ReviewPhilosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences2023
Effectiveness of international border control measures during the COVID-19 pandemic: a narrative synthesis of published systematic reviews.
Review in Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions on COVID-19 transmission: rapid review of evidence from Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom, and China.Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- An analysis of WHO's Temporary Recommendations on international travel and trade measures during Public Health Emergencies of International Concern.BMJ global health · 2023Guideline
- Policy challenges in the provision of COVID-19 border screening: evidence from eight countries.BMC public health · 2026Review
- Evaluating the effectiveness of international travel controls to identify MPXV-infected travelers: a simulation study.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Effectiveness of different border control strategies for reducing mpox importation risk: a modelling study.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2025Article
- Estimating Re and overdispersion in secondary cases from the size of identical sequence clusters of SARS-CoV-2.PLoS computational biology · 2025Article
- Pre-departure PCR testing of travellers for SARS-CoV-2 was an effective tool in limiting transmission in Greenland during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Latest revisions to the International Health Regulations will fail to prevent future travel chaos.BMJ global health · 2025Article
- Air Passengers' Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Infection With a 14-Day Quarantine and Accuracy Assessment of a Symptom-based Screening System at an Airport.Journal of preventive medicine and public health = Yebang Uihakhoe chi · 2025Article
- The use of quarantine as an international travel measure during the COVID-19 pandemic: A comparative analysis of implementation and equity impacts in five "exemplar" countries.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- WHO'Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- SARS-CoV-2 Infection Risk Imposed by Fully-vaccinated Air Travelers Attending an Island-confined Quarantine System Enabling Tourism During the Pandemic: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Journal of preventive medicine and public health = Yebang Uihakhoe chi · 2024Article
- The adoption of international travel measures during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic: a descriptive analysis.Globalization and health · 2024Article
- The History of Controlling and Treating Infectious Diseases in Ancient China.Current medical science · 2024Review
- Controlling the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malawi: Results from a multi-round study.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Epidemic curves and the profile of patients hospitalized by COVID-19 in a border region.Revista latino-americana de enfermagem · 2024Article
- Executive Summary to the Royal Society report "COVID-19: examining the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions".Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences · 2023Article
- Lessons learned from the Alberta Border Testing Pilot Program.Frontiers in health services · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The effectiveness of international border control measures during the COVID-19 pandemic is not well understood. Using a narrative synthesis approach to published systematic reviews, we synthesized the evidence from both modelling and observational studies on the effects of border control measures on domestic transmission of the virus. We find that symptomatic screening measures were not particularly effective, but that diagnostic-based screening methods were more effective at identifying infected travellers. Targeted travel restrictions levied against travellers from Wuhan were likely temporarily effective but insufficient to stop the exportation of the virus to the rest of the world. Quarantine of inbound travellers was also likely effective at reducing transmission, but only with relatively long quarantine periods, and came with important economic and social effects. There is little evidence that most travel restrictions, including border closure and those implemented to stop the introduction of new variants of concern, were particularly effective. Border control measures played an important role in former elimination locations but only when coupled with strong domestic public health measures. In future outbreaks, if border control measures are to be adopted, they should be seen as part of a broader strategy that includes other non-pharmaceutical interventions. This article is part of the theme issue 'The effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions on the COVID-19 pandemic: the evidence'.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.