key: cord-0863668-ifj5kaui
authors: Xiao, Rui; Zhao, Tianming; Wu, Yile; Cheng, Ce; Sun, Chenyu
title: How does China keep COVID-19 outside its boarder? First-hand experience of medical staff at an international airport in China
date: 2020-12-09
journal: J Travel Med
DOI: 10.1093/jtm/taaa230
sha: 336bd2a7a9a9abb19203d35a41b39095fa6dc744
doc_id: 863668
cord_uid: ifj5kaui

nan

In international airports of China, medical staff from hospitals and CDCs have been taking shifts to screen passengers, conduct epidemiological interviews, carried out quarantine measures and other prevention measures for Coronavirus disease 2019 . Considering the current COVID-19 pandemic and new surge of new cases all around the world, strict screening and proper quarantine measures are still necessary. We provided suggestions through introducing Chinese experience.

COVID-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has become a global pandemic since early 2020, 1 however, China has managed to control the pandemic rapidly and effective. 2 Despite daily routine has returned to normal in China, continued vigilance remains, and new approach to preventing transmission, especially by travellers from endemic areas, are still implemented. 3 Appropriate management of individuals travelled from abroad including mandatory quarantine and monitoring of quarantined individuals are of great importance to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission. 4 Since the uncertainty of COVID-19 spread risk in the incoming resumption of foreign air travel, 5 more stricter measures may be warranted. In this paper, we aimed to provide several practical suggestions through introducing the COVID-19 controlling experience of China.

Medical staff from hospitals and CDCs have been taking shifts to work at international airports to screen passengers travelling from abroad, and quarantine them according to local guidelines. The boarding information, arrival information and health report on COVID-19 of all passengers will be provided by airlines before passengers boarding the airplane. The airplane will dock at designated spots, apart from the domestic flights. Upon arrival, medical staff will measure the body temperature of passengers and flight crew, on the airplane and then again in the arrival hall. Passengers and flight crew with elevated temperature will be transported to designated hospitals by ambulance service, and those with normal temperature will be transported to quarantine hotels. All passengers and flight crew will be screened for COVID-19 by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, and epidemiological interviews will be conducted. Those with any abnormal findings will also be transported to designated hospitals and those without any abnormal findings will be quarantined for 14 days at designated places such as hotels. In Shanghai, detached buildings away from densely populated urban areas and separate sewage treatment systems are required for centralized medical quarantine site. 6 Notably, both arriving and leaving the designated places will be repeatedly screened for COVID-19. After 14 days of quarantine, service team of the local government and health agencies from the passengers' destination will transport them with designated transport means to their local residence areas and quarantine (most at home) for another 7-14 days based on the risk levels of the country where the passengers travelled from. The health care workers from local community hospitals continue to follow-up during the quarantine period. It is noteworthy that through the whole process, the passengers and airflight crew will be separated from domestic flight passengers from low-risk areas. To ensure the safety of medical staff and preventing contamination, medical staff received training in the correct use of personal protective equipment, and are equipped with standardized personal protective equipment, including protective suits, masks, gloves, goggles, face shields, and gowns, and follow the strict protocols similar to the infection control measures reported by Liu et al. 7 From 11 March to 6 July 2020, a total of 268 imported cases of COVID-19 from abroad were confirmed in Guangzhou; among them, cases from the UK, Bangladesh and the USA represented 52.2% of the imported cases from overseas. 4 In previous study, Li et al 6 expressed concern about the sustainability of centralized medical quarantine and the huge consumption of manpower and resources. Considering many countries are still facing the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, though it seems to be unreasonable to shut down the boarders completely, we believed that strict screening and proper quarantine measures at the international airport are still necessary, especially in countries with low number of cases.

Protection of health care professionals during an epidemic: medical, ethical, and legal ramifications

China's successful control of COVID-19

Real-time screening of specimen pools for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection at Sanya Airport

Countries of origin of imported COVID-19 cases into China and measures to prevent onward transmission

COVID-19 genome surveillance at international airport quarantine stations in Japan

Centralized medical quarantine for imported COVID-19 in shanghai

Use of personal protective equipment against coronavirus disease 2019 by healthcare professionals in Wuhan, China: cross sectional study

None. No funding was received for this study.

None declared.

Chenyu Sun conceived the study and made the final revision. Rui Xiao, Tianming Zhao and Chenyu Sun wrote the manuscript. Yile Wu and Ce Cheng reviewed the manuscript.