TORONTO -- Should borders fully close? How effective is temperature screening? Does quarantining travellers prevent further spread of the virus?

These are just some of the questions a team of international researchers is trying to answer as countries around the world grapple with how to govern travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kelley Lee, a professor of public health at Simon Fraser University and a Canada Research Chair in global health governance, is part of that team, which includes researchers from Canada, Hong Kong, the United States and Australia in co-ordination with the World Health Organization (WHO).

They鈥檙e working on developing tools that will inform governments on the use of travel measures during the COVID-19 pandemic and other possible future global outbreaks. To do this, they鈥檙e collecting data on the efficacy of certain cross-border measures in preventing the spread of coronavirus.

Lee said it鈥檚 important to examine these measures from an international perspective because countries have to work together during a pandemic.

鈥淲e know that during previous public health emergencies, that co-ordinated action under WHO鈥檚 International Health Regulations is very important for effective response,鈥� she told CTV鈥檚 Your Morning on Wednesday.

When it comes to the use of cross-border measures, Lee said the team discovered that language is important and the terms 鈥渂order closures鈥� and 鈥渢ravel bans鈥� aren鈥檛 the most helpful.

鈥淭hey can be quite misleading,鈥� she explained. 鈥淣o country really, completely opens or closes its borders. So many people are still traveling across international borders every day, including our Canadian border.鈥�

Instead, Lee said the focus should be on who is allowed and under what circumstances should they be permitted to cross.

鈥淵ou can think of a border more like a tap, rather than a door. You can open or close your tap depending on how you decide which people come across and under what circumstances and then you can manage your border more effectively,鈥� she said.

Lee also said the team learned that travel restrictions are only effective if they鈥檙e used in conjunction with other public health measures, such as physical distancing, testing, and quarantining.

鈥淭hose need to be thought of together with travel restrictions rather than instead of,鈥� she said.