the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, according to Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, a new study published in the US CDC’s Emerging Infectious Diseases journal describes in-flight transmission of SARS-CoV-2 among passengers on a flight from Dubai, UAE, to Auckland, New Zealand—with a stop in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Upon arrival in New Zealand, all passengers were subjected to mandatory 14-day quarantine, with testing conducted at approximately Day 3 and Day 12. Testing identified 7 SARS-CoV-2 infections among the passengers, including 5 that tested negative prior to their departure. Genomic analysis of specimens collected from each passenger found that the viral genome in 6 of the 7 passengers was identical, with 1 mutation present in the seventh passenger. Combined with the timeline of symptoms and positive tests, this suggests that the infection was transmitted among the passengers, rather than from multiple sources prior to travel. While testing negative prior to travel will likely decrease the number of imported cases, by denying travel for those who are already infectious, negative tests only indicate the current state of infection and cannot detect individuals who will be infectious after that point. Travel screening can mitigate the risk of importing cases or transmission during travel, but it cannot prevent them.
