Classification Schemes of COVID-19 High Risk Areas and Resulting Policies: A Rapid Review

Frontiers in Public Health

article

Olalekan A. Uthman¹  Olatunji O. Adetokunboh²  Charles Shey Wiysonge⁴  Sameh Al-Awlaqi⁵  Johanna Hanefeld⁶  Charbel El Bcheraoui⁵ 

[1] Warwick Centre for Global Health Research, The University of Warwick;South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis, Stellenbosch University;Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Global Health, Stellenbosch University;Cochrane South Africa, South African Medical Research Council;Evidence-Based Public Health, Centre for International Health Protection, Robert Koch Institute;Centre for International Health Protection, Robert Koch Institute

关键词: COVID-19;    high-risk areas;    travel restrictions;    travel ban;    classification schemes;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpubh.2022.769174

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a significant global health threat since January 2020. Policies to reduce human mobility have been recognized to effectively control the spread of COVID-19; although the relationship between mobility, policy implementation, and virus spread remains contentious, with no clear pattern for how countries classify each other, and determine the destinations to- and from which to restrict travel. In this rapid review, we identified country classification schemes for high-risk COVID-19 areas and associated policies which mirrored the dynamic situation in 2020, with the aim of identifying any patterns that could indicate the effectiveness of such policies. We searched academic databases, including PubMed, Scopus, medRxiv, Google Scholar, and EMBASE. We also consulted web pages of the relevant government institutions in all countries. This rapid review's searches were conducted between October 2020 and December 2021. Web scraping of policy documents yielded additional 43 country reports on high-risk area classification schemes. In 43 countries from which relevant reports were identified, six issued domestic classification schemes. International classification schemes were issued by the remaining 38 countries, and these mainly used case incidence per 100,000 inhabitants as key indicator. The case incidence cut-off also varied across the countries, ranging from 20 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the past 7 days to more than 100 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the past 28 days. The criteria used for defining high-risk areas varied across countries, including case count, positivity rate, composite risk scores, community transmission and satisfactory laboratory testing. Countries either used case incidence in the past 7, 14 or 28 days. The resulting policies included restrictions on internal movement and international travel. The quarantine policies can be summarized into three categories: ( 1 ) 14 days self-isolation, ( 2 ) 10 days self-isolation and ( 3 ) 14 days compulsory isolation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY