Correlation between travellers departing from Wuhan before the Spring Festival and subsequent spread of COVID-19 to all provinces in China

Ping Zhong; Songxue Guo; Ting Chen

doi:10.1093/jtm/taaa036

Correlation between travellers departing from Wuhan before the Spring Festival and subsequent spread of COVID-19 to all provinces in China

J Travel Med. 2020 May 18;27(3):taaa036. doi: 10.1093/jtm/taaa036.

Authors

Ping Zhong¹, Songxue Guo², Ting Chen³

Affiliations

¹ BE and Phase I Clinical Trial Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
² Department of Plastic Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
³ Department of Medical Examination and Blood Donation, Xiamen Blood Center, Xiamen, China.

Abstract

We found a strong correlation between travel volumes departing from Wuhan, Hubei Province before the Spring Festival and the extent of amplification of the outbreak of COVID-19 in China in 2020, with 100 top cities. Almost 70% of exportations were within cities in Hubei province.

Keywords: 2019-nCov; Coronavirus; Public Health Emergency of International Concern; containment; migration; quarantine; travel.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Betacoronavirus
COVID-19
China / epidemiology
Coronavirus Infections / epidemiology*
Holidays
Humans
Pandemics
Pneumonia, Viral / epidemiology*
Risk Factors
SARS-CoV-2
Travel*