“On the flight from Milan, Italy, to South Korea, she was wearing an N95 mask unless she was using a toilet,” she wrote.
“The toilet was shared by nearby passengers, including an asymptomatic patient. She was sitting three rows away from the asymptomatic patient,” she added.
The South Korean officials who organized the flight had implemented complete infection control measures and tested everyone before boarding. All passengers and crew were also quarantined when they arrived in South Korea. Six passengers tested positive shortly after arrival in South Korea.
The 28-year-old woman developed symptoms eight days after she came home and was hospitalized.
“Given that she did not go outside and was quarantined for three weeks alone in her house in Italy and did not use public transport to get to the airport, it is very likely that her infection was transmitted during the flight via indirect. contact with an asymptomatic patient, ”wrote the researchers at Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine in Seoul.
There has been very little evidence on whether humans can catch coronavirus on a flight, although many airlines have policies that leave more room for passengers, clean planes more often, and encourage passengers to stay seated and not over it aircraft to move. Evidence already shows that aircraft ventilation systems clean the air quickly and thoroughly.
“This study was one of the earliest to assess asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 to an aircraft. Previous studies on transmission of influenza from other respiratory infectious diseases, such as influenza and severe acute respiratory syndrome, found that sitting in a person with a respiratory infectious disease is a major risk factor for transmission as well as our own findings, ”the researchers wrote.
The investigators said the officers who organized the flight took many precautionary measures.
“When the passengers arrived at Milan airport, medical personnel performed physical examinations, medical interviews and body temperature checks outside the airport before boarding, and 11 symptomatic passengers were removed from the flight,” she wrote.
Passengers were given N95 respirators – masks shown to protect the wearer from viral infections – and were kept six meters apart before boarding.
“Most passengers wore the N95 respirators, except at mealtimes and when using the toilet during the flight. After an 11-hour flight, 299 asymptomatic passengers arrived in South Korea and were quarantined for two weeks at a quarantine facility of “the government in which the passengers were completely isolated from each other. Medical personnel examined them twice a day for elevated body temperature and symptoms of COVID-19.”
They were sitting near the back of the plane, directly across the aisle of seven passengers who later turned out to be infected.
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