IATA has documented 44 cases of COVID transmission in flight

Created on 27.10.2020 08:52

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) conducted a survey which indicated that only 44 flight-related COVID-19 cases have been documented since the beginning of current year. During this period, about 1.2 billion passengers were transported worldwide. Therefore, the risk of contracting COVID on board is estimated at one case per 27 million travelers, Interfax reported.

"We believe these indicators extremely encouraging. In addition, the overwhelming majority of reported cases have been occurred before facial wearing became widespread," said David Powell, IATA Medical Advisor, quoted in a statement. Protection measures against the spread of COVID in air transport were showed the efficiency, IATA stated. An additional protection is added by the air filtration system on board.

"Nothing is completely safe. But considering only 44 published cases of potential in-flight transmission of COVID-19 among 1.2 billion travelers, the risk of contracting the virus on board seems to fall into the same category as a lightning struck." said Alexander de Juniac, IATA CEO. Previously, IATA called for the removal of quarantine restrictions on international flights and, as an alternative, implement testing of passengers for COVID-19 before departure.

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