Routes for COVID-19 importation in Brazil.

Alexander Watts,Darlan Da S Candido,Ester C Sabino,Julio Croda,Kamran Khan,Leandro Abade,Moritz U G Kraemer,Nuno R Faria,Oliver G Pybus,Wanderson De Oliveira

doi:10.1093/jtm/taaa042

Abstract

The global outbreak caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been declared a pandemic by the WHO. As the number of imported SARS-CoV-2 cases is on the rise in Brazil, we use incidence and historical air travel data to estimate the most important routes of importation into the country.

Highlights

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV2) was first detected in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, on 8 December 2019
As of 12 March 2020, the global SARS-CoV-2 outbreak has been declared a pandemic, with 125 048 cases, and 4613 deaths have been notified by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 117 countries/territories or areas worldwide
We focused on the data for 29 countries that had reported SARS-CoV-2 cases by 5 March 2020

Summary

Introduction

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV2) was first detected in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, on 8 December 2019. Self-declared travel history and subsequent genetic analyses confirmed that the first detected infection was acquired via importation of the virus from Northern Italy.[2] Since Brazil has reported the largest number of cases in Latin America (n = 34, as of 10 March 2020). We analyze data on airline travellers to Brazil in 2019, who departed from countries that had reported local cases of COVID-19 transmission by 5 March 2020.

Results

Conclusion