Are Countries with Lockdown and Social Distancing Implementation Showing a Decline in COVID-19 Cases?
LE01-LE03
Correspondence
Shivananda B Nayak,
Faculty of Medical Sciences EWMSC, Mount Hope, NA, Trinidad and Tobago.
E-mail: shiv25@gmail.com
The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), previously known as 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019 nCoV) originated in the city of Wuhan, China and has spread rapidly around the world, sending billions of people into lockdown. Consequently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) a pandemic. Given the rising concerns around the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries sent people into lockdown and advised precautionary measures like social distancing, handwashing with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand sanitiser. Many countries realised that lockdown is the only solution to stop the spread of this dangerous disease. In many countries, the government and the health care professionals working day and night to identify infected people, test, and quarantine those showing symptoms of COVID-19. Government agencies and health care workers in many countries are also advising people to keep a social distance of at least six feet from person to person and sanitise their hands if they touch anything coming from outside the home, and certainly before touching their faces. The implementation of these systems has helped in preventing the spread of the disease and reduce the number of infections of COVID-19 at any given time point (i.e., “flatten the curve” representing the number of COVID-19 cases). This review highlights the potential impact of putting people into lockdown and social distancing in the prevention of spreading COVID-19 disease and reducing the prevalence of COVID-19 cases.