Viro-immunological characterization of SARS-CoV-2 infection at a population level (STOP-COVID)
Project The COVID-19 pandemic is having devastating effects on individual health and societal wealth. This project aims to assemble a comprehensive, inter-disciplinary package to give a clinical guidance for successful management of patients affected by COVID-19. Population data from infectious diseases registers and surveillance on COVID-19 cases collected with clinical data (clinical manifestation, diagnosis,
immunological profile, virological factors, treatment, and outcome) will be used to establish a Big Data database. The data gathered in the database will be studied retrospectively to perform large-scale descriptive analyses of COVID-19 patients and compare with the general population for the development
of clinical guidance for optimized management of COVID-19 cases.
The project will also include prospective studies in different sectors such as: 1. Immunologic analyses, employing innovative technology to identify the molecular fingerprint of SARS-CoV-2;
2. Genetic investigations of populations and patients affected with COVID-19;
3. Virologic analyses, to implement the molecular tests employed for diagnosis.
Ultimately, the project will produce a set of recommendations to policy makers to strengthen multisectorial epidemic preparedness and response aligned with SDG-3d and the International Health Regulations.