ArticleEClinicalMedicine2021
SARS-CoV-2 testing and sequencing for international arrivals reveals significant cross border transmission of high risk variants into the United Kingdom.
Article in EClinicalMedicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Travel-related respiratory symptoms and infections in travellers (2000-22): a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of travel medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Hospital wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 identifies intra-hospital dynamics of viral transmission and evolution.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Pandemic monitoring with global aircraft-based wastewater surveillance networks.Nature medicine · 2025Article
- Navigating the COVID-19 Therapeutic Landscape: Unveiling Novel Perspectives on FDA-Approved Medications, Vaccination Targets, and Emerging Novel Strategies.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Optimization and performance analytics of global aircraft-based wastewater surveillance networks.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2024Article
- Prediction of cross-border spread of the COVID-19 pandemic: A predictive model for imported cases outside China.PloS one · 2024Article
- Simulation Study of Surveillance Strategies for Faster Detection of Novel SARS-CoV-2 Variants.Emerging infectious diseases · 2023Article
- Effectiveness of international border control measures during the COVID-19 pandemic: a narrative synthesis of published systematic reviews.Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences · 2023Review
- Multiplexed Reverse Transcription Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Coupled with a Nucleic Acid-Based Lateral Flow Dipstick as a Rapid Diagnostic Method to Detect SARS-CoV-2.Microorganisms · 2023Article
- How public health authorities can use pathogen genomics in health protection practice: a consensus-building Delphi study conducted in the United Kingdom.Microbial genomics · 2023Article
- Evaluating the theoretical performance of aircraft wastewater monitoring as a tool for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Overview of the SARS-CoV-2 genotypes circulating in Latin America during 2021.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Evaluating methodological approaches to assess the severity of infection with SARS-CoV-2 variants: scoping review and applications on Belgian COVID-19 data.BMC infectious diseases · 2022Article
- Two Years into the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned.ACS infectious diseases · 2022Review
- Tracking Emergence and Spread of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant in Large and Small Communities by Wastewater Monitoring in Alberta, Canada.Emerging infectious diseases · 2022Article
- Article
- Specific Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Variants B.1.1.7 (Alpha) and B.1.617.2 (Delta) Using a One-Step Quantitative PCR Assay.Microbiology spectrum · 2022Article
- Article
- Epigenetic Mechanisms Underlying COVID-19 Pathogenesis.Biomedicines · 2021Review
- International air travel-related control measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic: A companion review to a Cochrane rapid review.New microbes and new infectionsReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMandatory Day 2 and Day 8 PCR testing and variant sequencing of international arrivals has been recently introduced by the UK Government to mitigate against cross-border transmission of high-risk SARS-CoV-2 variants.
methodsSARS-CoV-2 testing and sequencing combines TaqPath CE-IVD COVID-19 RT-PCR with Ion AmpliSeq SARS-CoV-2 Next Generation Sequencing Assay. Retrospective analysis of test trending data was performed from initiation of testing on the 11th March through to the 14th April 2021.
findingsDuring this time interval, 203,065 SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests were performed, with 3,855 samples testing positive, giving a prevalence of 1.9%. In total 1,913 SARS-CoV-2 genomes were sequenced from positive cases with Ct values < 30 and 1,635 (85.5%) sequences passed quality metrics for lineage analysis. A high diversity of 49 different SARS-CoV-2 variants were identified, including the VOCs B.1.1.7 (Kent; 80.6%), B.1.351 (South Africa; 4.2%), B.1.617.2 (India; 1.7%), P.1 (Brazil; 0.4%) and B.1.1.7 with E484K (Bristol; 0.2%). Vaccine effectiveness was age-related and dose-dependent, ranging from 5% in > 60 with a single dose to 83% in <60 with both doses of a vaccine. Viral load was variant dependent with the B.1.617.2 showing a 21 fold increase in viral copy number compared to the other variants.
interpretationThe unexpectedly high prevalence of COVID-19 infection in UK arrivals is associated with a rich diversity of SARS-CoV-2 high risk variants entering the UK including the VOC B.1.617.2. Vaccination does not preclude infection and its effectiveness is significantly age-dependent and impacted by variant type. The rapid high-throughput test and sequence workflow we have adopted is particularly suited to the monitoring of cross border transmission and enables immediate public health interventions.
fundingData analysis conducted in this study was limited to secondary use of information previously collected in the course of normal care.
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Registered trials
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