TY - JOUR AU - Speake, Hollie AU - Phillips, Anastasia AU - Chong, Tracie AU - Sikazwe, Chisha AU - Levy, Avram AU - Lang, Jurissa AU - Scalley, Benjamin AU - Speers, David AU - Smith, David AU - Effler, Paul AU - McEvoy, Suzanne T1 - Flight-Associated Transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Corroborated by Whole-Genome Sequencing T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2020 VL - 26 IS - 12 SP - 2872 SN - 1080-6059 AB - To investigate potential transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) during a domestic flight within Australia, we performed epidemiologic analyses with whole-genome sequencing. Eleven passengers with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and symptom onset within 48 hours of the flight were considered infectious during travel; 9 had recently disembarked from a cruise ship with a retrospectively identified SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. The virus strain of those on the cruise and the flight was linked (A2-RP) and had not been previously identified in Australia. For 11 passengers, none of whom had traveled on the cruise ship, PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 illness developed between 48 hours and 14 days after the flight. Eight cases were considered flight associated with the distinct SARS-CoV-2 A2-RP strain; the remaining 3 cases (1 with A2-RP) were possibly flight associated. All 11 passengers had been in the same cabin with symptomatic persons who had culture-positive A2-RP virus strain. This investigation provides evidence of flight-associated SARS-CoV-2 transmission. KW - 2019 novel coronavirus disease KW - coronavirus disease KW - COVID-19 KW - severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 KW - SARS-CoV-2 KW - viruses KW - respiratory infections KW - zoonoses KW - aircraft KW - in-flight KW - flight-associated KW - transmission KW - airport KW - whole-genome sequencing KW - cruise KW - outbreak DO - 10.3201/eid2612.203910 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/12/20-3910_article ER - End of Reference