SORMAS in English

SORMAS (Surveillance Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System) is a mobile digital business management system for epidemic control measures. SORMAS-ÖGD is a specialized version for contact person management in the context of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. It supports public health authorities in identifying and monitoring contact persons. At present, SOMRAS-ÖGD is used by several federal health departments in Germany as well as in France,Switzerland, Nigeria, Ghana, Fidji and soon to be used in Nepal and Ivory Coast. 

On this page we aim to provide information on SORMAS-ÖGD in English. It summerizes all information that can be found on this website. For information on SORMAS in the international context, please visit our international website, call our hotline or sent us an e-mail.

SORMAS international website
Hotline: +49 531 6181 1109
E-Mail: sormas@helmholtz-hzi.de

For whom is SORMAS-ÖGD?

SORMAS-ÖGD is addressed to all interested health authorities in Germany. It aims to make the work processes of the public health department easier and more efficient. For this purpose SORMAS-ÖGD starts at the point where a patient and his contact persons are identified. This covers work processes that must be fulfilled after a contact to a case has been identified. 

The most important at a glance

Data security

SORMAS operates completely within the legal requirements of the German Protection against Infection Act (IfSG), especially paragraph 14 IfSG. It also fulfils the requirements of the Data Protection Basic Regulation (DSGVO) and the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG). In addition, the system was tested in June 2019 by an external security audit, according to which it meets the currently valid security standards. The following security audits are planned.

Data sovereignty

SORMAS-ÖGD is provided in accordance with data protection regulations. Nobody except authorised offices of the public health service (ÖGD) has access to the collected data – not even the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research.

Using SORMAS-ÖGD

If you are interested in SORMAS-ÖGD please contact us. You will then receive an information package, including an AV contract, which is the prerequisite for the use SORMAS-ÖGD. Usually the software is ready for use within 24 hours. If you are interested, you can get an introductory training for the system.

SORMAS-ÖGD is both technically and functionally completely independent of the currently discussed apps for identifying unintentional contacts with case persons („tracking apps“), such as the „Corna-Warn App“. 

SORMAS-ÖGD Overview

SORMAS-ÖGD was adapted by the HZI specifically for the needs of the public health service (ÖGD) in Germany to enable effective contact person management during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus, which first appeared in 2019 and originates from China, poses great challenges for the population and the ÖGD in Germany. Especially the documented tracking of contact persons is costly and complicated. The public health authorities are responsible for identifying contact persons and monitoring them on a daily basis in accordance with RKI recommendations. SORMAS-ÖGD offers a case and contact person management for this purpose.

Features

  • Storage of specific case definitions, laboratory documentation and data fields for Covid-19
  • Procedures for identification and validation of exposures and contact persons
  • Prospective control, assignment of tasks and documentation of the monitoring of contact persons
  • Mobile offline use via smartphones/tablets with automatic synchronization of the database via mobile phone
  • Standardized and individual provision of the database and server for each health authority
  • No license fees, source code freely available on GitHub
  • Complies with the Global Goods Maturity Index for Digital Health Tools and has been externally audited for data security
  • Future interface to SurvNet@RKI
  • Constant optimisation in cooperation with the health authorities

Implementation

SORMAS-ÖGD is used on virtual servers, whereby only employees of the respective health authority have access to the data; the health authority is the sole owner of the data. The use of virtual servers means that there are no installation or maintenance tasks.
The installation of the servers is carried out by a partner of the HZI.