Modelling on the United States pandemic suggested 'the pandemic would have been almost completely suppressed from significantly taking off if the lockdown measures were implemented two weeks earlier' and that the second wave would have been less severe had the lockdown lasted another two weeks. Ī study investigating the spread based on studies of the most common symptoms such as loss of taste and smell in France, Italy and the UK showed a marked decrease in new symptoms just a few days after the start of confinement on the countries ( Italy and France) with the strongest lockdowns. Lockdowns are thought to be most effective at containing or preventing COVID-19 community transmission, healthcare costs and deaths when implemented earlier, with greater stringency, and when not lifted too early. Several researchers, from modelling and demonstrated examples, have concluded that lockdowns are effective at reducing the spread of, and deaths caused by, COVID-19.

4 Variation by countries and territories.

1.1 Voluntary versus mandatory restrictions.

Īlthough public health experts and economists generally supported lockdown restrictions, citing greater long-term costs for allowing the disease to spread uncontrollably, pandemic restrictions have had health, social, and economic impacts, and have been met with protests in some territories. To achieve a balance between restrictions and normal life, the WHO recommends a response to the pandemic that consists of strict personal hygiene, effective contact tracing, and isolating when ill. The World Health Organization's recommendation on curfews and lockdowns is that they should be short-term measures to reorganize, regroup, rebalance resources, and protect health workers who are exhausted. Research and case studies have shown that lockdowns are effective at reducing the spread of COVID-19, therefore flattening the curve. Although similar disease control measures have been used for hundreds of years, the scale seen in the 2020s is thought to be unprecedented.

By April 2020, about half of the world's population was under some form of lockdown, with more than 3.9 billion people in more than 90 countries or territories having been asked or ordered to stay at home by their governments. These restrictions were established to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions colloquially known as lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, cordons sanitaires and similar societal restrictions) have been implemented in numerous countries and territories around the world.

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