International travel responsible for spike in Covid deaths
Research led by a team at the Granite City institution found an increase of international travel was associated with a 3.4-per-cent spike in daily Covid deaths
The findings come following research that examined a range of factors, including border arrivals, population density and the percentage of people living in urban areas – which were then compared with the mortality rates across 37 of the worst hit countries.
Lead Author and Director of the Aberdeen Clinical Academic training scheme, Professor Phyo Myint, said: “Countries with particularly good healthcare facilities were recording more deaths, this is hypothetical as research has limitations, but countries that shutdown their borders have done really well, which indirectly supports our findings.
“The research is quite timely with current restrictions and news of new strains, when we look at this work, we can also see the effect of public health measures.”
Recent restrictions could improve situation
Focusing on the early stages of the pandemic, the team used international travel data from 2018 as a proxy for 2020 data before international travel restrictions were imposed.
Travel restrictions have tightened around the world recently, with Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon having confirmed plans to introduce hotel quarantine for all direct arrivals to Scotland. Canada has also made hotel quarantines compulsory for inbound travellers; and travellers from most parts of the world will now need to be tested for Covid-19 before going to New Zealand.