Australia’s active hospital-based surveillance for severe childhood disease

COVID-19

Surveillance and research

Principal investigator

Associate Professor Philip Britton

The PAEDS network is conducting surveillance of COVID-19 to support the national public health response to the pandemic and is well-placed to prospectively identify children presenting to our hospitals with COVID-19 infection.

The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that emerged in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China in late 2019 caused a global pandemic and has altered the landscape of respiratory viral disease amongst humans. The World Health Organization named the disease caused by this virus Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). 

PAEDS’ successful partnership with FluCAN since 2014 was expanded to collect enhanced clinical data for all children presenting to our PAEDS sites with COVID-19 to understand the incidence and severity of this disease in children who require hospitalisation.

PAEDS has documented the incidence and severity of COVID-19, including severe outcomes, in Australian children throughout the pandemic. PAEDS, alongside other global networks, showed that COVID-19 was considerably less severe in children than in adults, as well as identifying the risk factors for hospital admission in children (Wurzel, et al. BMJ Open 2021; Williams, et al. MJA 2022). PAEDS has also contributed to global research showing the reduced severity of COVID-19 in children with the evolution of variants, especially Omicron (Zhu, et al. JAMA Ped 2023).

Click on the tile below to view the latest paediatric COVID-19 case data

Paediatric COVID-19 in Australia

View the latest paediatric COVID-19 case data
Surveillance and research

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PAEDS receives funding
from the Australian government

NCIRS, Kids Research, Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, Cnr Hawkesbury Rd & Hainsworth St, Westmead Locked Bag 4001, Westmead NSW 2145 Tel (612) 9845 1433  |  Fax (612) 9845 1418  |  ABN 53 188 579 090

We acknowledge that the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS) is on the land of the traditional owners the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the First Australians, and recognise their culture, history, diversity and their deep connection to the land. Together, through research and partnership, we aim to move to a place of equity for all. NCIRS also acknowledges and pays respect to other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations from which our research, staff and community are drawn.

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NCIRS, Kids Research, Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, Cnr Hawkesbury Rd & Hainsworth St, Westmead Locked Bag 4001, Westmead NSW 2145 Tel (612) 9845 1433  |  Fax (612) 9845 1418  |  ABN 53 188 579 090

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We acknowledge that the National Centre for Immunisation Research & Surveillance (NCIRS) is on the land of the traditional owners the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the First Australians, and recognise their culture, history, diversity and their deep connection to the land. Together, through research and partnership, we aim to move to a place of equity for all. NCIRS also acknowledges and pays respect to other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations from which our research, staff and community are drawn.