Voluntary versus mandatory restrictions A member of the Peruvian Army with a police dog enforces curfew on 31 March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru Lockdowns in Australia and Vietnam in response to Delta outbreaks proved less effective at containment than previous lockdowns were against the spread of other variants. The emergence of the highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in 2021 has led some commentators to suggest that although lockdowns continue to reduce the spread of COVID-19, they have become less effective at containing it. New Zealand and Vietnam also adopted a "Zero-COVID" strategy throughout 2020 that included targeted lockdowns. This " zero community transmission" approach was adopted in Australia, and a strict four month lockdown in the state of Victoria during an outbreak in Melbourne, combined with other measures, averted a wider outbreak in the country in 2020. Similarly, modelling on Australian data concluded that achieving zero community transmission through a strict lockdown lowers healthcare and economic costs compared to less stringent measures that allow transmission to continue, and warned that early relaxation of restrictions have greater costs. The relatively high number of cases and deaths in Sweden, which has kept much of its society open during the pandemic, when compared to its neighbours with comparable demographics Norway, Denmark and Finland that did enforce lockdowns, is thought to be at least partly attributable to this difference in policy. The stringent lockdown in Hubei in early 2020 proved effective at controlling the COVID-19 outbreak in China. 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. : 40 The authors attribute the differences in findings to an earlier review to its inclusion of modelling studies. : 62 A systematic review with Johns Hopkins University by economists concluded that lockdowns as opposed to guidelines or medical advice had little to no effects on COVID-19 mortality. There is disagreement about the size of the effect of lockdowns on COVID-19 mortality. 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 modeling and demonstrated examples, have concluded that lockdowns were somewhat effective at reducing the spread of, and deaths caused by, COVID-19. They have also had profound negative economic impacts, and have been met with protests in some territories. In addition to the health effects of lockdown restrictions, researchers have found the lockowns have reduced crime and violence by armed non-state actors, such as the Islamic State, and other terrorist groups. 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 lockdowns is that they should be very brief, short-term measures to reorganize, regroup, rebalance resources, and protect health workers who are exhausted. Research and case studies have shown that lockdowns were generally 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 of those implemented 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 with the intention 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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