Genomic assessment of quarantine measures to prevent SARS-CoV-2 importation and transmission

Dinesh Aggarwal (), Andrew J. Page, Ulf Schaefer, George M. Savva, Richard Myers, Erik Volz, Nicholas Ellaby, Steven Platt, Natalie Groves, Eileen Gallagher, Niamh M. Tumelty, Thanh Viet, Gareth J. Hughes, Cong Chen, Charlie Turner, Sophie Logan, Abbie Harrison, Sharon J. Peacock, Meera Chand and Ewan M. Harrison ()
Additional contact information
Dinesh Aggarwal: University of Cambridge, Department of Medicine
Andrew J. Page: Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich Research Park
Ulf Schaefer: Public Health England
George M. Savva: Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich Research Park
Richard Myers: Public Health England
Erik Volz: Imperial College London, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Nicholas Ellaby: Public Health England
Steven Platt: Public Health England
Natalie Groves: Public Health England
Eileen Gallagher: Public Health England
Niamh M. Tumelty: University of Cambridge, Cambridge University Libraries
Thanh Viet: Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich Research Park
Gareth J. Hughes: Public Health England National Infections Service, Field Service
Cong Chen: Public Health England
Charlie Turner: Public Health England
Sophie Logan: Public Health England, National Infections Service, Field Service
Abbie Harrison: Public Health England
Sharon J. Peacock: University of Cambridge, Department of Medicine
Meera Chand: Public Health England
Ewan M. Harrison: University of Cambridge, Department of Medicine

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from international travel is a priority. We evaluated the effectiveness of travellers being required to quarantine for 14-days on return to England in Summer 2020. We identified 4,207 travel-related SARS-CoV-2 cases and their contacts, and identified 827 associated SARS-CoV-2 genomes. Overall, quarantine was associated with a lower rate of contacts, and the impact of quarantine was greatest in the 16–20 age-group. 186 SARS-CoV-2 genomes were sufficiently unique to identify travel-related clusters. Fewer genomically-linked cases were observed for index cases who returned from countries with quarantine requirement compared to countries with no quarantine requirement. This difference was explained by fewer importation events per identified genome for these cases, as opposed to fewer onward contacts per case. Overall, our study demonstrates that a 14-day quarantine period reduces, but does not completely eliminate, the onward transmission of imported cases, mainly by dissuading travel to countries with a quarantine requirement.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28371-z

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