How to find a leaky quarantine

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-04-21 09:01

New Zealand

PHOTO: Tony Yakovlenko/Unsplash

Covid-19 could be spreading within a quarantine facility if a high proportion of cases are picked up in their second week of quarantine, New Zealand modelling finds. The researchers say the normal rate of Covid-19 cases detected in the second week is 17 per cent, and if that rises to roughly 20 per cent or higher, it could mean there is transmission through the facility. They say a significant jump in this number would signal needing to review the facility's infection prevention procedures.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

As more countries restrict border access due to Covid-19, we show that the combination of 14-day quarantine with two tests is highly effective in preventing an infectious case entering the community, provided there is no transmission within quarantine facilities. Shorter quarantine periods, or reliance on testing only with no quarantine, substantially increases the risk of an infectious case being released. The fraction of cases detected in the second week of quarantine may be a useful indicator of the likelihood of transmission occurring during the quarantine period.

Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Research The Royal Society, Web page URL after publication

Journal/
conference: Journal of the Royal Society Interface

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Te Pūnaha Matatini, University of Canterbury, University of Auckland

Funder: This work was funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and Te Pūnaha Matatini, Centre of Research Excellence in Complex Systems.

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.