Systematic literature review on physical distancing policy for mass gathering events

Abstract

The explosive spread of Corona Virus Disease-19 (COVID-19) in late December 2019, requires the health authorities worldwide to enforced stricter standard operating procedures (SOP) for mass gathering events, which eventually caused postponement and cancellation. This has led to a great loss and bankruptcy for most event organizers. As an effort to offer solution to this matter, a professional touch producing “soft landing” such as “Mathematical Modelling of Physical Distancing Policy for Mass Gathering Event Organizer” was proposed. Therefore, a holistic understanding about the issues related to physical distancing in mass gathering event is required. This systematic review paper summarizes current practice of physical distancing among mass gathering event organizers. This study reviewed thirteen articles using two leading databases namely Scopus and Google Scholar. Based on thematic analysis, this review finalized four themes: 1) physical distancing method; 2) the importance of physical distancing; 3) challenges in physical distancing enforcement and 4) approach to monitor the compliance of physical distancing.