International travel-related control measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic (search up to 13 November 2020)
Citation: Burns J, Movsisyan A, Stratil JM, et al. International travel-related control measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic: a rapid review. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2021;(3):CD013717. Podcast available in EN / ES.
Language: Abstract available in DE / EN / ES / FR / FA / KO / ZH. Plain language summary available in DE / EN / ES / FR / FA / HR / KO / PL / RU / ZH. Full text available in EN.
Free to view: Yes.
Funding sources: World Health Organization and German Ministry of Education and Research.
What is this? The COVID-19 pandemic led several countries to implement travel-related control measures to minimize transmission.
In this updated Cochrane rapid review, the authors searched for studies on control measures for travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. They did not restrict their searches by language of publication and did the search for this update on 13 November 2020. They included 49 modelling studies and 13 observational studies, which were from all WHO regions of the world.
What was found: At the time of this version of the review, the included evidence (based on 31 modelling studies) suggested that travel restrictions reducing or stopping cross‐border travel were beneficial at reducing the transmission of SARS-CoV-2.
At the time of this version of the review, the included evidence (based on 13 modelling studies and 13 observational studies) suggested that screening travellers at borders (including those with symptoms or who had potentially been exposed to COVID‐19) would reduce imported or exported cases of COVID-19 and delay outbreaks. While, for screening based on testing, the studies reported that testing travellers reduced imported or exported cases, and cases detected.
At the time of this version of the review, the included evidence (based on 12 modelling studies) suggested that quarantine may be beneficial for preventing the transmission of SARS-CoV-2.
At the time of this version of the review, the included evidence (based on 7 modelling studies and 4 observational studies) suggested that quarantine and screening at borders may be beneficial for preventing the transmission of SARS-CoV-2.
Implications: The authors of the review concluded that international travel‐related control measures may help to limit the spread of COVID‐19 across national borders but that screening travellers only for symptoms at borders is likely to miss many cases, that testing may be more effective but may also miss cases if only performed upon arrival and that quarantine lasting at least 10 days can prevent travellers spreading COVID‐19 and may be more effective if combined with another measure such as testing, especially if people follow the rules. They also stated that future research should be better reported, employ a range of designs beyond modelling and assess potential benefits and harms of the travel‐related control measures from a societal perspective.
Other considerations: The authors of the review discussed their findings in the context of place of residence.
This summary was prepared by Yasmeen Saeed, edited by Nhi Luu, Yasmeen Saeed and finalized by Mike Clarke.