Grappling with COVID-19 by imposing and lifting non-pharmaceutical interventions in Sri Lanka: A modeling perspective.

ABSTRACT: The imposition and lifting of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to avert the COVID-19 pandemic have gained popularity worldwide and will continue to be enforced until herd immunity is achieved. We developed a linear regression model to ascertain the nexus between the time-varying reproduction number averaged over a time window of six days (R_ts) and seven NPIs: contact tracing, quarantine efforts, social distancing and health checks, hand hygiene, wearing of facemasks, lockdown and isolation, and health-related supports. Our analysis suggests that the second wave that emerged in Sri Lanka in early October 2020 continued despite numerous NPIs. The model indicates that the most effective single NPI was lockdown and isolation. Conversely, the least effective individual NPIs we

SUBMITTER: Jayaweera M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8261138 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature