Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 during air travel: a descriptive and modelling study

Zhang, Jinjun; Qin, Fei; Qin, Xinyan; Li, Jianren; Tian, Sijia; Lou, Jing; Kang, Xuqin; Lian, Huixin; Niu, Shengmei; Zhang, Wenzhong; Chen, Yuguo

OBJECTIVES: To explore the potential of SARS-CoV-2 spread during air travel and the risk of in-flight transmission. METHODS: We enrolled all passengers and crew suspected of being infected with SARS-CoV-2, who bounded for Beijing on international flights. We specified the characteristics of all confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection and utilised Wells-Riley equation to estimate the infectivity of COVID-19 during air travel. RESULTS: We screened 4492 passengers and crew with suspected COVID-19 infection, verified 161 confirmed cases (mean age 28.6 years), and traced two confirmed cases who may have been infected in the aircraft. The estimated infectivity was 375 quanta/h (range 274–476), while the effective infectivity was only 4 quanta/h (range 2–5). The risk of per-person infection during a 13 h air travel in economy class was 0.56‰ (95% CI 0.41‰–0.72‰). CONCLUSION: We found that the universal use of face masks on the flight, together with the plane's ventilation system, significantly decreased the infectivity of COVID-19. KEY MESSAGES: The COVID-19 pandemic is changing the lifestyle in the world, especially air travel which has the potential to spread SARS-CoV-2. The universal use of face masks on the flight, together with the plane's ventilation system, significantly decreased the infectivity of COVID-19 on an aircraft. Our findings suggest that the risk of infection in aircraft was negligible.