For this reason, certain infectious diseases are subject to compulsory reporting. These diseases are recorded by the Epidemiological Reporting System (EMS), which is maintained by the Department of Infection Epidemiology and Surveillance at the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) and gained particular importance with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Austria in 2020. Data on infectious diseases is routinely and systematically recorded by office-based physicians, hospitals and laboratories, which enables daily monitoring of regional developments. The list of notifiable diseases according to the Epidemics, Tuberculosis, AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Act is published by the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection.