A large national outbreak of COVID-19 linked to air travel, Ireland, summer 2020.
covid-19, SARS-CoV-2, aircraft, flight, passenger, in-flight transmission
An outbreak of 59 cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) originated with 13 cases linked by a 7 h, 17% occupancy flight into Ireland, summer 2020. The flight-associated attack rate was 9.8-17.8%. Spread to 46 non-flight cases occurred country-wide. Asymptomatic/pre-symptomatic transmission in-flight from a point source is implicated by 99% homology across the virus genome in five cases travelling from three different continents. Restriction of movement on arrival and robust contact tracing can limit propagation post-flight.
Nicola Murphy, Máirín Boland, Niamh Bambury, Margaret Fitzgerald, Liz Comerford, Niamh Dever, Margaret B O'Sullivan, Naomi Petty-Saphon, Regina Kiernan, Mette Jensen, Lois O'Connor
Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin