Introduction: As part of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) control strategies, entry screening was established at International airports. An assessment of the screening system will inform decision-making for improving entry screening for infectious diseases. Methods: Assessment of entry screening at Thiruvananthapuram international airport done during pre and post-lockdown phases. Observation, interviews, and secondary data analysis were the methods employed. The number of passengers screened, their symptom profile, the yield of screening, actions taken, staff pattern, perceptions, training, and infection control practices assessed. Chi-square test and t test were used for testing significance. Results: Out of the 46139 passengers screened pre-lockdown, 297 (0.64%) had symptoms, 23 (0.05%) were positive in thermal screening. Six (2%) among them tested positive for COVID-19. Out of the 44263 passengers screened post lockdown, from May to July 2020, 671 (1.5%) were symptomatic, and 12 (0.03%) were positive in thermal screening. COVID-19 was confirmed in 45 (6.7 %) patients identified through the screening. With the surge in cases, the proportion of passengers opting for institutional quarantine increased significantly (P<0.001). None of the staff contracted the disease. Infection control practices followed by them were optimal. Conclusion: Though the yield of thermal and symptom screening is low, entry screening is an opportunity to identify travelers at risk of COVID-19 infection. In addition, it helps in raising awareness to ensure quarantine and guides public health authorities in preventing disease spread to the community.

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The COVID pandemic has brought unprecedented changes in the current healthcare model, more as a necessity than by choice. The rapid unraveling of the pandemic has fast tracked the use of technology and artificial intelligence in healthcare systems by identifying and implementing more efficient processes to mitigate the crisis. Digital contact tracing technology (DCTT) has been hailed as the savior for opening up the community towards some semblance to the previous normal. Understanding contact tracing as both a proactive tool in the containing of an epidemics and as a reactive tool in limiting damages after spread is of utmost importance before taking a call into its effectiveness and implication on privacy of the individuals involved. The current pandemic response is like building a plane during its flight, and hence the risks involved in understanding the disease and mitigating the problems due to the novel nature of the disease needs to be done in real time. The political and social outcries on the use of DCTT are enough reasons for caution in applying previously unperfected technologies in diseases whose natural course has not yet been fully understood. The relationship between epidemics and contact tracing, conventional contact tracing, DCTT, different models of DCTT used during the current epidemic, limitations of DCTT and the future of incorporating DCTT into healthcare systems from the view of epidemiology and patient safety will be the primary focus of this article.