Travel-related control measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic: an evidence map

Movsisyan, Ani; Burns, Jacob; Biallas, Renke L; Coenen, Michaela; Geffert, Karin; Horstick, Olaf; Klerings, Irma; Pfadenhauer, Lisa M.; Philipsborn, Peter von; Sell, Kerstin; Strahwald, Brigitte; Stratil, Jan M.; Voss, Stephan; Rehfuess, Eva

doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-041619

Cited by 18 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 126 publications

(5 reference statements)

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“…Border restriction (or closure) was one of the earlier and most common non-pharmaceutical interventions implemented, with countries—including Australia, Italy, the Pacific Island countries and territories, and the USA—imposing some form of travel restrictions as early as February 2020 [ 1 , 4 ]. Restrictions included suspending (or limiting) the number of international flights, suspending visa free travel as well as the use of enhanced quarantine and screening measures, and the issuing of recommendations to avoid non-essential travel [ 1 – 3 , 5 ]. These restrictions were implemented to: (i) prevent importation of COVID-19 cases, including those with emergent strains of the virus; (ii) reduce the global spread of COVID-19 cases; and (iii) manage demand for border screening and quarantine services [ 1 , 2 , 6 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How have governments supported citizens stranded abroad due to COVID-19 travel restrictions? A comparative analysis of the financial and health support in eleven countries

et al. 2022

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Background In response to the continuing threat of importing novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), many countries have implemented some form of border restriction. A repercussion of these restrictions has been that some travellers have found themselves stranded abroad unable to return to their country of residence, and in need for government support. Our analysis explores the COVID-19-related information and support options provided by 11 countries to their citizens stranded overseas due to travel restrictions. We also examined the quality (i.e., readability, accessibility, and useability) of the information that was available from selected governments’ web-based resources. Methods Between June 18 to June 30, 2021, COVID-19-related webpages from 11 countries (Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Canada, United States of America (USA), United Kingdom (UK), France, Spain, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand) were reviewed and content relating to information and support for citizens stuck overseas analysed. Government assistance-related data from each webpage was extracted and coded for the following themes: travel arrangements, health and wellbeing, finance and accommodation, information needs, and sources. Readability was examined using the Simplified Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) and the Flesch Kincaid readability tests; content ‘accessibility’ was measured using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Version 2.1; and content ‘usability’ assessed using the usability heuristics for website design tool. Results Ninety-eight webpages from 34 websites were evaluated. No country assessed covered all themes analysed. Most provided information and some level of support regarding repatriation options; border control and re-entry measures; medical assistance; and traveller registration. Only three countries provided information or support for emergency housing while abroad, and six provided some form of mental health support for their citizens. Our analysis of the quality of COVID-19-related information available on a subset of four countries’ websites found poor readability and multiple accessibility and usability issues. Conclusion This study uniquely analyses government support for citizens stuck abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic. With large variance in the information and services available across the countries analysed, our results highlight gaps, inconsistencies, and potential inequities in support available, and raise issues pertinent to the quality, accessibility, and usability of information. This study will assist policymakers plan and communicate comprehensive support packages for citizens stuck abroad due to the COVID-19 situation and design future efforts to prepare for global public health emergencies.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How have governments supported citizens stranded abroad due to COVID-19 travel restrictions? A comparative analysis of the financial and health support in eleven countries

et al. 2022

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“…This means that the mortality cost is about 300,04 and 328,89 million euros for the expected deceases. The impact of travel-related control measures for containment of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is summarize ( 14 ) in a rapid evidence map but no cost-effectiveness analysis is included.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Cost-Benefit and Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic for Incoming Travelers Through Tests in Origin in Spain

Domínguez

García

Sánchez

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

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BackgroundThe World Health Organization has promoted preventive measures for reducing the impact of the pandemic. One of these measures was tests in origin for travelers. Testing strategies for COVID-19 facilitate the overall public health response to the pandemic and contributes to minimize the infection among the population COVID-19.GoalIn this work, we assess the efficiency of diagnostic testing of incoming travelers in the Canary Islands, Spain, during a period of 4 months, with a focus on the economic impact for the regional government. We study the cost-benefit of this measure as well as the potential influence on the number of positive cases in the population.MethodsWe processed the real data in the Canary Islands of pre-flight PCR and antigen tests that were required to the residents when traveling back to the Canaries from anywhere in Spain in a period of 4 months, from 14 December, 2020 to 4 April, 2021. As a result, we calculated the economic impact of doing those tests and compare them with the estimated costs of passengers under the hypothesis of entering the islands without testing. The cost-benefit was obtained for different scenarios, where the incoming passengers generated hospitalization and intensive care unit (ICU) costs directly and via transmissions.ResultsThe incoming testing funded by the government, if applied during the bad evolution of the pandemic with 1.2 ratio of transmission, clearly saved money to the public health system. In addition to the economic impact of this measure, we estimated the potential influence on the number of positive cases in the population according to different scenarios of the propagation of the pandemic. At the beginning of February 2021, the savings were about €130.551,47, with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of €24.677,94–236.425,00. By the end of April 2021, the savings were above €2,000,000 (€2.284.788,50 on average and 95% CI of €2.092.914,84–2.476.662,16) and the savings increased as the pandemic evolved. At the end of the period, the savings were twice the expenses.ConclusionsTesting in origin has proved to be a good measure that helped to mitigate COVID-19 spread among regions. Our results confirm that the free PCR or rapid antigen tests produce relevant savings to the public budget. We studied 61.990 reported data during 2020 and 2021 from the travelers from national flights, against 346.449 of total incoming travelers to the Canary Islands in this period. The measure pursued by the Government of the Canary Islands of providing free tests for residents showed a clear benefit for both, limiting the propagation of COVID-19 and reducing the costs of the hospitalizations and ICU admissions. It should be noted that the free testing measure in this period was before starting the vaccination campaigns. As measure of public health in the airports, testing helped to control and make the mobility of travelers secure.

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“…While there is evidence that a post symptomatic faecal shedding state exists for SARS-CoV-2 (Liu et al, 2022; Grépin et al, 2021; Movsisyan et al, 2021), there is little consensus on the mean length of time people spend in this state, denoted δ -1 in the model, with estimates of between 3 and 35 days provided in the literature (Liu et al, 2022; Movsisyan et al, 2021). As such, we will consider how the model evolves over a range of values for δ .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Air travel has acted as a major conduit for international transmission of SARS-CoV-2 throughout the pandemic (Liu et al, 2022). Almost all countries have, at some point, introduced degrees of border control, which have prevented inbound travel from specific locations, added requirements for evidence of a recent negative test or vaccination prior to departure, or required testing of passengers upon arrival (Grépin et al, 2021; Movsisyan et al, 2021; Shiraef et al, 2022). Many of these requirements have been removed in the majority of countries due to a combination of factors, including successful vaccination programmes and a need to limit further economic disruption (Sun et al, 2021; Shiraef et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the theoretical performance of aircraft wastewater monitoring as a tool for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance

Shingleton¹,

Lilley²,

Wade³

2023

Preprint

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Background Air travel plays an import role in the cross-border spread of infectious diseases. During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic many countries introduced strict border testing protocols to monitor the incursion of the virus. However, the high implementation cost and significant inconvenience to passengers has led public health authorities to consider alternative methods of disease surveillance at borders. Aircraft wastewater monitoring has been proposed as one such alternative. In this paper we assess the theoretical limits of aircraft wastewater monitoring and compare its performance to post-arrival border screening approaches. Methods We use an infectious disease model to simulate an unmitigated SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in a seed country. Seeding of the epidemic into the United Kingdom (UK) is simulated through daily flights between the two countries. We use a probabilistic approach to estimate the time of first detection of the disease in the UK in both aircraft wastewater and respiratory swab screening at the border. Results For simulations across a broad range of model parameters, our analysis indicates that the median time between the first incursion of a pathogen and its detection in wastewater would be approximately 17 days (IQR: 7 - 28 days), resulting in a median of 25 cumulative cases (IQR: 6 - 84 cases) in the UK at the point of detection. Comparisons to respiratory swab screening suggest that aircraft wastewater monitoring is as effective as screening of 20% of passengers at the border, using a test with 95% sensitivity. For testing regimes with sensitivity of 85% or less, the required coverage to outperform wastewater monitoring increases to 30%. These results demonstrate the potential use cases of aircraft wastewater monitoring and its utility in a wider system of public health surveillance.

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Travel-related control measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic: an evidence map

Cited by 18 publications

References 126 publications

How have governments supported citizens stranded abroad due to COVID-19 travel restrictions? A comparative analysis of the financial and health support in eleven countries

How have governments supported citizens stranded abroad due to COVID-19 travel restrictions? A comparative analysis of the financial and health support in eleven countries

Evaluation of Cost-Benefit and Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic for Incoming Travelers Through Tests in Origin in Spain

Evaluating the theoretical performance of aircraft wastewater monitoring as a tool for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance

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