**4.4 Inclusion criteria**

The inclusion criteria were all National Pharmaceutical Product Interface (NAPPI) codes. These are unique product identifier for a given surgical product, medical appliance, consumable product, pharmaceutical product or other medicinal product. The inclusion criteria were all NAPPI codes associated with a telephonic consultation consulting general medical practitioners. The ICD-10 code primary diagnosis was used to describe the diagnosis. The study mainly focused on outpatient patients with service dates between March and December 2020. A laboratory-confirmed (RT – PCR assay) COVID-19 was used to identify the COVID-19 case as per the World Health Organisation [17, 18] guidelines and definition. Inclusion criteria for COVID-19 admissions were patients that had a laboratory-confirmed (RT – PCR assay) COVID-19. An emergency ICD-10 code of U07.1 COVID-19, virus identified, is assigned to a diagnosis of COVID-19, confirmed by laboratory testing. An emergency ICD-10 code of 'U07.2' COVID-19, virus not identified, is assigned to a clinical or epidemiological diagnosis of COVID-19, where laboratory confirmation is inconclusive or not available. Both U07.1 and U07.2 may be used for mortality coding (cause of death).
