Coronavirus: Aberdeen study finds international travel led to increase in deaths
A research team at Aberdeen University
examined a range of factors, including international arrivals, population density, the percentage of people living in urban areas, age, average body mass index and smoking prevalence.
They then compared these to mortality rates across the 37 countries most severely affected by the first wave of the pandemic.
They found that once adjustments were made for these factors, as well as for the impact of socioeconomic and environmental conditions and healthcare systems, the biggest increase in death rates was associated with international arrivals.
Their work focused on the early stages of the pandemic, using international travel data for 2018 as a proxy for 2020 data before international travel restrictions were imposed.