J Korean Med Sci.  2023 Jul;38(28):e223. 10.3346/jkms.2023.38.e223.

The Impact of Entry Restrictions on the Spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Variants Between 2021 and 2022

• Hong J
• Park AK
• Radnaabaatar M
• Kim EJ
• Kim DW
• Jung J

• KMID: 2544478
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2023.38.e223

Abstract

To contain the surge of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the South Korean government has implemented non-pharmacological interventions as well as border restrictions. The efficacy of entry restrictions should be evaluated to facilitate their preparation for new variants of SARS-CoV-2. This study explored the impact of border policy changes on overseas entrants and local cases of SARS-CoV-2 variants. Data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency randomly collected between April 11, 2021 and August 20, 2022 were evaluated using the Granger causality model. The results showed that the outbreak gap of delta variants between international and domestic cases was 10 weeks, while that of omicron variants was approximately 2 weeks, meaning that the quarantine policy helped contain delta variants rather than more transmissible variants. It is recommended that countries implement quarantine policies based on particular purposes accounting for the specific features of different variants to avoid potential negative impacts on the economy.

Keyword

SARS-CoV-2; Overseas Entrants; Border Policy; Variants

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Time series of the SARS-CoV-2 variant. (A) Delta. (B) Omicron.SARS-CoV-2 = severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

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  Fig. 2 Granger causality test in the SARS-CoV-2 variant. (A) Delta. (B) Omicron.SARS-CoV-2 = severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

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