A comprehensive look at the important indicators of the Covid-19 epidemic and their application to understanding and effective management of the Corona epidemic

Statistical indicators of any phenomenon, including a disease, are of utmost importance to conceive the current situation, predicting the future situation and then planning accordingly, both at individual level and particularly for policy-making and management level. The purpose of this paper is to take a comprehensive but critical look at popular indicators in understanding and management of corona virus pandemic, followed by suggesting few key indicators which should be utilized for monitoring the performance of a health system in tackling COVID-19.

Various variables and indicators related to the disease have been reviewed. Variables and indicators have been categorized and their application has been discussed. Finally, the best variables and indicators have been argued as useful for monitoring the performance of a health system.

Closed Case Daily Death Rate and Daily Death to New Patients in the past 14 days rate seem to be more sensitive indicators to show the performance of health systems.

Collecting good data to produce appropriate indicators and their subsequent use for policy making as well as adapting strategies to new patters depicted through data analysis, is an important factor in the success of managing Corona virus epidemic.