Focus on international and domestic travellers are equally important for successful SARS-COV-2 mitigation: ecological comparison of emigrant and migrant travel patterns and COVID-19 trends in Kerala State, India

Shahul H Ebrahim; Althaf Ali; Shaffi Fazaludeen Koya; Mansoor Abdulla; Kanniyan Binub; Retheesh Kollerazhikathu Haridasan; Muhammed Suhail; N M Mujeeb Rahman; Lal S Sadasivan

doi:10.1093/jtm/taab003

Focus on international and domestic travellers are equally important for successful SARS-COV-2 mitigation: ecological comparison of emigrant and migrant travel patterns and COVID-19 trends in Kerala State, India

J Travel Med. 2021 Jun 1;28(4):taab003. doi: 10.1093/jtm/taab003.

Authors

Shahul H Ebrahim¹, Althaf Ali², Shaffi Fazaludeen Koya³, Mansoor Abdulla⁴, Kanniyan Binub⁵, Retheesh Kollerazhikathu Haridasan⁶, Muhammed Suhail⁷, N M Mujeeb Rahman⁸, Lal S Sadasivan⁹

Affiliations

¹ University of Sciences, Technique and Technology, Bamako, Mali.
² Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Manjeri, Kerala, India.
³ Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁴ Department of Internal, MES Medical College Hospital, Perinthalmanna, Kerala, India.
⁵ Department of Community Medicine, Malabar Medical College, Kozhikode, Kerala, India.
⁶ Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
⁷ Media One Communications, Kozhikode, Kerala, India.
⁸ Department of Surgery, MES Medical College Hospital, Perinthalmanna, India.
⁹ Global Institute of Public Health, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.

Abstract

We posit from our ecological analysis of COVID-19 trends that the focus on returning international emigrants helped the Indian State of Kerala to successfully mitigate transmission from emigrants. However, the state’s failure to prevent SARS-COV-2 seeding by returning domestic migrants from other states of India led to extensive community transmission.

Keywords: COVID-19; Repatriation flights; domestic travel; india; kerala; transmission.

MeSH terms

COVID-19 / prevention & control*
Emigrants and Immigrants*
Humans
India
Transients and Migrants*
Travel / trends*