This digest contains links to pages on websites which collate or synthesize evidence relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.  This is a quick guide, and therefore not exhaustive, but it will be updated regularly as required.

Disclaimer: Inclusion below does not endorse content, but allows the user access to as much evidence on COVID-19 as possible.  Please follow the links for the latest advice from the UK & Welsh Governments, as well as Public Health Wales & MHRA (Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency).

Click here to download the latest digest (PDF) or scroll down.

Last updated: 4 May 2022 – The Evidence digest is no longer being regularly updated 

 

Click on the bullet points below for a shortcut to the sections:

Update frequency

Wales-specific information

1.Velindre University NHS Trust – COVID-19 Resources
Maintained by the Trust Library, searches are being conducted of key databases &
specific journals, as well as checking for society guidelines.
https://velindre.nhs.wales/velindre-library/library-covid-19-resources/
Monthly
2.NHS Wales e-library – Coronavirus COVID-19 Subject Guide for NHS Wales Health and Care Professionals
Many of the NHS Wales e-Library for Health e-resources have updated their systems to include information on coronavirus, COVID-19. This page contains links to information from publishers and suppliers, NHS Wales, Welsh Government and Royal Colleges and Societies to support health and care professionals in NHS Wales.
https://elh.nhs.wales/news1/latest-news/coronavirus-covid-19-subject-guide-for-nhs-wales-health-and-care-professionals/ 
Regularly (as and when new resources released)
3.Health and Care Research Wales – COVID-19 updates
Health and Care Research Wales is leading, enabling and delivering research into COVID-19 as part of UK-wide initiatives.
https://healthandcareresearchwales.org/covid-19-updates
Not stated
4.Public Health Wales
During the pandemic the Public Health Walse Observatory has been working with other to develp some evidence summaries that answer some important questions relating to COVID-19 and public health strategies:
https://phw.nhs.wales/services-and-teams/observatory/evidence/#widerdeteriments
Access all Public Health Wales COVID-19 publications by searching on COVID:
https://phw.nhs.wales/publications/
Last update 11 March 2022
5.Social Care Wales – Information and resources to support you during Covid-19
Social Care Wales are working with partners to provide information, signposting and resources to those in the social care sector who may be affected by Covid-19 in Wales.
https://socialcare.wales/service-improvement/information-and-resources-to-guide-you-through-covid-19
Not stated
6.Wales COVID-19 Evidence Centre
The aim of the Evidence Centre is to ensure the best available, up-to-date, and relevant evidence is readily available to our stakeholders who are involved in health and social care across Wales, to inform their decision making.
https://healthandcareresearchwales.org/about-research-community/wales-covid-19-evidence-centre
Not stated (Latest report March 2022)

Update frequency

Evidence Reviews

7.C19 Economics – C19 Health Economics Literature
C19 Economics reviews the literature to help users identify relevant resources in their country or a specific topic areas.  As of April 2021, over 12,000 articles have been screened.
https://www.c19economics.org/data_analysis/
Monthly
8.CEBM (The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine) – Oxford COVID-19 Evidence Service
The CEBM has committed its skills and expertise in evidence synthesis and dissemination to the effort against the current COVID-19 pandemic.  This page links to rapid evidence reviews and data analysis relating to the coronavirus pandemic.
https://www.cebm.net/oxford-covid-19-evidence-service/
Regularly (last update 2 April 2022)
9.Cochrane Library
Overview page linking to Cochrane Reviews and related contect from the Cochrane Library pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic:
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/covid-19Special Collections
8 publications to date, the following have been updated in the past quarter:


Cochrane Reviews
40 publications to date, the following have been published or updated in the past quarter:

The Cochrane COVID Review Bank lists all reviews published or in development: https://covidreviews.cochrane.org/search/site

Regularly (last update 22 March 2022)
10.COVID-19 Recommendations and Gateway to Contextualization
The COVID19 living catalogue of guidelines collects best available recommendations on COVID19 for clinical, public health and health policy. It allows decision-makers to identify relevant recommendations for their question of interest.  The approach is to review all globally published recommendations on COVID19 and include all recommendations by key organizations.
https://covid19.recmap.org/
Not stated – figures given for new inclusions since 25 April 2022
11.**New** Health Library Ireland – COVID-19 Summaries of Evidence
The Irish Health Service Executive’s National Library’s Summaries of Evidence are compilations of the latest research evidence and key reference information related to Covid-19.
https://hselibrary.ie/covid19-evidence-summaries/#gsc.tab=0
Latest report 28 April 2022
 12.Healthcare Improvement Scotland – COVID-19: Evidence for Scotland
Healthcare Improvement Scotland are identifying reliable resources for NHS Scotland in the COVID-19 pandemic.  Includes a weekly update on the latest situation regarding COVID-19 and links to SIGN & Scottish Government Clinical Guidance Cell guidelines as well as rapid evidence reviews
http://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.org/our_work/coronavirus_covid-19/evidence_for_scotland.aspx
Regularly
13.McMaster University – COVID-END (COVID-19 Evidence Network to support Decision-making)
The COVID-19 Evidence Network to support Decision-making (COVID-END) has come together to help those already supporting decision-making to find and use the best evidence and to help reduce duplication in and better coordinate the evidence syntheses, technology assessment and guidelines being produced.
https://www.mcmasterforum.org/networks/covid-end
Regularly
14.McMaster University National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools COVID-19 Rapid Evidence Reviews
National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools has collected research questions for rapid evidence reviews currently in development.
https://www.nccmt.ca/knowledge-repositories/covid-19-evidence-reviews
Not stated (latest report 20 April 2022)
15.MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College London – COVID-19
Provides links to all output from the Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team, including publicly published online reports, planning tools, scientific resources, publications and video updates.
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/mrc-global-infectious-disease-analysis/covid-19/
Last update 14 February 2022
16.National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce – Living Guidelines
Supports Australia’s healthcare professionals with continually updated, evidence-based clinical guidelines.
https://covid19evidence.net.au/#living-guidelines
Last update 20 April 2022
17.NICE – Coronavirus (COVID-19)
NICE are producing a variety of different publications on COVID-19 and its effect on specific patient populations.

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/conditions-and-diseases/respiratory-conditions/covid19/products?Status=PublishedGuidelines – 19 publications to date, the following have been updated recently:

Evidence Summaries – 4 publications to date

Medtech Innovation Briefings – 6 publications to date

Regularly
18.PCORI (Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute) – Health Care Horizon Scanning System: Biweekly COVID-19 Scans
The PCORI Health Care Horizon Scanning System (HCHSS) COVID-19 supplement scans for, identifies, monitors, and reports on emerging and available COVID-19-related treatments, diagnostics, preventive measures, management strategies, and systems changes with potential for high impact to patient outcomes—for individuals and populations—in the United States in the next 12 months.
https://www.pcori.org/impact/evidence-synthesis/pcori-health-care-horizon-scanning-system/pcori-health-care-horizon-scanning-system-biweekly-covid-19-scansThe following Horizon Scanning COVID-19 Supplement reports are published less frequently:

  • Status Reports
  • High Impact Reports

https://www.pcori.org/impact/evidence-synthesis/pcori-health-care-horizon-scanning-system

Latest publication 31 March – 13 April 2022
19.UK Health Security Agency – UKHSA COVID-19 Rapid Reviews
The primary role of the COVID-19 Evidence team is to support the use of evidence within UKHSA’s COVID-19 response. This is achieved by identification of rapid reviews on relevant topics (both published and ongoing), production of evidence summaries and rapid reviews, and by identification of evidence gaps.
https://ukhsalibrary.koha-ptfs.co.uk/covid19rapidreviews/
Date of latest report 27 April 2022
20.Usher Institute – UNCOVER (Usher Network for COVid-19 Evidence Reviews)
A network of population health researchers and information specialists who are committed to responding quickly to requests from policymakers for evidence reviews.  The completed rapid reviews are published on the website:
https://www.ed.ac.uk/usher/uncover/our-output
A comprehensive global register of completed COVID-19 evidence reviews is also available:
https://www.ed.ac.uk/usher/uncover/register-of-reviews
Last update 24 November 2021

 

Update frequency

Searchable Evidence “Hubs/Databases”

21.Cochrane COVID-19 Study Register
The aim of the register is to support rapid evidence synthesis by all systematic review producers.  The register helps systematic reviewers prioritize topics, identify available evidence, and produce urgently needed reviews for front-line health professionals, public health policymakers, and research teams developing new therapeutic, diagnostic, and preventive interventions for COVID-19.
https://covid-19.cochrane.org/
Daily
22.Collabovid
Explore COVID-19 publications using natural language processing.
https://www.collabovid.org/
Daily
23.COVID Evidence Database
COVID-evidence is a continuously updated database of the worldwide available evidence on interventions for COVID-19.  It provides information about worldwide planned, ongoing, and completed trials on any intervention to treat or prevent SARS-CoV-2-infections.  Combines automatic search strategies with expert manual extraction of key trial characteristics performed in duplicate.
https://covid-evidence.org/
Last update 2 May 2022
24.COVID-NMA – Living mapping and living systematic review of Covid-19 studies
A living mapping of ongoing research, followed by a living network meta-analysis (NMA) of study results as soon as they are available.
https://covid-nma.com/
Last update 4-15 April 2022
25.COVID-19 Data Portal
The COVID-19 Data Portal brings together relevant datasets for sharing and analysis in an effort to accelerate coronavirus research. It enables researchers to upload, access and analyse COVID-19 related reference data and specialist datasets as part of the wider European COVID-19 Data Platform.
https://www.covid19dataportal.org/
Regularly
26.COVID-19 Open Research Dataset (CORD-19)
The Semantic Scolar team at the Allen Institute for AI has partnered with leading research groups to provide CORD-19, a free resource of more than 59,000 scholarly articles about the novel coronavirus for use by the global research community.

https://pages.semanticscholar.org/coronavirus-research
The dataset is available in a public reivew on the Rayyan platform: https://rayyan.qcri.org/reviews/125430
SciSight is a tool for exploring the evolving network of science in the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset: https://scisight.apps.allenai.org/
Final update will be 2 June 2022
27.COVID-CIRCLE – COVID-19 Research Project Tracker
A live database of funded research projects across the world related to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The is part of the COVID CIRCLE initiative, a partnership between UK Collaborative on Development Research (UKCDR) and the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness (GloPID-R).
https://www.ukcdr.org.uk/covid-circle/covid-19-research-project-tracker/
Last update 22 April 2022
28.CoVis – COVID-19 Knowledge Map
Run by Open Knowledge Maps and ReFigure, CoVis is a curated knowledge map of seminal works on COVID-19 from eight critical areas of biomedical research.
https://openknowledgemaps.org/covis/
Last update 9 January 2022
29.EPPI-Centre – Living map of the evidence of studies on COVID-19 identified in MEDLINE and EMBASE, that groups the evidence into broad themes
A ‘map’ which allows you to access the evidence broken down into broad themes.  You can access the bibliographic records.
http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Projects/DepartmentofHealthandSocialCare/Publishedreviews/COVID-19Livingsystematicmapoftheevidence/tabid/3765/Default.aspx
98 editions to date; last edition 11 March 2022
30.European Commission – COVID-19 In Vitro Diagnostic Devices and Test Methods Database
The objective of the JRC COVID-19 In Vitro Diagnostic Devices and Test Methods Database is to collect in a single place all publicly available information on performance of CE-marked in vitro diagnostic medical devices (IVDs) as well as in-house laboratory-developed devices, kits and related test methods for coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
https://covid-19-diagnostics.jrc.ec.europa.eu/
Not stated
31.Evidence Aid – Coronavirus (COVID-19): Evidence Collection
Evidence Aid is preparing summaries of relevant research, which are available below in English with links to translations in other languages.  This collection includes summaries of systematic reviews that might be relevant to the direct impact of COVID-19 on health and other outcomes, the impact of the COVID-19 response on other conditions, and issues to consider for the recovery period after COVID-19.
https://www.evidenceaid.org/coronavirus-covid-19-evidence-collection/
Last update 25 April 2022
32.HESG (Health Economists’ Study Group) – COVID-19 Study Database
HESG has collated a database of studies relating to COVID-19.
https://hesg.org.uk/covid-19-study-database/
Not stated
33.IPPO (International Public Policy Observatory) – The IPPO Living Map
The IPPO Living Map is an international database of systematic reviews of research about the social impacts of COVID-19.
https://covidandsociety.com/policy-research-tool/
Last update Version 14 – 29 April 2022
34.LIVIVO – COVID-19 collection
Contains entries about COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 from various scientific sources as well as current relevant preprints from bioRxiv and medRxiv.
https://www.livivo.de/covid19
Not stated
35.LitCovid
LitCovid is a curated literature hub for tracking up-to-date scientific information about the 2019 novel Coronavirus.  It provides a central access to 2170 (and growing) relevant articles in PubMed.  The articles are further categorized by different research topics and geographic locations for improved access.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/research/coronavirus/
Daily
36.L·OVE – COVID-19
In order to respond to the COVID-19 emergency, the L·OVE platform has been adapted to include not only the existing systematic reviews but also other types of evidence synthesis (e.g. guidelines) and primary studies, published or ongoing, of any design.
https://app.iloveevidence.com/loves/5e6fdb9669c00e4ac072701d
Daily
37.McMaster University HiRU (Health Information Research Unit) – COVID-19 Evidence Alerts
This service alerts users to current best evidence for clinical care of people with threatened, suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection. Reports are critically appraised for scientific merit, and those with acceptable scientific merit are appraised for relevance and importance by frontline clinicians.
https://plus.mcmaster.ca/COVID-19/
Last update 4 May 2022
38.metaEvidence – COVID-19
Live meta-analysis and evidence synthesis of potential therapies for COVID19.
http://metaevidence.org/COVID19.aspx
Not stated
39.NIH (National Institutes of Health) – COVID-19 Portfolio
The iSearch COVID-19 portfolio is NIH’s comprehensive, expert-curated source for publications and preprints related to either COVID-19 or the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Our COVID-19 Portfolio tool includes articles from PubMed and preprints.
https://icite.od.nih.gov/covid19/search/
Daily
40.NIHR (National Institute for Health Research) Innovation Observatory – COVID-19 Updates
This resource provides dashboards for Therapeutics, Diagnostics & Soft Intelligence in clinical development for COVID-19.
http://www.io.nihr.ac.uk/covid-19-updates/
Regularly
41.openICPSR COVID-19 Data Repository
The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), openICPSR is a self-publishing repository for social, behavioral, and health sciences research data. The COIVD-19 Data Repository examines the impact of the novel coronavirus global pandemic.
https://www.openicpsr.org/openicpsr/covid19
Regularly  – last study added 28 April 20221
42.VA Evidence Synthesis Program (ESP) – COVID-19 Evidence Reviews
Catalogue of COVID-19 evidence reviews capturing the work of evidence synthesis groups in the US and around the world to maximise collective contributions to patients, frontline clinicians, researchers, and policymakers during the COVID-19 pandemic and avoid duplicating efforts.
http://covid19reviews.org/
Last update 2 May 2022
43.WHO Global research on coronavirus disease (COVID-19) database
Access to the latest scientific findings and knowledge on coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and compiled in a database.  The database can be downloaded into EndNote, should that be required.
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/global-research-on-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov
Daily (Monday-Friday)

 

Update frequency

General resources

44.British Medical Journal
BMJ Coronavirus (COVID-19) Hub
This page collects all BMJ coverage of the coronavirus outbreak from across the BMJ’s journals and learning resources. All articles and resources are freely available.
https://www.bmj.com/coronavirus

BMJ Best Practice Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
https://bestpractice.bmj.com/topics/en-gb/3000168
Regularly (last update 27 April 2022)
45.CADTH COVID-19 Grey Literature Resources
A Curated List of Evidence-Based Sources for Health Professionals, Librarians, and Researchers
https://cadth.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=de8f26867f7e52822b2a301bf&id=1b4b4c56c2&e=cc9b0b513a
Published 23 April 2021
46.CONDOR (COVID-19 National DiagnOstic Research and Evaluation Platform
The CONDOR platform evaluates new COVID-19 diagnostics in the settings they will be used, such as in GP surgeries, care homes or hospitals, as well as their performance in laboratory settings.
https://www.condor-platform.org/
Not stated
47.ECRI
ECRI has developed this resource centre to help hospitals, ambulatory care, and aging care facilities protect healthcare workers, residents, and patients.
https://www.ecri.org/coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak-preparedness-center
Not stated
48.EPPI-Centre – Resources relating to COVID-19
The list of resources was put together during the planning stage of the COVID-19: a living systematic map of the evidence and has been updated as new resources have emerged.
http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Projects/DepartmentofHealthandSocialCare/Publishedreviews/COVID-19Livingsystematicmapoftheevidence/COVID-19Resources/tabid/3767/Default.aspx
Last update 25 April 2022
49.European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
The COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly evolving, and outbreak investigations are ongoing.  ECDC is closely monitoring this outbreak, providing risk assessments, public health guidance, and advice on response activities to EU Member States and the EU Commission.
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19-pandemic
Last update 29 April 2022
50.NHS CHAIN (Contact, Help, Advice and Information Network) – Covid-19
Potentially useful online resources suggested by CHAIN members.
https://www.chain-network.org.uk/resources.html
Last update 7 January 2022
51.Public Health Scotland – COVID-19 Research Repository
This repository contains a comprehensice collection of Scottish COVID-19 research.  This includes research about COVID-19 in Scotland as well as research on COVID-19 undertaken by Scottish researchers.

https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/our-areas-of-work/covid-19/covid-19-research-repository/Scottish COVID-19 research resources are listed here: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/our-areas-of-work/covid-19/covid-19-research-repository/covid-19-research-resources/
Not stated

Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Organisations

This section lists other HTA organisations, as well as international HTA collaborations, and their response to COVID-19.

UK & Ireland

AWTTC – All Wales Therapeutics & Toxicology Centre
https://www.awttc.org/coronavirus-covid-19-therapeutic-advice
HIQA – Health Information & Quality Authority
https://www.hiqa.ie/reports-and-publications/all-publications?field_pub_published_year_target_id=All&keyspub=covid&=Apply
HIS – Healthcare Improvement Scotland
http://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.org/our_work/coronavirus_covid-19.aspx
NICE – National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
https://www.nice.org.uk/covid-19
NIHR – National Institute for Health Research
https://www.nihr.ac.uk/covid-19/

International

CADTH – Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health
https://covid.cadth.ca/
G-BA (Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss) – Befristete Sonderregelungen im Zusammenhang mit der Coronavirus-Pandemie [in German]
https://www.g-ba.de/service/sonderregelungen-corona/
ICES (Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy), Argentina – COVID-19. Documentos de Evaluación de Tecnologías Sanitarias [in Spanish]
https://www.iecs.org.ar/covid/covid-ets/
INESS (Institut national d’excellence en santé et en services sociaux), Canada [in French]
https://www.inesss.qc.ca/covid-19.html

International Collaboration

EUnetHTA – European Network for Health Technology Assessment
https://eunethta.eu/services/covid-19/
HTAi – Health Technology Assessment International
https://htai.org/blog/2020/04/02/how-can-we-help-hta-support-for-covid-19/
INAHTA – International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment
http://www.inahta.org/covid-19-inahta-response/