Abstract 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.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Infectious diseases, Transmission, Air travel, aircraft, 【초록키워드】 COVID-19 pandemic, Infection, Ventilation, risk, Spread, Characteristics, COVID-19 infection, International, Travel, age, Face mask, risk of infection, confirmed case, 95% CI, Beijing, objective, effective, Result, enrolled, significantly, screened, utilised, infected with SARS-CoV-2,