Towards a new (H)ERA: Developments to strengthen infectious diseases surveillance and pandemic preparedness

In order to achieve pandemic preparedness, a high capacity and interoperable infrastructure is crucial. Furthermore, the advent of Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) in the field of microbiology allows for higher microbial subtyping. In combination with conventional testing and epidemiological data integrated genomic-epidemiological analyses can be performed. Therefore, we designed Be-HERA as an overarching architecture to strengthen the surveillance of infectious diseases