Germany

In Germany, SORMAS was adopted as part of the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic to improve digital surveillance and contact tracing processes. The deployment was funded by the Germany Federal Ministry of Health within the project SORMAS@DEMIS, implemented by the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) jointly with the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and the Academy of public health services (Akademie für Öffentliches Gesundheitswesen, AÖGW).

The project aimed at providing the German Public Health Service (Öffentlicher Gesundheitsdienst, ÖGD) with a customized version of SORMAS-ÖGD-COVID-19 to support efficient case and contact management across jurisdictions. The system enabled local health authorities to collect, share, and analyze epidemiological data in real time on mobile devices and computers, which was considered essential to break chains of infection and support decision-making at local, state, and federal levels. In addition, the project aimed to integrate SORMAS more closely with national electronic reporting infrastructures and to provide training, guidance, and a hotline for local authorities.

These activities were geared towards the acceleration of digital transformation in the public health sector by improving interoperability, streamlined reporting, and pandemic management capability.

Learn more:

https://www.helmholtz.de/en/newsroom/article/track-contacts-digitally-and-efficiently/

https://www.akademie-oegw.de/die-akademie/projekte/sormasdemis