No evidence for added value of introducing mandatory COVID-19 testing for international travellers entering Norway with a valid EU digital COVID certificate.
COVID-19 screening
surveillance
travel restrictions
Journal
Infectious diseases (London, England)
ISSN: 2374-4243
Titre abrégé: Infect Dis (Lond)
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101650235
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
12 2022
12 2022
Historique:
pubmed:
15
10
2022
medline:
21
10
2022
entrez:
14
10
2022
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
As a response to the emergence of the new Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant, on December 3, 2021, mandatory testing after entry to Norway was extended to include international travellers with a valid COVID-19 certificate. We aim to validate if mandatory testing upon arrival increased the proportion of travellers confirmed with a positive COVID-19 test after entry. We used individual level data on registered travellers linked with data on COVID-19 testing and confirmed COVID-19 cases. The proportions of confirmed cases among international travellers before and after the requirement were introduced was analysed with an interrupted times series design. The proportion of travellers with an EU COVID-19 certificate tested at an official test station increased from 3% to 43% after mandatory testing was introduced. However, the proportion of all travellers confirmed with COVID-19 rose only marginally with 0.14 percentage point directly after the intervention ( Our findings suggest that the benefit of mandatory testing of all international travellers to Norway was marginal in the period directly after the emergence of the omicron variant. This result must be understood in the context of free of charge testing at official test centres, a government recommendation on a low threshold to test when experiencing symptoms in addition to limited surveillance of the compliance of the test after arrival requirement.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
As a response to the emergence of the new Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant, on December 3, 2021, mandatory testing after entry to Norway was extended to include international travellers with a valid COVID-19 certificate. We aim to validate if mandatory testing upon arrival increased the proportion of travellers confirmed with a positive COVID-19 test after entry.
METHODS
We used individual level data on registered travellers linked with data on COVID-19 testing and confirmed COVID-19 cases. The proportions of confirmed cases among international travellers before and after the requirement were introduced was analysed with an interrupted times series design.
RESULTS
The proportion of travellers with an EU COVID-19 certificate tested at an official test station increased from 3% to 43% after mandatory testing was introduced. However, the proportion of all travellers confirmed with COVID-19 rose only marginally with 0.14 percentage point directly after the intervention (
CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that the benefit of mandatory testing of all international travellers to Norway was marginal in the period directly after the emergence of the omicron variant. This result must be understood in the context of free of charge testing at official test centres, a government recommendation on a low threshold to test when experiencing symptoms in addition to limited surveillance of the compliance of the test after arrival requirement.
Identifiants
pubmed: 36238994
doi: 10.1080/23744235.2022.2131899
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM