Department of Health and Wellbeing, Government of South Australia.
University of Adelaide.
Commun Dis Intell (2018). 2021 May 27;45. doi: 10.33321/cdi.2021.45.29.
With COVID-19 affecting millions of people around the globe, quarantine of international arrivals is a critical public health measure to prevent further disease transmission in local populations. This measure has also been applied in the repatriation of citizens, undertaken by several countries as an ethical obligation and legal responsibility. This article describes the process of planning and preparing for the repatriation operation in South Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interagency collaboration, development of a COVID-19 testing and quarantining protocol, implementing infection prevention and control, and building a specialised health care delivery model were essential aspects of the repatriation operational planning, with a focus on maintaining dignity and wellbeing of the passengers as well as on effective prevention of COVID-19 transmission. From April 2020 to mid-February 2021, more than 14,000 international arrivals travellers have been repatriated under the South Australian repatriation operations. This paper has implications to inform ongoing repatriation efforts in Australia and overseas in a pandemic situation.
随着 COVID-19 在全球范围内影响数百万人，对国际入境者进行隔离是防止当地人群进一步传播疾病的关键公共卫生措施。这项措施也被几个国家用于公民遣返，这是一种道德义务和法律责任。本文描述了在 COVID-19 大流行期间，南澳大利亚州遣返行动的规划和准备过程。机构间合作、制定 COVID-19 检测和检疫协议、实施感染预防和控制，以及建立专门的医疗服务提供模式，是遣返作业规划的重要方面，重点是维护乘客的尊严和福祉，以及有效防止 COVID-19 的传播。从 2020 年 4 月到 2021 年 2 月中旬，在南澳大利亚州的遣返行动下，已有超过 14000 名国际入境旅客被遣返。本文对澳大利亚和海外大流行期间的遣返工作具有启示意义。
