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. 2020 Feb;25(5):2000080.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.5.2000080.

Effectiveness of airport screening at detecting travellers infected with novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)

Billy J Quilty  1 , Sam Clifford  1 ; CMMID nCoV working group2  1   2   3 ; Stefan Flasche  1   3 , Rosalind M Eggo  1   3
Affiliations

Effectiveness of airport screening at detecting travellers infected with novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)

Billy J Quilty et al. Euro Surveill. 2020 Feb.

Erratum in

  • Erratum for Euro Surveill. 2020;25(5).
    Eurosurveillance editorial team. Eurosurveillance editorial team. Euro Surveill. 2020 Feb;25(6):2002132. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.6.2002132. Euro Surveill. 2020. PMID: 32070469 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

We evaluated effectiveness of thermal passenger screening for 2019-nCoV infection at airport exit and entry to inform public health decision-making. In our baseline scenario, we estimated that 46% (95% confidence interval: 36 to 58) of infected travellers would not be detected, depending on incubation period, sensitivity of exit and entry screening, and proportion of asymptomatic cases. Airport screening is unlikely to detect a sufficient proportion of 2019-nCoV infected travellers to avoid entry of infected travellers.

Keywords: 2019-nCoV; airport screening; effectiveness; emerging infections; interventions; surveillance; thermal scanning.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Simulated infection histories of travellers infected with novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Screenshot of Shiny appa displaying the number of travellers infected with novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) detected at airport exit and entry screening with baseline assumptionsb, 95% bootstrap confidence intervals, time distributions for incubation period and time to severe disease*
Figure 3
Figure 3
Probability of detecting travellers infected with novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) at airport entry screening by travel duration and sensitivity of exit screening
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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