Travel restrictions and lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic-impact on notified infectious diseases in Switzerland

Robert Steffen; Stephan Lautenschlager; Jan Fehr

doi:10.1093/jtm/taaa180

Travel restrictions and lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic-impact on notified infectious diseases in Switzerland

J Travel Med. 2020 Dec 23;27(8):taaa180. doi: 10.1093/jtm/taaa180.

Authors

Robert Steffen^{1

2}, Stephan Lautenschlager³, Jan Fehr^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Public and Global Health, Division of Infectious Diseases, World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Traveller's Health, Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
² Division of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences, University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, TX, USA.
³ Dermatology and Venereology Outpatient Clinics, City Hospitals Waid and Triemli, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.

Abstract

Based on notification data the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown in Switzerland was assessed. While the incidence of tick-borne encephalitis almost doubled as compared to 2016-2019, a reduction in all other infectious diseases was recorded. The lowest reduction rates (<25%) were noted for legionellosis, hepatitis A, chlamydia infection and gonorrhoea.

Keywords: COVID-19; dengue; hepatitis; legionella; pneumococcal; sexually transmitted infections; transmission; typhoid.

MeSH terms

Adult
Basic Reproduction Number / statistics & numerical data
COVID-19* / diagnosis
COVID-19* / epidemiology
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Communicable Disease Control* / organization & administration
Communicable Disease Control* / statistics & numerical data
Communicable Diseases / classification
Communicable Diseases / diagnosis
Communicable Diseases / epidemiology
Communicable Diseases, Imported* / diagnosis
Communicable Diseases, Imported* / epidemiology
Communicable Diseases, Imported* / prevention & control
Disease Notification / methods
Disease Notification / statistics & numerical data
Female
Humans
Male
Physical Distancing*
SARS-CoV-2 / isolation & purification
Sexually Transmitted Diseases* / diagnosis
Sexually Transmitted Diseases* / epidemiology
Switzerland / epidemiology
Travel Medicine / methods
Travel Medicine / trends
Travel* / statistics & numerical data
Travel* / trends