Scripps Research scientists identify how SARS-CoV-2 spreads in the Middle East Findings highlight biases in viral sampling and urgent need for better global health infrastructure.
August 15, 2022
LA JOLLA, CA Understanding the global transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is critical for rapidly containing and handling the virus, especially as new variants and mutations of concern emerge. Certain regions in the world, including the Middle East and Northern Africa region, have been notoriously understudied and under-sampled. For the first time, Scripps Research scientists and collaborators unveil how the virus spreads in this region to better understand the unique ways that infectious disease threats arise and evolve in the Middle East.
The findings, published on August 15, 2022, in Nature Communications, showed that the strong regional connectivity of the Middle East drove both introduction risk and export risk of the virus events that mainly stemmed from land-based travel while air travel restrictions were in place. The discoveries highlight the importance of improved pandemic surveillance infrastructure across the entire globe, especially given that transmission dynamics have been obscured by uneven sampling.
Before the study, it wasn't entirely clear what was driving transmission dynamics in the Middle East, or how these relationships were changing over time in response to measures such as border closures and lockdowns, says Kristian Andersen, PhD, a co- author of the study and a professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at Scripps Research. Our findings illuminate these drivers, and more importantly, the policies that will be helpful in mitigating the virus in this specific part of the world.
The study focused on Jordan, due to its central geography and tight sociopolitical, cultural and economic ties with other countries in the Middle East. From March to September 2020, Jordan banned all non-essential air travel in an effort to mitigate the viral spread, while also implementing a two-week-long quarantine for those who did enter the country.
Working hand-in-hand with Issa Abu-Dayyeh, PhD, senior author of the study and head of immunology and research at Biolab Diagnostic Laboratories in Jordan, the researchers integrated genomic, epidemiological and travel data to reveal the key drivers of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from March 2020 to May 2021. They found that regional connectivity was a considerable driver of viral transmission, given that 85% of incoming air passengers from March to early September 2020 were from other countries in the Middle East.
Land-based travel was also a big culprit for introducing new strains of the virus into the country, especially from freight transport. While private land-based travel was limited, incoming truck volume recovered to pre-pandemic levels from July 2020 onwards suggesting this is where viral introduction stemmed from. Similarly, they also discovered that land travel drove Jordan's exportation of the virus to other surrounding countries.
However, once travel restrictions were lifted in September 2020, viral introductions were then attributed mainly to air travel once again, as evidenced by non-Middle Eastern air travel increasing from 15 to 25% of total volume.
Our findings underscore that travel restrictions centered solely around air travel are not enough to effectively curb the virus. Strategies to slow viral spread should also manage risk from land-based travel including commercial transport especially in a region as interconnected as the Middle East, says Abu-Dayyeh.
While the results were largely in line with the researchers' initial hypotheses, the findings did emphasize a stark point: the need for improved surveillance infrastructure across the world, which would help maintain public health efforts and mitigate outbreaks quickly.
Without robust efforts across all major global regions, we all become that much more vulnerable to the spread of the virus, says Edyth Parker, PhD, first author of the study and a postdoctoral associate in the Andersen lab.
Parker notes that with the world being so vulnerably connected as it is today, an equitable surveillance system is necessary to closely monitor and catch new variants as they arise. She urges that maintaining a local testing capacity is critical for following not only the virus, but other public health threats as well.
If a certain area is dependent on another for tracking transmission dynamics, that severely limits how quickly and as a result, how well we can perform our public health efforts, Parker adds.
Through the collaboration, Biolab Diagnostic Laboratories is now independently driving SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in Jordan and the broader Middle East. The researchers will continue examining regional variants and immune dynamics there, as well as continue bolstering their public health response to track additional infectious diseases that pose serious threats to the world.
In addition to Andersen, Abu-Dayyeh and Parker, additional authors of the study, Regional connectivity drove bidirectional transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the Middle East during travel restrictions, include Catelyn Anderson, Mark Zeller, Refugio Robles-Sikisaka, Alaa Abdel Latif, Karthik Ramesh, Ezra Kurzban, Nathaniel L. Matteson, Laura D. Hughes, Michelle McGraw and Shirlee Wohl of Scripps Research; Ahmad Tibi and Amid Abdelnour of Biolab Diagnostic Laboratories; Jennifer Havens and Joel O. Wertheim of UCSD; Genevi ve Laroche, Mehdi Benlarbi, Ardeshir Ariana and Marceline C t of the University of Ottawa; Alexander Watts and Kamran Khan of Bluedot; Abdalla Awidi of the University of Jordan; Saied A. Jaradat of Jordan University of Science and Technology; Karthik Gangavarapu and Marc A. Suchard of UCLA; Alvin X. Han of University of Amsterdam; and Emily Spencer and Laura Nichols
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
Scripps Research scientists identify how SARS-CoV-2 spreads in the Middle East Findings highlight biases in viral sampling and urgent need for better global health infrastructure.
