Indicator framework for the evaluation of the public health effectiveness of digital proximity tracing solutions

Systems for digital proximity tracing emerged during 2020 as public health technologies aimed to mitigate community transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Their use, in combination with traditional methods of contact tracing, have offered new potential for health authorities to limit or interrupt chains of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

The overall objective of this indicator framework is to provide a set of indicators to guide national health authorities in the monitoring and evaluation of their digital proximity tracing solutions.

At the time of development of this document, no comprehensive public health indicator framework for digital proximity tracing was available in scientific literature. The indicators in this framework were developed and curated by public health and digital health professionals from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) with expertise in digital health and contact tracing. These experts have been heavily involved in the development of guidance on both contact tracing and digital proximity tracing since the start of the pandemic and regularly participate in regional and global meetings on contact tracing. A review of literature on digital proximity tracing between April and December 2020 was conducted to help inform the development of the indicators.