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Background Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a worldwide epidemic, and various countries have responded with different containment measures to reduce disease transmission, including stay-at-home orders, curfews, and lockdowns. Comparative studies have not yet been conducted to investigate the impact of these containment measures; these studies are needed to facilitate public health policy-making across countries. Objective The aim of this study was to describe and evaluate the impact of national containment measures and policies (stay-at-home orders, curfews, and lockdowns) on decelerating the increase in daily new cases of COVID-19 in 54 countries and 4 epicenters of the pandemic in different jurisdictions worldwide. Methods We reviewed the effective dates of the national containment measures (stay-at-home order, curfew, or lockdown) of 54 countries and 4 epicenters of the COVID-19 pandemic (Wuhan, New York State, Lombardy, and Madrid), and we searched cumulative numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases and daily new cases provided by health authorities. Data were drawn from an open, crowdsourced, daily-updated COVID-19 data set provided by Our World in Data. We examined the trends in the percent increase in daily new cases from 7 days before to 30 days after the dates on which containment measures went into effect by continent, World Bank income classification, type of containment measures, effective date of containment measures, and number of confirmed cases on the effective date of the containment measures. Results We included 122,366 patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection from 54 countries and 24,071 patients from 4 epicenters on the effective dates on which stay-at-home orders, curfews, or lockdowns were implemented between January 23 and April 11, 2020. Stay-at-home, curfew, and lockdown measures commonly commenced in countries with approximately 30%, 20%, or 10% increases in daily new cases. All three measures were found to lower the percent increase in daily new cases to <5 within one month. Among the countries studied, 20% had an average percent increase in daily new cases of 30-49 over the seven days prior to the commencement of containment measures; the percent increase in daily new cases in these countries was curbed to 10 and 5 a maximum of 15 days and 23 days after the implementation of containment measures, respectively. Conclusions Different national containment measures were associated with a decrease in daily new cases of confirmed COVID-19 infection. Stay-at-home orders, curfews, and lockdowns curbed the percent increase in daily new cases to <5 within a month. Resurgence in cases within one month was observed in some South American countries.

Background Evidence remains inconclusive on any significant benefits of remdesivir in mild-to-moderate COVID-19 patients. This study explored the disease progression, various clinical outcomes, changes in viral load, and costs associated with early remdesivir treatment among COVID-19 patients. Methods A territory-wide retrospective cohort of 10,419 patients with COVID-19 hospitalized from 21st January 2020 to 31st January 2021 in Hong Kong were identified. Early remdesivir users were matched with controls using propensity-score matching in a ratio of up to 1:4. Study outcomes were time to clinical improvement on the WHO clinical progression scale of at least 1 score; hospital discharge; recovery; viral clearance; low viral load; positive IgG antibody; in-hospital death; and composite outcomes of in-hospital death, requiring invasive ventilation or intensive care. Results After multiple imputation and propensity-score matching, the median follow-up was 14 days for both remdesivir (n=352) and control (n=1,347) groups. Time to clinical improvement was significantly shorter in the remdesivir group than that of control (hazard ratio (HR)=1.14, 95%CI 1.01-1.29, p=0.038), as well as for achieving low viral load (HR=1.51, 95%CI 1.24-1.83, p&lt;0.001) and positive IgG antibody (HR=1.50, 95%CI 1.31-1.70, p&lt;0.001). Early remdesivir treatment was associated with a lower risk of in-hospital death (HR=0.58, 95%CI 0.34-0.99, p=0.045), in addition to a significantly shorter length of hospital stay (difference -2.56 days, 95%CI -4.86 to -0.26, p=0.029), without increasing the risks of composite outcomes for clinical deterioration. Conclusions Early remdesivir treatment could be extended to hospitalized patients presenting with moderate COVID-19 and not requiring oxygen therapy on admission.