Effect of national and local lockdowns on the control of COVID-19 pandemic: a rapid review.

OBJECTIVES: to describe and compare the effectiveness of national and local lockdowns in controlling the spread of COVID-19. METHODS: a rapid review of published and grey literature on COVID-19 pandemic was conducted following predefined eligibility criteria by searching electronic databases, repositories of pre-print articles, websites and databases of international health, and research related institutions and organisations. RESULTS: of 584 initially identified records up to 5 July 2020, 19 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. Most of the studies (No. 11) used the reproduction  number (Rt) as a measure of effect and in all of them areduction of the estimated value at post-intervention period was found. The implementation of lockdown in 11 European countries was associated with an average 82% reduction of Rt, ranging from a  posterior Rt of 0.44 (95%CI 0.26-0.61) for Norway to a posterior Rt of 0.82 (95%CI 0.73- 0.93) for  Belgium. Changes in infection rates and transmission rates were estimated in 8 studies. Daily changes in infection rates ranged from -0.6% (Sweden) to -11.3% (Hubei and Guangdong provinces). Additionally, other studies reported a change in the trend of hospitalizations (Italy, Spain) and positive effects on the  doubling time of cases (Hubei, China) after lockdown. CONCLUSIONS: results of this rapid review suggest a positive effect of the containment measures on the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, with a major effect in  countries where lockdown started early and was more restrictive. Rigorous research is warranted to evaluate which approach is the most effective in each stage of the epidemic and in specific social contexts, in particular addressing if these approaches should be implemented on the whole population or target specific risk groups.

How health systems approached respiratory viral pandemics over time: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Several healthcare systems facing respiratory viral infections outbreaks, like COVID-19, have not been prepared to manage them. Public health mitigation solutions ranging from isolation of infected or suspected cases to implementation of national lockdowns have proven their effectiveness for the outbreak's control. However, the adjustment of public health measures is crucial during transition phases to avoid new outbreaks. To address the need for designing evidence-based strategies, we performed a systematic review to identify healthcare systems interventions, experiences and recommendations that have been used to manage different respiratory viral infections outbreaks in the past. METHODS: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and Cochrane were searched to retrieve eligible studies of any study design, published in English until 17 April 2020. Double-blinded screening process was conducted by titles/abstracts and subsequently eligible full texts were read and pertinent data were extracted. When applicable, quality assessment was conducted for the included articles. We performed a narrative synthesis of each implemented public health approaches. RESULTS: We included a total of 24 articles addressing the public health approaches implemented for respiratory viral infections outbreaks for COVID-19, influenza A H1N1, MERS and severe acute respiratory syndrome . The identified approaches are ascribable to two main categories: healthcare system strategies and healthcare provider interventions. The key components of an effective response on respiratory viral outbreaks included the implementation of evidence-based contextual policies, intrahospital management actions, community healthcare facilities, non-pharmaceutical interventions, enhanced surveillance, workplace preventive measures, mental health interventions and communication plans. CONCLUSION: The identified healthcare system strategies applied worldwide to face epidemics or pandemics are a useful knowledge base to inform decision-makers about control measures to be used in the transition phases of COVID-19 and beyond.