Cesare Ferrari / iStock
No attendees at an indoor concert that employed rapid COVID-19 lateral-flow screening, N95 respirators, and a well-ventilated venue tested positive for COVID-19 in the next 8 days, showing no increased virus transmission risk associated with the event, according to preliminary findings from a randomized, controlled trial published yesterday in
The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
A team led by researchers from the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital (GTPUH) in Barcelona, Spain, compared the coronavirus infection rate in 465 concert-goers aged 18 to 59 who were screened for COVID-19 and fever before entry and wore an N95 respirator throughout the event with 495 participants who were screened and then asked to go home. No concert-goers or 58 staff members tested positive 8 days after the event, compared with 2 in the control group.
‘Contact tracing, surveillance key to controlling pandemic’
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Virus likely to stay, but can be contained through responsible human behaviour, says epidemiologist
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It is important for people to make their own risk assessment in ensuring they don’t move out without a mask covering nose and mouth, maintain physical distancing and wash hands at regular intervals, says medical epidemiologist David Heymann.
| Photo Credit: RAMAKRISHNA G
Virus likely to stay, but can be contained through responsible human behaviour, says epidemiologist
Good public health practice entails “contact tracing and surveillance” as they are the key to handling a pandemic like COVID-19. And, lessons can be learnt how countries like South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan have managed to control the outbreaks to small numbers and prevented community transmission, said David Heymann, medical epidemiologist and professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at
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