@article{Rudan_I-2021_64394,
title = {Evaluating different national strategies to contain the COVID-19 pandemic before mass vaccination},
author = {Rudan, I.},
month = {may},
year = {2021},
abstract = {“The complete suppression of the virus”, the implementation of which requires the practical “textbook” application of epidemiological measures: careful border control, two-week quarantine measures for all those who enter the country, a tremendously serious approach to all detected cases, the rapid detection and subsequent isolation of all of the contacts of an infected individual; and, if necessary, a temporary, short-term “lockdown” in limited areas with extensive testing accompanying it. These measures would include the cooperation and discipline of the population, as well as adherence to all of the anti-epidemic measures. With this approach, which isn't particularly financially expensive for most countries, it was possible to spend the vast majority of the time without the fear of the pandemic during 2020 and throughout the course of 2021 to date (this article is relevant to 20 April 2021). In the countries which chose this approach, life carried out more or less as it normally would, resembling the time before the pandemic struck. Examples of such countries are Vietnam, Taiwan, Laos, Thailand and Bhutan, which have recorded less than 1 death from COVID-19 per million inhabitants; followed by China, Cambodia, Singapore, and New Zealand, with less than 10 deaths per million; then, by Japan, Australia, Malaysia, South Korea and Myanmar, with less than 100 deaths per million inhabitants. To date (20 April 2021), these nations have performed the best in protecting their citizens from dying from a new infectious disease. Several of these nations have also shown that countries don't need to be particularly wealthy in order to successfully address this pandemic.},
volume = {11},
journal = {Journal of Global Health},
publisher = {International Society for Global Health},
url = {https://doi.org/10.7189/jogh.11.01004},
}
