London English news | London, Latest News & Live Updates in English | English News (Latest English News) at Lokmattimes.com

London [UK], Mar 25 : After studying the spread of coronavirus from China to other parts of the world, researchers suggest that travel advisories are most useful in the early and the late phase of an epidemic.Analysis of human mobility and epidemiological data by a global consortium of researchers, led by the University of Oxford and Northeastern University, shows that human mobility was predictive of the spread of the epidemic in China.Restrictions of travel from Wuhan, unfortunately, came too late and research showed that the impact of travel restrictions declines as the epidemic grows.Provinces outside Hubei that acted early to test, track and contain imported COVID-19 cases fared the best at preventing or containing local outbreaks.Mobile geolocation data from Baidu Inc, combined with a rich epidemiological dataset from the Open COVID-19 Data Working Group, showed that local person-to-person transmission happened extensively early on in the coronavirus outbreak and was mitigated by drastic control measures.However, with an average incubation period of 5 days, and up to 14 days in some cases, these mobility restrictions did not begin to positively impact the data on new cases for over a week -- with things appearing to get worse in the 5-7 days immediately after the lockdown as the local transmission was well underway.Among cases reported outside Hubei, 515 cases had a known travel history to Wuhan and a symptom onset date before January 31, 2020, as compared with only 39 after January 31, illustrating the effect of travel restrictions in decreasing the spread to other Chinese provinces."Our findings show that early in the coronavirus outbreak travel restrictions were effective in preventing the import of infections from a known source," said Dr Moritz Kraemer from the Oxford Martin Programme on Pandemic Genomics and the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford."However, once COVID-19 cases begin spreading locally the contribution of new importations was much smaller. This is where a full package of measures including local mobility restrictions, testing, tracing and isolation need to work together to mitigate the epidemic," Kraemer added."Chinese provinces and other countries that have successfully halted internal transmission of COVID-19 need to consider carefully how they will manage to reinstate travel and mobility to avoid the reintroduction and spread of the disease in their populations," said Kraemer.Prof Samuel V Scarpino of Network Science Institute (NetSI) at Northeastern University said: "The political will in many countries is lagging behind the spread of COVID-19.""Travel and mobility restrictions are the most useful right at the start, when local transmission has not yet become a factor. After the transmission is established, physical distancing and the quarantine of sick individuals will work, but it takes time," added Prof Scarpino.( With inputs from ANI )

LondonFOLLOW

London, Latest News

India ODI skipper Mithali Raj has said that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should organise women's Indian Premier League (IPL) by next year even it is on a 'slightly smaller scale' than the men's IPL. ...

All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club (AELTC) has said that it is continuing a detailed evaluation of all scenarios, including postponement and cancellation of the Wimbledon due to the coronavirus pandemic and has called for an 'emergency meeting'. ...

As the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc around the world, the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) has called for an 'urgent meeting' with the Premier League and the English Football League (EFL) to discuss its impact on clubs and players' ...

A UK court has denied bail to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is fighting extradition to the US, after his attorneys expressed concerns that he would be at particular risk if he contracted the novel coronavirus in prison. ...

Extending school and workplace closures in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus originated last December, until April instead of March would likely delay the outbreak of a second wave until the end of this year, said a study published in ...

England all-rounder Ben Stokes has said that he is preparing for his return to competitive cricket at the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which has been suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. ...

Tottenham's Heung-Min Son, who fractured his arm in February, said he is 'doing alright' and working hard to be ready to make a comeback. ...

After studying the spread of coronavirus from China to other parts of the world, researchers suggest that travel advisories are most useful in the early and the late phase of an epidemic. ...