Abstract

Background

Severe acute respiratory syndrome–related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was found to be the causative microorganism of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which started to spread in Wuhan, China. This study was to evaluate the effectiveness of questionnaire, symptoms-based screening, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) screening of returnees from COVID-19-endemic areas on a chartered flight, to examine the proportion of infected persons and the proportion of asymptomatic persons among infected persons who returned from Wuhan.

Methods

A retrospective cohort study was done in 7 tertiary medical institutions in Japan. A total of 566 Japanese who returned from Wuhan participated in the study.

Results

Overall, 11 of the 566 passengers had a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR result for pharyngeal swabs and 6 were asymptomatic. Only fever differed between SARS-CoV-2-positive and -negative individuals (P < .043). Six of the 11 PCR-positive individuals were asymptomatic; 4 remained positive on day 10, and 1 asymptomatic person tested positive up to day 27. Two of the 11 were negative on the first PCR test and positive on the second.

Conclusions

Our results will be important insights on screening returnees from locked-down cities, as well as providing important data on the proportion of asymptomatic individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2. A 13-day observation period and a second round of PCR may be effective to screen patients, including asymptomatic infections.

Details

Title
SARS-CoV-2 Screening Test for Japanese Returnees From Wuhan, China, January 2020
Author
Kutsuna, Satoshi 1 ; Suzuki, Tadaki 2 ; Hayakawa, Kayoko 1 ; Tsuzuki, Shinya 3 ; Asai, Yusuke 3 ; Suzuki, Tetsuya 1 ; Ide, Satoshi 1 ; Nakamura, Keiji 1 ; Moriyama, Yuki 1 ; Kinoshita, Noriko 1 ; Hosokawa, Naoto 4 ; Osawa, Ryosuke 4 ; Yamamuro, Ryosuke 4 ; Akiyama, Yutaro 1 ; Miyazato, Yusuke 1 ; Nomoto, Hidetoshi 1 ; Nakamoto, Takato 1 ; Ota, Masayuki 1 ; Saito, Sho 1 ; Ishikane, Masahiro 1 ; Morioka, Shinichiro 1 ; Yamamoto, Kei 1 ; Ujiie, Mugen 1 ; Terada, Mari 1 ; Nakamura-Uchiyama, Fukumi 5 ; Sahara, Toshinori 5 ; Sano, Masahiro 6 ; Imamura, Akifumi 7 ; Sekiya, Noritaka 8 ; Fukushima, Kazuaki 7 ; Kawana, Akihiko 9 ; Fujikura, Yuji 9 ; Sano, Tomoya 9 ; Suematsu, Ryohei 9 ; Sakamoto, Naoya 10 ; Nagata, Kaoru 11 ; Kato, Tomoyuki 11 ; Katano, Harutaka 2 ; Wakita, Takaji 2 ; Sugiyama, Haruhito 12 ; Kokudo, Norihiro 12 ; Ohmagari, Norio 1 

 Disease Control and Prevention Center, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan 
 COVID-19 NIID Evacuation Flight Laboratory Testing Team (NEFLATT), National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan 
 AMR Clinical Reference Center, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan 
 Department of Infectious Disease, Kameda Medical Center, Kamogawa City, Chiba, Japan 
 Department of Infectious Diseases, Ebara Hospital, Tokyo Metropolitan Health and Hospitals Corporation, Ota-ku, Tokyo, Japan 
 Department of Infectious Diseases, Toshima Hospital, Tokyo Metropolitan Health and Hospitals Corporation, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, Japan 
 Department of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo Metropolitan Cancer and Infectious Diseases Center Komagome Hospital, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan 
 Department of Infection Prevention and Control, Tokyo Metropolitan Cancer and Infectious Diseases Center Komagome Hospital, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan 
 Division of Infectious Diseases and Respiratory Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, National Defense Medical College, Tokorozawa City, Saitama, Japan 
10  Department of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo Metropolitan Bokutoh General Hospital, Sumida-ku, Tokyo, Japan 
11  Japanese Red Cross Musashino Hospital, Musashino City, Tokyo, Japan 
12  National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan 
Publication year
2020
Publication date
Jul 2020
Publisher
Oxford University Press
e-ISSN
23288957
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3170976555
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.