Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Oct;25(42):2001624.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.42.2001624.

A large national outbreak of COVID-19 linked to air travel, Ireland, summer 2020

Nicola Murphy  1   2 , Máirín Boland  2   3 , Niamh Bambury  4 , Margaret Fitzgerald  4 , Liz Comerford  5 , Niamh Dever  5 , Margaret B O'Sullivan  1 , Naomi Petty-Saphon  3 , Regina Kiernan  6 , Mette Jensen  5 , Lois O'Connor  4
Affiliations

A large national outbreak of COVID-19 linked to air travel, Ireland, summer 2020

Nicola Murphy et al. Euro Surveill. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

An outbreak of 59 cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) originated with 13 cases linked by a 7 h, 17% occupancy flight into Ireland, summer 2020. The flight-associated attack rate was 9.8-17.8%. Spread to 46 non-flight cases occurred country-wide. Asymptomatic/pre-symptomatic transmission in-flight from a point source is implicated by 99% homology across the virus genome in five cases travelling from three different continents. Restriction of movement on arrival and robust contact tracing can limit propagation post-flight.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; aircraft; flight; in-flight transmission; passenger.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Epicurve of confirmed COVID-19 cases associated with a flight, Ireland, summer 2020 (n = 59)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Passenger seating diagram on flight, Ireland, summer 2020 (n = 49 passengers)
Figure 3
Figure 3
Diagram of chains of transmission, flight-related COVID-19 cases, Ireland, summer 2020 (n = 59)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Contact tracing: public health management of persons, including healthcare workers, having had contact with COVID-19casesin the European Union–second update. Stockholm: ECDC; 8 Apr 2020. Available from: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/Contact-tracing...
    1. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Risk assessment guidelines for diseases transmitted on aircraft (RAGIDA). PART 2: Operational guidelines for assisting in the evaluation of risk for transmission by disease. Stockholm: ECDC; 26 Nov 2009. Available from: www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/risk-assessment-guidelines-disea...
    1. Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC). Epidemiology of COVID 19 in Ireland – 14 day report. Dublin: HPSC; 14 Oct 2020. Available from: https://www.hpsc.ie/a-z/respiratory/coronavirus/novelcoronavirus/surveil...
    1. Linton NM, Kobayashi T, Yang Y, Hayashi K, Akhmetzhanov AR, Jung SM, et al. Incubation period and other epidemiological characteristics of 2019 novel coronavirus infection with right truncation: a statistical analysis of publically available case data. J Clin Med. 2020;9(2):538. 10.3390/jcm9020538 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Backer JA, Klinkenberg D, Wallinga J. Incubation period of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infections among travellers from Wuhan, China, 20-28 January 2020. Euro Surveill. 2020;25(5):2000062. 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.5.2000062 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms