Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 during air travel: a descriptive and modelling study.
Ann Med
; 53(1): 1569-1575, 2021 12.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1379398
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
To explore the potential of SARS-CoV-2 spread during air travel and the risk of in-flight transmission.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.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).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.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Disease Transmission, Infectious
/
Environmental Exposure
/
Air Travel
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
English
Journal:
Ann Med
Journal subject:
Medicine
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
07853890.2021.1973084
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