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From Australia to India and the Philippines, are coronavirus lockdowns working? | South China Morning Post
The state of Victoria has one of the world’s harshest restrictions on movement, while citizens in European capitals are patronising bars and restaurants
While lockdowns saved lives, they also inflicted huge social and economic costs – and experts say we will not know the full impact, good or bad, for decades
In the Australian state of Victoria, authorities are implementing one of the harshest and longest-lasting lockdowns in the world as daily cases of Covid-19 hover in the double digits. In India, businesses are finding it hard to resume operations as policymakers ease restrictions, despite new infections topping 90,000 each day.
In European capitals, citizens patronise bars and restaurants even as daily infections run into the thousands, after trading lockdowns for mask-wearing and limits on large gatherings. And at the same time Manila is opening up despite rising cases, Jakarta is partially shutting down.
Nearly nine months after Chinese authorities shut down Wuhan, the initial epicentre of the pandemic, policymakers around the world are divided on the continuing viability of lockdowns, which have been credited with saving lives but have also inflicted enormous social and economic costs.
A study of China, South Korea, Italy, Iran, France, and the United States, published in Nature journal, showed that by the beginning of April, lockdowns and other measures such as travel restrictions and social distancing prevented 530 million infections across the six countries.\
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Lockdowns may be inconvenient and costly but preventing 530M cases is notable.
The state of Victoria has one of the world’s harshest restrictions on movement, while citizens in European capitals are patronising bars and restaurants
While lockdowns saved lives, they also inflicted huge social and economic costs – and experts say we will not know the full impact, good or bad, for decades
In the Australian state of Victoria, authorities are implementing one of the harshest and longest-lasting lockdowns in the world as daily cases of Covid-19 hover in the double digits. In India, businesses are finding it hard to resume operations as policymakers ease restrictions, despite new infections topping 90,000 each day.
In European capitals, citizens patronise bars and restaurants even as daily infections run into the thousands, after trading lockdowns for mask-wearing and limits on large gatherings. And at the same time Manila is opening up despite rising cases, Jakarta is partially shutting down.
Nearly nine months after Chinese authorities shut down Wuhan, the initial epicentre of the pandemic, policymakers around the world are divided on the continuing viability of lockdowns, which have been credited with saving lives but have also inflicted enormous social and economic costs.
A study of China, South Korea, Italy, Iran, France, and the United States, published in Nature journal, showed that by the beginning of April, lockdowns and other measures such as travel restrictions and social distancing prevented 530 million infections across the six countries.\
==============================================
Lockdowns may be inconvenient and costly but preventing 530M cases is notable.