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 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.

PubMed Disclaimer

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

References

    1. World Health Organization (WHO). Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Situation Report-15. Geneva: WHO; 4 Jan 2020. Available from: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/2...
    1. Imperial College London. News / Wuhan Coronavirus. MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis: News / Wuhan Coronavirus. London: Imperial College London. [Accessed 27 Jan 2020]. Available from: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/departments/school-public-health/infe...
    1. Reuters. Wuhan lockdown ‘unprededented’, shows commitment to contain virus: WHO representative in China. [Accessed 4 Feb 2020]. Available from: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-who-idUSKBN1ZM1G9
    1. Kucharski AJ, Russell TW, Diamond C. CMMID nCoV working group, Funk S, Eggo RM. Early dynamics of transmission and control of 2019-nCoV: a mathematical modelling study (pre-print). Medrxiv. 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2020.01.31.20019901 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gostic KM, Kucharski AJ, Lloyd-Smith JO. Effectiveness of traveller screening for emerging pathogens is shaped by epidemiology and natural history of infection. eLife. 2015;4:e05564. 10.7554/eLife.05564 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources