What is Infectieradar?
The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) monitors the spread of infectious diseases. With Infectieradar, RIVM researches whether people in the Netherlands have complaints that may indicate an infection with for example the coronavirus, flu virus or RS virus. Most of the attention of Infectieradar is on the spread of the corona virus.
What does Infectieradar research?
Infectieradar researches whether people in the Netherlands have complaints such as fever, runny nose, cough, sneezing, sore throat, fever, loss of smell or taste. These kinds of complaints may indicate a virus infection.
How does Infectieradar work?
Anyone in the Netherlands can participate. It does not matter whether you have been vaccinated against infectious diseases or have chronic complaints. To get the best possible picture of the spread of the coronavirus, it is important that as many people as possible participate, regardless of background, age or risk factors. Participants receive a weekly e-mail questionnaire in which they can indicate whether and which complaints they have had in the past week.
What happens to the results?
RIVM uses the information from Infectieradar for scientific research into the spread of various viruses and infectious diseases. With this research, a possible revival of the coronavirus can be recognized early on. It can also help to understand why some people get an infection more or less often.
Read more about Infectieradar on the website of RIVM