We are an international research group focusing on generating new data and analysis to inform complex decisions regarding the adoption and lifting of travel measures to control pandemics.
We aim to support global coordination in the use of travel measures, including the role of the WHO International Health Regulations (2005), as the basis for strengthening future global outbreak response and pandemic preparedness.
Restricting movements across borders during outbreaks is a longstanding practice to control communicable disease transmission. However, evidence of measures such as travel advisories, border closures and trade restrictions effectively protecting public health remains decidedly mixed. Studies of past outbreaks have found that travel restrictions have limited impact on the trajectory of an outbreak, except within specific contexts, and may even prove to be counterproductive to public health efforts.