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. 2023 Feb;95(2):e28354.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.28354.

Nonpharmaceutical interventions reduce the incidence and mortality of COVID-19: A study based on the survey from the International COVID-19 Research Network (ICRN)

Seung Hyun Park  1 , Sung Hwi Hong  1 , Kwanghyun Kim  2   3 , Seung Won Lee  4 , Dong Keon Yon  5 , Sun Jae Jung  2   3 , Ziad Abdeen  6 , Ramy Abou Ghayda  7 , Mohamed Lemine Cheikh Brahim Ahmed  8 , Abdulwahed Al Serouri  9 , Waleed Al-Herz  10 , Humaid O Al-Shamsi  11 , Sheeza Ali  12 , Kosar Ali  13 , Oidov Baatarkhuu  14 , Henning Bay Nielsen  15   16 , Enrico Bernini-Carri  17 , Anastasiia Bondarenko  18 , Ayun Cassell  19 , Akway Cham  20 , Melvin L K Chua  21   22   23 , Sufia Dadabhai  24 , Tchin Darre  25 , Hayk Davtyan  26 , Elena Dragioti  27 , Barbora East  28 , Robert Jeffrey Edwards  29 , Martina Ferioli  30 , Tsvetoslav Georgiev  31 , Lilian A Ghandour  32 , Harapan Harapan  33 , Po-Ren Hsueh  34 , Saad I Mallah  35 , Aamer Ikram  36 , Shigeru Inoue  37 , Louis Jacob  38   39 , Slobodan M Janković  40 , Umesh Jayarajah  41 , Milos Jesenak  42 , Pramath Kakodkar  43 , Nathan Kapata  44 , Yohannes Kebede  45 , Yousef Khader  46 , Meron Kifle  47 , David Koh  48 , Višnja Kokić Maleš  49 , Katarzyna Kotfis  50 , Ai Koyanagi  51 , James-Paul Kretchy  52 , Sulaiman Lakoh  53 , Jinhee Lee  54 , Jun Young Lee  55 , Maria da Luz Lima Mendonça  56 , Lowell Ling  57 , Jorge Llibre-Guerra  58 , Masaki Machida  37 , Richard Makurumidze  59 , Ziad A Memish  60 , Ivan Mendoza  61 , Sergey Moiseev  62 , Thomas Nadasdy  63 , Chen Nahshon  64 , Silvio A Ñamendys-Silva  65 , Blaise Nguendo Yongsi  66 , Amalea Dulcene Nicolasora  67 , Zhamilya Nugmanova  68 , Hans Oh  69 , Atte Oksanen  70 , Oluwatomi Owopetu  71 , Zeynep Ozge Ozguler  72 , Konstantinos Parperis  73 , Gonzalo Emanuel Perez  74 , Krit Pongpirul  75 , Marius Rademaker  76 , Nemanja Radojevic  77 , Anna Roca  78 , Alfonso J Rodriguez-Morales  79   80   81 , Enver Roshi  82 , Khwaja Mir Islam Saeed  83 , Ranjit Sah  84 , Boris Sakakushev  85   86   87 , Dina E Sallam  88 , Brijesh Sathian  89 , Patrick Schober  90 , P Shaik Syed Ali  12 , Zoran Simonović  91 , Tanu Singhal  92 , Natia Skhvitaridze  93 , Marco Solmi  94   95   96   97 , Kannan Subbaram  12 , Kalthoum Tizaoui  98 , John Thato Tlhakanelo  99 , Julio Torales  100 , Junior Smith Torres-Roman  101 , Dimitrios Tsartsalis  102 , Jadamba Tsolmon  103 , Duarte Nuno Vieira  104 , Sandro G Viveiros Rosa  105 , Guy Wanghi  106 , Uwe Wollina  107 , Ren-He Xu  108 , Lin Yang  109 , Kashif Zia  110 , Muharem Zildzic  111 , Jae Il Shin  112 , Lee Smith  113
Affiliations

Nonpharmaceutical interventions reduce the incidence and mortality of COVID-19: A study based on the survey from the International COVID-19 Research Network (ICRN)

Seung Hyun Park et al. J Med Virol. 2023 Feb.

Abstract

The recently emerged novel coronavirus, "severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)," caused a highly contagious disease called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). It has severely damaged the world's most developed countries and has turned into a major threat for low- and middle-income countries. Since its emergence in late 2019, medical interventions have been substantial, and most countries relied on public health measures collectively known as nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). We aimed to centralize the accumulative knowledge of NPIs against COVID-19 for each country under one worldwide consortium. International COVID-19 Research Network collaborators developed a cross-sectional online survey to assess the implications of NPIs and sanitary supply on the incidence and mortality of COVID-19. The survey was conducted between January 1 and February 1, 2021, and participants from 92 countries/territories completed it. The association between NPIs, sanitation supplies, and incidence and mortality were examined by multivariate regression, with the log-transformed value of population as an offset value. The majority of countries/territories applied several preventive strategies, including social distancing (100.0%), quarantine (100.0%), isolation (98.9%), and school closure (97.8%). Individual-level preventive measures such as personal hygiene (100.0%) and wearing facial masks (94.6% at hospitals; 93.5% at mass transportation; 91.3% in mass gathering facilities) were also frequently applied. Quarantine at a designated place was negatively associated with incidence and mortality compared to home quarantine. Isolation at a designated place was also associated with reduced mortality compared to home isolation. Recommendations to use sanitizer for personal hygiene reduced incidence compared to the recommendation to use soap. Deprivation of masks was associated with increased incidence. Higher incidence and mortality were found in countries/territories with higher economic levels. Mask deprivation was pervasive regardless of economic level. NPIs against COVID-19 such as using sanitizer, quarantine, and isolation can decrease the incidence and mortality of COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; isolation; mask; nonpharmacologic interventions; quarantine; sanitizer.

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