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Objectives : To report the experience of quarantine for international arrivals to South Australia requiring quarantine in a medi‐hotel setting during the COVID‐19 pandemic and to describe the range of evidence‐based support services to mitigate the mental health impacts of quarantine. Methods : A range of services targeted at physical and mental wellbeing were provided. Data from 533 adult respondents out of 721 passengers were included. The Kessler 10 was used to measure psychological distress at two time points. Results : About 7.1% of respondents reported psychological distress at time one, reduced to 2.4% at time two. There was no significant difference in psychological distress by gender at either time point. The mean K10 score at time one was 13.6 (standard deviation=5.2) and the mean score at time two was 11.5 (standard deviation=3.1), with a significant reduction in mean scores ( p <0.001) between the two time points. Conclusions : The level of psychological stress in repatriated Australians was low at arrival and improved further at the time of release from quarantine. Implications for public health : A collaborative multi‐sector approach to provide support services for individuals in quarantine can mitigate risks to mental wellbeing.

MDM provided by the NGO has no better impact on growth of the primary school children, however, it reduced prevalence of vitamin deficiency significantly in comparison to the MDM run by Village Panchayats.

With COVID-19 affecting millions of people around the globe, quarantine of international arrivals is a critical public health measure to prevent further disease transmission in local populations. This measure has also been applied in the repatriation of citizens, undertaken by several countries as an ethical obligation and legal responsibility. This article describes the process of planning and preparing for the repatriation operation in South Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interagency collaboration, development of a COVID-19 testing and quarantining protocol, implementing infection prevention and control, and building a specialised health care delivery model were essential aspects of the repatriation operational planning, with a focus on maintaining dignity and wellbeing of the passengers as well as on effective prevention of COVID-19 transmission. From April 2020 to mid-February 2021, more than 14,000 international arrivals travellers have been repatriated under the South Australian repatriation operations. This paper has implications to inform ongoing repatriation efforts in Australia and overseas in a pandemic situation.

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