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COVID-19

Background

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus. Since its start in early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged societies worldwide. While most people infected experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without treatment, the disease can be severe or fatal. Advanced age and underlying medical conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, or chronic respiratory disease, have all been associated with increased risk of severe outcome. However, anyone independent of age or comorbidities is at risk for COVID-19 severe disease outcome. As of March 2022, more than 200 million confirmed cases and over 4 million deaths have been reported.

The research community worldwide has, in an unprecedented way, focused their research efforts towards investigating the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus and variants, as well as variants of concern (VoCs) have emerged more, and the impact of COVID-19 on human body. These contributions from the research community have been a crucial part of the rapid vaccine development. Vaccines are today the cornerstone of global pandemic management. Whilst vaccines were rolled out in record time and have proven very effective diminishing the risk of severe COVID-19 disease and death, many research questions remain. Although we are now entering a more endemic period, COVID-19 is a serious health threat worldwide. Research and lessons learned are crucial for early detection of outbreaks, ability to rapidly identify potential new SARS CoV-2 variants of concern, development of additional treatment options, and future pandemic preparedness. There is still an uncertainty regarding the duration of vaccine protection and effectiveness of booster doses. In addition, vaccine escape has been shown by several current VoCs which could make vaccines less efficient.

Data highlights (37)

January 19, 2024
Babačić and colleagues expanded the coverage of the soluble blood proteome using mass spectrometry. In order to support further research in this area, their results have been added to an open-access app.
June 2, 2023
Vaid and Mendez, and collaborators, studied how the gene expression profile of m6A mRNA is affected both during and after COVID-19 infection. All sequencing data and the source code for analysis are shared.
May 5, 2023
Pushparaj and colleagues use genotyping and haplotype analysis to show high genetic diversity in IGH genes among humans, which may influence our response to infections. Data, and IgDiscover software shared.

Dashboards (12)

Updated:
The COVID Symptom Study Sweden (CSSS) collects data on COVID-19 prevalence, symptoms, and vaccinations through a smart phone app with over 200.000 users in Sweden. Raw data can be requested for use in research projects.
Updated:
A summary of the COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 publications produced involving at least one contributor from a Swedish university or research institute. Shows publications over time and key words/phrases within them.
Updated:
CRUSH Covid maps outbreaks in Uppsala County by visualising the number of cases, test positivity, and geographic distribution, among other things. Data for each postal code is available for download and reuse.
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A summary of the progress in developing a multi-disease serology assay, a key component of pandemic preparedness. Information about externally produced antigens is also provided.
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The Swedish Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) shares data on Post COVID-19 condition. Here, we show visualisations of data on symptoms, healthcare contacts, and geographic distribution, among other things.
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Dedicated to the work of the register-based large-scale national population study to monitor COVID-19 vaccination effectiveness and safety (RECOVAC) project.
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The national Pandemic Centre (NPC) conducted testing related to SARS-CoV-2 from the start of the pandemic. They show positive, negative, and inconclusive tests. This dashboard is historic, so no longer updated.
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Estimates of SARS-CoV-2 variant frequencies and growth rate advantages from global SARS-CoV-2 genotype sequencing data
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Surveillance of viral genome sequences is crucial in tracking the spread of viral variants. This dashboard shows whole-genome sequencing data generated by Uppsala University Hospital.
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The dashboard displays the SARS-CoV-2 serology tests completed over time at the at SciLifeLab Autoimmunology and Serology Profiling unit. The number of tests in total and the amount of positive/negative tests over time are shown.
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The Swedish Health Agency (Folkhälsomyndigheten) provide data and information related to COVID-19 in Sweden. Visualisations are shown on multiple aspects of vaccination coverage, like coverage in different counties.
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Surveillance of wastewater for pathogens can be an effective means of predicting upcoming outbreaks. This dashboard contains data originating from the multiple research groups across Sweden.

Editorials (1)

October 31, 2023
Details the importance of sharing data, tools, and techniques in the COVID-19 pandemic and for future pandemic preparedness. Highlights how this applies to this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine.
COVID-19

Sample collections (36)

Name Type Size Materials
Dalarna biobank (forskningsprov och nyinsamlade prov):
SARS-CoV-2 PCR positiva Dalarna
Healthcare sample collection 1000 - 10.000 Nasal swab Throat swab
Gävleborg biobank:
Klinisk mikrobiologi
Healthcare sample collection 1000 - 10.000 Nasal swab Serum Throat swab Other
Halland biobank:
Patologen Halland
Healthcare sample collection 100 - 1000 Tissue (stained sections/slides) Tissue (paraffin preserved)

Ongoing research projects (50)

Project title Funder
Mental health of young LGBTQ+ people: Trends over time and during the COVID-19 pandemic, causes of mental ill-health, and ways to improve mental health of young LGBTQ+ people

Host institute: Karolinska Institute
Principal investigator: Kyriaki Kosidou

Forte
The fatigue cohort - A longitudinal study on psychobiological mechanisms in post-COVID, chronic fatigue and exhaustion syndromes.

Host institute: Stockholms universitet
Principal investigator: Anna Andreasson

Forte
The unequal pandemic: investigating the relationship between health equity and political responses to covid-19

Host institute: Stockholms universitet
Principal investigator: Karl Gauffin

Forte