Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 positive passengers on flights from China to Italy, December 2022
Federica Novazzi, Emanuela Giombini, Martina Rueca, Andreina Baj, Lavinia Fabeni, Angelo Genoni, Francesca Drago Ferrante, Giulia Gramigna, Cesare Ernesto Maria Gruber, Sara Boutahar, Claudia Minosse, Ornella Butera, Renée Pasciuta, Daniele Focosi, Alberto Colombo, Andrea Antinori, Enrico Girardi, Francesco Vaia, Fabrizio Maggi
Abstract
With numbers of COVID-19 cases having substantially increased at the end of 2022 in China, some countries have started or expanded testing and genomic surveillance of travellers. We report screening results in Italy in late December 2022 of 556 flight passengers in provenance from two Chinese provinces. Among these passengers, 126 (22.7%) tested SARS-CoV-2 positive. Whole genome sequencing of 61 passengers' positive samples revealed Omicron variants, notably sub-lineages BA.5.2.48, BF.7.14 and BQ.1.1, in line with data released from China.