Experience repatriation of citizens from epicentre using commercial flights during COVID-19 pandemic

International Journal of Emergency Medicine

article

Shaikh Abdul Karim, Sarah¹  Md Tahir, Fariza Anis²  Mohamad, Umul Khair³  Abu Bakar, Marlina²  Mohamad, Khairul Nizam⁴  Suleiman, Maria⁵  Omar Khan, Hussein⁶  Md Noor, Julina⁷ 

[1] Prehospital Care Services Unit, Hospital Sg Buloh;Prehospital Care Services Unit, Hospital Serdang;Prehospital Care Services Unit, Hospital Kuala Lumpur;Emergency and Trauma Department, Hospital Kemaman;Disease Control Division, Ministry of Health Malaysia;National Disaster Management Agency;Emergency Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA

关键词: Aircraft;    Disaster medicine planning;    Infectious disease medicine;    Prevention and control;    SARS coronavirus;    Transport medicine;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12245-020-00308-7

学科分类：工业工程学

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries instituted closure of borders from international and local travels. Stranded citizens appeal to their governments to embark on citizen repatriation missions. Between February and April 2020, the Government of Malaysia directed repatriation of its citizens from China, Iran, Italy and Indonesia. We describe the preparation and execution of the repatriation mission using chartered commercial aircraft. The mission objectives were to repatriate as many citizens based on aircraft capacity and prevent onboard transmission of the disease to flight personnel. Five repatriation missions performed was led by the National Agency for Disaster Management (NADMA) with the Ministry of Health providing technical expertise. A total of 432 citizens were repatriated from the missions. The operations were divided into four phases: the pre-boarding screening phase, the boarding and in-flight phase, the reception phase and the quarantine phase. The commercial aircraft used were from two different commercial airlines. Each mission had flight crew members between 10 and 17 people. There were 82 positive cases detected among the repatriated citizens. There was a single positive case of a healthcare worker involved in the mission, based on the sample taken on arrival of the flight. There were no infections involving flight team members. Medical flight crew must be familiar with aircraft fittings that differ from one commercial airline to another as it influences infection control practices. A clear understanding of socio-political situation of a country, transmission routes of a pathogen, disease presentation, and knowledge of aviation procedures, aircraft engineering and design is of great importance in preparing for such missions. Our approach of multidiscipline team involvement managed to allow us to provide and execute the operations successfully.

【 授权许可】

CC BY|CC0