for data entry. This system enabled real-time monitoring of severe cases of the disease throughout the crisis, as well as the level of saturation in French hospitals by department type, particularly in critical care units, including intensive care units.

This flexible system was adapted quickly at each stage of the epidemic and contributed continuously to scientific expertise. It was based on a comprehensive multi-source system that routinely measured 83 indicators, enabling the monitoring of the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 and its main variants, and thus the identification of high-risk areas and particularly vulnerable populations. These indicators included, for example, the proportion of people hospitalized, admitted to emergency departments, or who died with a COVID-19 diagnosis, broken down by age group and gender.

Presentation of indicators

To communicate these results, Santé publique France adopted a policy of transparency: the key indicators were made available as open data on data.gouv.fr as well as on our Géodes platform in the form of tables, summaries, and interactive maps that allowed users to track the pandemic’s progression at various geographic levels—from the national to the municipal level—providing a view of the situation that closely reflected individual realities. Key figures were also regularly updated on our website, and national and regional epidemiological reports were published to track the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 as well as the morbidity and mortality associated with COVID-19. Overall, the epidemiological situation of COVID-19 has been described in national and regional epidemiological reports and other bulletins in the “Point sur” series, which provide targeted analysis of specific aspects of surveillance.

For more information:

  • the development of the COVID-19 surveillance system in France by Santé publique France and its partners starting in January 2020 and its evolution during the pandemic;
  • InfoCovidFrance, the dashboard dedicated to COVID-19 surveillance during the health crisis 
  • The COVID-19 epidemic surveillance system - Infographic

When COVID-19 first emerged in France, contact tracing helped limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2 from new cases, detect and proactively break transmission chains as quickly as possible, and identify potential clusters of cases for investigation and control. The data collected in the “ContactCovid” database by the various operators involved in contact tracing efforts thus helped supplement other available surveillance data and monitor the system’s performance and the effectiveness of the measures implemented to curb the epidemic. 

View all published weekly reports 

To complement this epidemiological surveillance, survey mechanisms were established to collect specific information or to target specific populations.

Surveys of the general population and in the workplace were conducted throughout the epidemiological surveillance of the epidemic. The initial results of these surveys quickly made it possible to assess the impact of and the population’s experience with lockdown, changes in behavior, and the adoption of preventive measures, as well as to identify healthcare workers infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and determine the proportion of the population infected.

Learn more:

Learn more about all surveys conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic