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AIRCRAFT TRANSMISSION OF Covid-19 may have infected 59 people in Ireland, including 13 passengers on the same long-haul flight, according to a new study.
The outbreak occurred despite low levels of occupancy on the Middle East flight to Ireland during the summer, according to a study published in a European journal.
The document, written by the Irish Department of Public Health and published by Eurosurveillance, found that 13 passengers tested positive between two and 17 days after landing in Ireland.
The youngest passenger to test positive was 1 and the oldest 65, with an average age of 23.
The study, which does not identify the airline or the starting point, found that the virus spread on the plane even though only 49 (17%) of the plane’s 283 seats are occupied.
The 13 passengers who later tested positive were flown through a large international airport, flying to Europe from three different continents.
A group of infected passengers spent up to 12 hours overnight in a transit room during a stopover, according to the study. The flight to Ireland lasted 7.5 hours.
Twelve of the 13 flight cases and almost three-quarters of the 46 no-flight cases later identified were symptomatic.
The earliest onset of symptoms among the 13 passengers occurred 2 days after arrival, and the last in the outbreak occurred 17 days after the flight.
Of the 13 infected passengers, nine wore masks during the flight. The infected child did not cover his face, while three passengers did not say whether they were wearing masks.
The study notes that the “source case” of the outbreak is unknown and that the Department of Health created a team to “investigate, identify and interview cases, supervise contact tracing and establish control measures.”
The study suggests that the high number of cases could be related to “high intensity of infection and high viral shedding” in the case of origin.
Close contact passengers were defined as two seats in all directions from the first reported cases.
Nine close contacts of the infected passengers initially tested positive. The remaining passengers were offered tests where they could be contacted.
Five more passengers tested positive for Covid-19, 15 tested negative and 11 were not contactable.
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At the time of the outbreak, the 14-day incidence in Ireland was less than 5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Currently it is 302.91 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
The study notes: “Continuous transmission of 13 passenger cases resulted in a total of 59 cases in six of the eight HSE health regions in Ireland, requiring national monitoring of the outbreak.”
The study says “swift action” is needed when cases arise with no other link beyond the close contact radius of two seats, which generally applies when investigating outbreaks among air passengers.
“Strict infection prevention and control measures on board are vital to reducing the risk of both symptomatic and asymptomatic in-flight transmission.”
“Movement restriction on arrival and robust contact tracing are essential to limit post-flight propagation,” the study says.
Earlier this week it was announced that the EU’s ‘traffic light’ system to coordinate international Covid-19 travel restrictions across the continent will take effect in Ireland on Sunday, November 8.
Under the plan, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control will publish a weekly map of the EU using a three-stage color system to indicate the level of risk in each area.
The levels will be determined by a variety of epidemiological factors, including the incidence of 14 days per 100,000 population and the level of positive tests.
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