Public health response to COVID-19 in selected countries - Hits and misses

Rama Shankar Rath; Ayush Lohiya; Farhad Ahamed; Jeyashree Kathiresan; Rizwan Abdulkader Suliankatchi

doi:10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1482_20

Public health response to COVID-19 in selected countries - Hits and misses

J Family Med Prim Care. 2020 Nov 30;9(11):5580-5587. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1482_20. eCollection 2020 Nov.

Authors

Rama Shankar Rath¹, Ayush Lohiya², Farhad Ahamed³, Jeyashree Kathiresan⁴, Rizwan Abdulkader Suliankatchi⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Community Medicine & Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India.
² Department of Public Health, Public Health Specialist, Super Specialty Cancer Hospital, Uttar Pradesh, India.
³ Department of Community and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Kalyani, West Bengal, India.
⁴ Scientist D, National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
⁵ Department of Statistics, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University,Tamil Nadu, India.

Abstract

Background: Lack of a cure or vaccine of COVID-19 forced us to rely on public health interventions (PHIs) for combating the pandemic. The main objective of the study to assess the PHI in selected countries and relate the various factors related to the intervention with the case load of the country.

Methods: An ecological analysis was conducted using secondary data on PHIs and disease burden extracted from official documents and press releases of the respective countries. Disease transmission was described based on calculated doubling time. PHIs were classified into 14 categories within three domains. An intervention score was calculated to reflect the number and stringency of the PHIs. Correlations between intervention scores, daily new cases and doubling time were presented.

Results: Brazil and the USA had the lowest intervention scores while South Korea had the highest scores. The median doubling time was negatively correlated with the rapidity of the escalation of the PHIs.

Conclusion: Dynamic government policies and timely PHIs, which are locally relevant and ably supported by the public are key to successful containment of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; pandemic; public health interventions.