Introduction:

Cuba prepares for recovery and for keeping the COVID-19 epidemic under control in the national territory. Gradual de-escalation of measures until getting into the new normal does not exempt permanent surveillance to avoid new outbreaks.

Objective:

Show the procedure used in the design of a hospital epidemiological surveillance´s system for the early detection of suspected cases in the pos-COVID-19 stage.

Methods:

Qualitative research. It was located information in the databases Lilacs, Ebsco and Hinari with the descriptors: health surveillance, epidemiological monitoring, and services of epidemiological surveillance. From the definition of cases under surveillance, there were defined the objectives of the system, premises, attributes and subsystems. It was taken into account the methodology used in a surveillance system in Cuba which was developed and modified by Cuban specialists.

Results:

The system is structured from four components: data entry, processing of data collected in epidemiological surveys applied to patients and their companions, and data output with the description of the type of case and feedback. This is also formed by four subsystems: clinical diagnosis, laboratory diagnosis, epidemiological diagnosis and statistical diagnosis. The system has early detected suspicious cases in hospitalized patients before surgical interventions and other minimal invasive procedures.

Conclusions:

A hospital epidemiological surveillance system is designed as a working tool for obtaining information that facilitates the early detection of COVID-19 suspected cases and their confirmation, and to establish risk prevention and control actions for both the National Center of Minimal Access Surgery and the organizations involved.

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