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Changing travel patterns in China during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic
Preprint
in English
| medRxiv
| ID: ppmedrxiv-20101824
Journal article
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A scientific journal published article is available and is probably based on this preprint. It has been identified through a machine matching algorithm, human confirmation is still pending.
See journal article
ABSTRACT
Understanding changes in human mobility in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic is crucial for assessing the impacts of travel restrictions designed to reduce disease spread. Here, relying on data from mainland China, we investigated the spatio-temporal characteristics of human mobility between 1st January and 1st March 2020 and discussed their public health implications. An outbound travel surge from Wuhan before travel restrictions were implemented was also observed across China due to the Lunar New Year, indicating that holiday travel may have played a larger role in mobility changes compared to impending travel restrictions. Holiday travel also shifted healthcare pressure related to COVID-19 towards locations with lower access to care. Network analyses showed no sign of major changes in the transportation network after Lunar New Year. Changes observed were temporary and have not yet led to structural reorganisation of the transportation network at the time of this study. One sentence summaryUnderstanding travel before, during, and after the introduction of travel restrictions in China in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
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Full text:
Available
Collection:
Preprints
Database:
medRxiv
Type of study:
Experimental_studies
Language:
English
Year:
2020
Document type:
Preprint