en Infectious Disease Infectious Disease Original Research: Clinical Science Original Research: Clinical Science <strong>Background: </strong>The 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) is a highly contagious disease associated with a high morbidity and mortality worldwide. The accumulation of data through a prospective clinical registry enables public health authorities to make informed decisions based on real evidence obtained from surveillance of COVID-19. This registry is also fundamental to providing robust infrastructure for future research surveys. The purpose of this study was to design a registry and its minimum data set (MDS), as a valid and reliable data source for reporting and benchmarking COVID-19.<br> &nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>Methods:</strong> This cross sectional and descriptive study provides a template for the required MDS to be included in COVID-19 registry. This was done by an extensive literature review and 2 round Delphi survey to validate the content, which resulted in a web-based registry created by Visual Studio 2019 and a database designed by Structured Query Language (SQL).<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>Results:</strong> The MDS of COVID-19 registry was categorized into the administrative part with 3 sections, including 30 data elements, and the clinical part with 4 sections, including 26 data elements. Furthermore, a web-based registry with modular and layered architecture was designed based on final data classes and elements.<br> &nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>Conclusion:</strong> To the best of our knowledge, COVID-19 registry is the first designed instrument from information management perspectives in Iran and can become a homogenous and reliable infrastructure for collecting data on COVID-19. We hope this approach will facilitate epidemiological surveys and support policymakers to better plan for monitoring patients with COVID-19.<br> &nbsp; Minimum data set, MDS, Registry system, COVID-19, Coronavirus 482 490 http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-3968-3&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Hadi Kazemi-Arpanahi hadi.kazemi67@yahoo.com 200319475328460064087 200319475328460064087 No Department of Health Information Technology, Abadan Faculty of Medical Sciences, Abadan, Iran Khadijeh Moulaei moulaei.kh91@gmail.com 200319475328460064088 200319475328460064088 No Department of Health Information Management, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran Mostafa Shanbehzadeh shanbezadeh-m@medilam.ac.ir 200319475328460064089 200319475328460064089 Yes Department of Health Information Technology, School of Paramedical, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran