Mass Screening Vs Lockdown Vs Combination of Both to Control Covid-19: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic. Non-pharmacological interventions, such as lockdown and mass testing, remain as the mainstay of control measures for the outbreak. We aim to evaluate the effectiveness of mass testing, lockdown, or a combination of both to control COVID-19 pandemic. A systematic search on 11 major databases was conducted on June 8, 2020. This review is registered in Prospero (CRD42020190546). We included primary studies written in English which investigate mass screening, lockdown, or a combination of both to control and/or mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. There are four important outcomes as selected by WHO experts for their decision-making process: incident cases, onward transmission, mortality, and resource use. Among 623 studies, only 14 studies met our criteria. Four observational studies were rated as strong evidence and ten modelling studies were rated as moderate evidence. Based on one modelling study, mass testing reduced the total infected people compared to no mass testing. For lockdown, ten studies consistently showed that it successfully reduced the incidence, onward transmission, and mortality rate of COVID-19. A limited evidence showed that a combination of lockdown and mass screening resulted in a greater reduction of incidence and mortality rate compared to lockdown only. However, there is not enough evidence on the effectiveness of mass testing only.

Is There a Relationship Between ADHD and COVID-19 Prevalence and Mortality Indices? An Analysis of Data From 156 Countries

“…First, the local prevalence and outcome of COVID-19 are influenced by a multiplicity of factors, and it was not possible to account for all of these. For example, federal and local governmental measures to minimize the spread of COVID-19 can significantly affect prevalence (Johanna et al, 2020), but as these measures are difficult to operationalize and quantify, they could not be analyzed in this study. Second, a study of this kind can only identify potential correlations; it is not possible to make accurate inferences regarding causal mechanisms, and one must be cautious to avoid the ecological fallacy, in which findings at a population level are mistakenly applied to individuals.…”

“…Such an analysis would lack validity unless corrected for several potential confounders. These include demographic factors such as age, gender, and socioeconomic status (Shi et al, 2021), lifestyle factors such as obesity and nicotine use (Hou et al, 2021; Rajkumar, 2021), the presence of comorbid medical conditions (Dorjee et al, 2020; Shi et al, 2021; Thakur et al, 2021), the extent and duration of protective measures, such as screening and lockdown, imposed by local and federal governments (Johanna et al, 2020), and even climatic factors such as temperature and humidity (Chen et al, 2021; Sajadi et al, 2020). Without correction for these factors, any observed association between ADHD and COVID-19-related indices may represent an incidental or chance finding.…”

Emergence of and compliance with new social norms: The example of the COVID crisis in Germany

“…Econometric studies that systematically examine the effects of the measures using up to date longitudinal data are still pending. There are indications of the effectiveness of interventions in the first phase of the pandemic (e.g., Brauner et al, 2021; Chu et al, 2020; Johanna et al, 2020; for Germany Dehning et al, 2020) but there are also controversial reports (Herby et al, 2022). Especially, the type of the lockdown or of other preventive methods is expected to play a role (Brauner et al, 2021).…”

Did Children in Single-Parent Households Have a Higher Probability of Emotional Instability during the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study in Japan

“…Since December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has brought about disastrous impacts globally [ 1 ]. Several public health measures to deter the pandemic, including lockdowns, mass screening and contact tracing, have been adopted since early 2020 [ 2 ]. The lockdown and social distancing measures substantially affected the lives of both adults and children.…”