On 2 December 2020, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) published new Guidelines to support Member States in determining a coordinated approach to reduce the risks related to the movement of people within and between the Union and the European Economic Area (EEA) countries in the context of the coronavirus outbreak. 

While travel and transfers may contribute to the spread of pathogens and/or their introduction into areas where they were not previously circulating, the best knowledge available shows that, on the contrary, in most of the countries where the virus is already present, the impact of imported cases on its further spread among the population is very low. Therefore, air travellers should not automatically be considered a high risk for spreading infection but rather as mostly asymptomatic individuals with a low probability of being infected with coronavirus, comparable to that in the population of the country of origin, unless they have been in contact with a confirmed positive case.

With regard, on the other hand, to travel-related measures aimed at controlling the spread of the pandemic, available evidence does not support quarantine and testing of travellers as an effective public health measure which will substantially reduce overall transmission of the virus in the population of a particular country, inasmuch as every testing and/or quarantine strategy leaves some residual risk of importation. However, since a strategy must be in place to mitigate such risk and prevent further transmission, the Guidelines encourage countries to provide reliable information to travellers about the virus, the epidemiological situation and the measures adopted in the country or town of destination.

Marco Stillo