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Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 during air travel: a descriptive and modelling study.
- Source :
-
Annals of medicine [Ann Med] 2021 Dec; Vol. 53 (1), pp. 1569-1575. - Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Objectives: To explore the potential of SARS-CoV-2 spread during air travel and the risk of in-flight transmission.<br />Methods: We enrolled all passengers and crew suspected of being infected with SARS-CoV-2, who bounded for Beijing on international flights. We specified the characteristics of all confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection and utilised Wells-Riley equation to estimate the infectivity of COVID-19 during air travel.<br />Results: We screened 4492 passengers and crew with suspected COVID-19 infection, verified 161 confirmed cases (mean age 28.6 years), and traced two confirmed cases who may have been infected in the aircraft. The estimated infectivity was 375 quanta/h (range 274-476), while the effective infectivity was only 4 quanta/h (range 2-5). The risk of per-person infection during a 13 h air travel in economy class was 0.56‰ (95% CI 0.41‰-0.72‰).<br />Conclusion: We found that the universal use of face masks on the flight, together with the plane's ventilation system, significantly decreased the infectivity of COVID-19.KEY MESSAGESThe COVID-19 pandemic is changing the lifestyle in the world, especially air travel which has the potential to spread SARS-CoV-2.The universal use of face masks on the flight, together with the plane's ventilation system, significantly decreased the infectivity of COVID-19 on an aircraft.Our findings suggest that the risk of infection in aircraft was negligible.
- Subjects :
- COVID-19 diagnosis
COVID-19 prevention & control
Disease Transmission, Infectious prevention & control
Female
Humans
Male
Models, Theoretical
Risk Factors
Risk Reduction Behavior
SARS-CoV-2 isolation & purification
Air Travel statistics & numerical data
COVID-19 epidemiology
Disease Transmission, Infectious statistics & numerical data
Environmental Exposure statistics & numerical data
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1365-2060
- Volume :
- 53
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Annals of medicine
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 34463165
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/07853890.2021.1973084