ArticleScientific reports2021
Estimating worldwide effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions on COVID-19 incidence and population mobility patterns using a multiple-event study.
Article in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 131 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
131 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 325 citations in OpenAlex.
- Data-driven strategies for model-informed decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review.BMJ open · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Effectiveness of social distancing measures and lockdowns for reducing transmission of COVID-19 in non-healthcare, community-based settings.Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences · 2023Pooled it
- The impact of geo-environmental factors on global COVID-19 transmission: A review of evidence and methodology.The Science of the total environment · 2022Pooled it
- Systematic review of empirical studies comparing the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions against COVID-19.The Journal of infection · 2021Pooled it
- The impact of policy restrictions and mobility changes on excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic in The Netherlands, 2020-2022.PloS one · 2026Article
- Overcoming barriers to medical countermeasures: Strengthening global biosecurity.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2025Review
- Article
- Impact of tiered restrictions in December 2020 on COVID-19 hospitalisations in England: a synthetic control study.BMJ open · 2025Observational
- Pandemic risk-related behaviour change in England from June 2020 to March 2022: the cross-sectional REACT-1 study among over 2 million people.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- Article
- Updated Surveillance Metrics and History of the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020-2023) in Sub-Saharan Africa: Longitudinal Trend Analysis.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Article
- Surveillance Metrics and History of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Central Asia: Updated Epidemiological Assessment.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Article
- South Asia's COVID-19 History and Surveillance: Updated Epidemiological Assessment.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Article
- Updated Surveillance Metrics and History of the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020-2023) in Latin America and the Caribbean: Longitudinal Trend Analysis.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Article
- The paradox of pandemic mitigation? Moderating role of pandemic severity on the impact of social distancing policies: a cultural value perspective.Globalization and health · 2024Article
- On the impact of mass screening for SARS-CoV-2 through self-testing in Greece.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Covid-19 demography in France and South Africa: A comparative study of morbidity and mortality in 2020-2022.PloS one · 2024Article
- Social health gradient and risk factors among patients hospitalized for COVID-19 and pre-pandemic respiratory infections. A linked national individual case-control study in Belgium.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Unravelling habituation for COVID-19-related information: A panel data study in Japan.PloS one · 2024Article
71 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Various non-pharmaceutical interventions were adopted by countries worldwide in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic with adverse socioeconomic side effects, which raises the question about their differential effectiveness. We estimate the average dynamic effect of each intervention on the incidence of COVID-19 and on people's whereabouts by developing a statistical model that accounts for the contemporaneous adoption of multiple interventions. Using daily data from 175 countries, we show that, even after controlling for other concurrent lockdown policies, cancelling public events, imposing restrictions on private gatherings and closing schools and workplaces had significant effects on reducing COVID-19 infections. Restrictions on internal movement and public transport had no effects because the aforementioned policies, imposed earlier on average, had already de facto reduced human mobility. International travel restrictions, although imposed early, had a short-lived effect failing to prevent the epidemic from turning into a pandemic because they were less stringent. We interpret the impact of each intervention on containing the pandemic using a conceptual framework which relies on their effects on human mobility behaviors in a manner consistent with time-use and epidemiological factors.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.