Impact of Governmental interventions on epidemic progression and workplace activity during the COVID-19 outbreak

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 21939 - 14
• Main Authors: Ram, Sumit Kumar, Sornette, Didier
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 09-11-2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/766/530; 692/699/255; Communicable Disease Control - methods; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 - prevention & control; Epidemics; Government; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; multidisciplinary; Pandemics; Pandemics - prevention & control; Paralysis; Quarantine; SARS-CoV-2 - isolation & purification; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Workplace
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-01276-5

In the first quarter of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to a state of paralysis. During this period, humanity saw by far the largest organized travel restrictions and unprecedented efforts and global coordination to contain the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Using large scale human mobility and fine grained epidemic incidence data, we develop a framework to understand and quantify the effectiveness of the interventions implemented by various countries to control epidemic growth. Our analysis reveals the importance of timing and implementation of strategic policy in controlling the epidemic. We also unearth significant spatial diffusion of the epidemic before and during the lockdown measures in several countries, casting doubt on the effectiveness or on the implementation quality of the proposed Governmental policies.