• Mohamed Abbas, Tomás Robalo Nunes, Romain Martischang, Walter Zingg, Anne Iten, Didier Pittet, and Stephan Harbarth.
• Infection Control Programme, Geneva University Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland. mohamed.abbas@hcuge.ch.
• Antimicrob Resist Infect Control. 2021 Jan 6; 10 (1): 7.

ObjectivesTo compile current published reports on nosocomial outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), evaluate the role of healthcare workers (HCWs) in transmission, and evaluate outbreak management practices.MethodsNarrative literature review.Short ConclusionThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has placed a large burden on hospitals and healthcare providers worldwide, which increases the risk of nosocomial transmission and outbreaks to "non-COVID" patients or residents, who represent the highest-risk population in terms of mortality, as well as HCWs. To date, there are several reports on nosocomial outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2, and although the attack rate is variable, it can be as high as 60%, with high mortality. There is currently little evidence on transmission dynamics, particularly using genomic sequencing, and the role of HCWs in initiating or amplifying nosocomial outbreaks is not elucidated. There has been a paradigm shift in management practices of viral respiratory outbreaks, that includes widespread testing of patients (or residents) and HCWs, including asymptomatic individuals. These expanded testing criteria appear to be crucial in identifying and controlling outbreaks.

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