COVID-19-related queries received by the National Health Laboratory Service and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa: January to August 2020

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases − a division of the National Health Laboratory Service − launched a clinician and public hotline, adapted from an existing NICD clinicians’ hotline, to guide healthcare workers and members of the public on COVID-19-related queries. The hotlines received over 150 000 queries within eight months. We describe the queries so as to inform recommendations for tailoring clinician training, improving access to information, and guiding health promotion. A retrospective description of data from the NHLS-NICD clinician and public hotlines from January to August 2020 was performed. Queries were analysed by province, caller type and sector. A thematic analysis with a deductive and semantic approach was used to describe the reason for each query. From January to August 2020, 99.9% (152 766/152 985) of queries attended to on the hotlines were related to COVID-19, with most queries being made in April (n=53 471). The majority of queries were from members of the public (95.0%), and from the public sector (97.0%). Gauteng Province accounted for most queries (42.9%). General information on COVID-19, advice for testing and administrative/systems issues (related to nationwide announcements/events), together accounted for the largest proportion of COVID-19 queries, at 86.0%. The hotline provided general and clinical COVID-19 advice. Data from the hotline mirrored information gaps and distributions of concerns related to COVID-19, and could be used to guide clinician training and public informationsharing. A significant proportion of the queries did not fall within the NHLS-NICD scope of practice, indicating a need for targeted public engagement and education. Future outbreak hotline services could be planned on the basis of this experience to define the objectives of contact centres and establish these in awareness campaigns