ABSTRACT
Objective To analyze the trend of COVID-19 epidemic and to comparatively evaluate effects of economic policies, containment and closure policies and health system policies in China , South Korea, the United States (US) and France. Methods Daily confirmed COVID-19 cases and daily comprehensive policy index, specific indicators in mainland China, South Korea, US and France were collected. Considering the lag effect of policy effects, poisson regression model was established to estimate the daily real-time regeneration (Rt) , and the log-log model with variable coefficient was used to compare the prevention and control effects of policies and measures in different countries. Results Containment and closure policies and health system policies were negatively correlated with Rt, and the cumulative lag effect weakens with the increase of lag time. Economic policies were negatively correlated with Rt only in US and France. The effect of American and French policies on Rt was weaker than that of China and South Korea. Conclusion Containment and closure policies and health system policies have a great effect on reducing Rt and controlling the epidemic, the timely and powerful comprehensive blockade measures at the early stage of the epidemic have better effects than mitigation measures.Copyright © 2023, Publication Centre of Anhui Medical University. All rights reserved.