The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) will carry out national monitoring of the new coronavirus, through a closed partnership with the Ministry of Health. The survey will be a version of the National Continuous Sample Survey, known as PNAD, with a focus on Covid-19.

According to the IBGE, about 2,000 interviewers from the agency will speak to the same people for three months. They will ask if the person is having any of the characteristic symptoms of the disease: fever, cough, sore throat, and breathing difficulty .

The survey will also gather information related to work and employment. “We will investigate whether the person is in the workforce, or whether the pandemic has thrown him or she out of the workforce. And relate this to people with symptoms ”, said IBGE’s deputy research director, Cimar Azeredo, in the agency website.

An overview should be released weekly, but there is still no defined timetable for the publications. Following the PNAD model, the results will bring information in grouped data for Brazil, Major Regions and Federation Units.