The Newcastle Joint Research Office (NJRO) has been involved in the conception of a UK-wide database to provide rapid reporting on the incidence of hyper-inflammation in COVID-19 and the association with adverse outcome and potential to be modulated by intervention with biologic therapy. The database provides a rapid means of collating information from multiple sites.

The NJRO offered the use of a system and their services to host a web-based REDCap database. In accordance with REC Standard Operating Procedures, the system provides a means of ensuring that identifiable information is only visible to the care teams of each Trust. This will provide data on their own patients, whilst permitting fully anonymised data to be exported from all records for statistical analysis. The REDCap COV-HI database was created by Trevor Liddle (Information Analyst, NJRO) and Clare Lendrem (Statistical Methodologist, NIHR Newcastle In Vitro Diagnostics Co-operative) based on fields provided by Matthew Collin and the HLH Across Specialty Collaboration. Assistance with testing was provided by members of the NJRO and the NIHR Newcastle In Vitro Diagnostics Co-operative. Guidance on Information Governance was given by Lesley McShane, (Information Manager, NJRO).

The Corona Virus Hyperinflammation (COV-HI) project is led by Jessica Manson (UCLH) and Rachel Tattersall (Sheffield), both founders of the UK HLH (Haemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis) cross speciality collaboration with Matthew Collin (Newcastle) and Epidemiologists Colin Crooks and Joe West (Nottingham).