Screening all incoming travellers for COVID-19, What the world could learn from Qatar?

Abstract

Background: There is a global spread of Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) being identified as the causative organism. This pandemic has infected over 53 million people globally causing over 1.3 million deaths resulting in lockdowns being implemented across many countries in the world. Global travel has been severely restricted especially in the early phase with far reaching social, economic and emotional implications. In addition to local measures undertaken by each country to curtail the spread of the disease, many countries implemented entry restriction on flights to reduce the risk of importing the disease by potentially infected incoming travellers. The State of Qatar eased travel restrictions from 1st of September 2020 (Phase IV of reopening of pandemic restrictions) [1]. Incoming travellers from high risk countries had to have a mandatory COVID-19 Naso-Oropharyngeal swab negative result before boarding their flight to Qatar. Then they had to commit to two weeks of compulsory quarantine. Travellers from low risk countries had to be swabbed at Hamad international airport on arrival, followed by a week’s mandatory home quarantine. All travellers had to have COVID-19 RT-PCR nasooropharyngeal swab on day 6 after arrival in Qatar. Method: We looked at the data provided by Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), Qatar from 1st of September to 30th of November. This was retrospective observational study looking at the prevalence of COVID positivity of return travellers as compared to the total positive cases in the country [1]. Results: In our review, out of a total of 19,909 COVID-19 positive cases, 2692 were incoming travellers which amounts to about 14 % of total COVID positive cases in Qatar. It was also noted that with each passing day, the ratio of incoming traveller’s in comparison to the total cases have been increasing, with figures of 9% in September 2020 as compared to 21% in November 2020. Conclusion: This figure clearly shows how important it is to screen all return travellers for COVID-19 as travellers are generally asymptomatic and could potentially spread the disease in the local community. All countries should consider implementing similar policies to reduce the risks of importing COVID-19.