Efficacy of Non-Pharmacological Interventions Before COVID Mass Vaccination : An Open Data Study Across 185 Countries

Various non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) were adopted by countries worldwide to contain the transmission of COVID-19. But their implementation raises a debate on the effectiveness of these mitigation measures. Studying 13 types of NPIs with the daily data of 185 countries from January to December 2020, we find NPIs, in general, are effective in reducing the COVID-19 reproduction rate. But strikingly, we see the set of effective NPIs is rather regional-specific, and only a few (1--4 out of 13) NPIs seem effective. Notably, we find NPIs relating to restricting the population’s movement (e.g., stay at home) are less pronounced, while NPIs pertaining to financial support (e.g., debt and contract relief) are more prevailingly effective among different regions. Our results shed light for public-health policymakers to find a balance between the cost and benefits of restrictions and infections