Abstract
BackgroundIn December 2019, a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was recognized in Wuhan, China. It was characterised by rapid spread causing a pandemic. Multiple public health interventions have been implemented worldwide to decrease the transmission of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The objective of this systematic review is to evaluate the implemented public health interventions to control the spread of the outbreak of COVID-19. Methods: We systematically searched PubMed, Science Direct and MedRxiv for relevant articles published in English up to March 16, 2021. We included quasi experimental studies, clinical trials, cohort studies, longitudinal studies, case-control studies and interrupted time series. We included the studies that investigated the effect of the implemented public health measures to prevent and control the outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).ResultsThe database search using the predefined combinations of Mesh terms found 13,497 studies of which 3595 in PubMed, 7393 in Science Direct 2509 preprints in MedRxiv. After removal of the duplicates and the critical reading only 18 articles were included in this systematic review and processed for data extraction.ConclusionsPublic health interventions and non-pharmaceutical measurements were effective in decreasing the transmission of COVID-19. The included studies showed that travel restrictions, borders measures, quarantine of travellers arriving from affected countries, city lockdown, restrictions of mass gathering, isolation and quarantine of confirmed cases and close contacts, social distancing measures, compulsory mask wearing, contact tracing and testing, school closures and personal protective equipment use among health workers were effective in mitigating the spread of COVID-19.
Highlights
In the twenty-first century, two highly pathogenic human coronaviruses (HCoVs) severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) emerged from animal reservoirs to cause global epidemics
Three studies [16, 22, 26] have found that travel entry restrictions and bans, borders control measures and quarantine of travellers especially the ones arriving from affected countries along with other interventions was effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19
Seven studies [14, 15, 23, 24, 27, 30, 31] have shown that city lockdown, stay at home orders, traffic suspension and restrictions of mass gathering are strongly associated with reduced growth rate of COVID-19 confirmed cases and reduction in the epidemic growth
Summary
In the twenty-first century, two highly pathogenic human coronaviruses (HCoVs) severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) emerged from animal reservoirs to cause global epidemics. Like the 1918–19 H1N1 influenza pandemic where no treatments or vaccines were available to treat or prevent the disease multiple non-pharmaceutical interventions were successful at reducing case numbers and have shown to be effective when implemented early in the epidemic. Those interventions include travel bans and restrictions, schools and workplace closures, isolating infected persons, quarantine of exposed persons, social distancing and cancellation of mass gathering events. We included the studies that investigated the effect of the implemented public health measures to prevent and control the outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
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