Evaluation of the effect of border closure on COVID-19 incidence rates across nine African countries: an interrupted time series study.
Theophilus I. Emeto,Theophilus I. Emeto,Faith O. Alele,Faith O. Alele,Olayinka Stephen Ilesanmi,Olayinka Stephen Ilesanmi +5 more
TLDR
In this article, the effect of border closure on the incidence rate of COVID-19 across nine African countries was evaluated using the itsa function with ordinary least squares regression in Stata with a 7-d deferred interruption point, which allows a period of diffusion post-border closure.Abstract:
Background: Border closure is one of the policy changes implemented to mitigate against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We evaluated the effect of border closure on the incidence rate of COVID-19 across nine African countries.
Methods: An interrupted time series analysis was used to assess COVID-19 incidence rates in Egypt, Tunisia, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa (SA). Data were collected between 14 February and 19 July 2020 from online data repositories. The linear trend and magnitude of change were evaluated using the itsa function with ordinary least-squares regression in Stata with a 7-d deferred interruption point, which allows a period of diffusion post-border closure.
Results: Overall, the countries recorded an increase in the incidence rate of COVID-19 after border closure. However, when compared with matched control groups, SA, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt and Kenya showed a higher incidence rate trend. In contrast, Ethiopia, DRC and Tunisia showed a lower trend compared with their controls.
Conclusions: The implementation of border closures within African countries had minimal effect on the incidence of COVID-19. The inclusion of other control measures such as enhanced testing capacity and improved surveillance activities will reveal the effectiveness of border closure measures.read more
Citations
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Effectiveness of public health measures in reducing the incidence of covid-19, SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and covid-19 mortality: systematic review and meta-analysis
Stella Talic,Shivangi Shah,Holly Wild,Danijela Gasevic,Danijela Gasevic,Ashika D. Maharaj,Zanfina Ademi,Xue Li,Xue Li,Wei Xu,Ines Mesa-Eguiagaray,Jasmin Rostron,Evropi Theodoratou,Xiaomeng Zhang,Ashmika Motee,Danny Liew,Dragan Ilic +16 more
TL;DR: A systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that several personal protective and social measures, including handwashing, mask wearing, and physical distancing are associated with reductions in the incidence covid-19 as mentioned in this paper.
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Attitude and associated factors of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among health professionals in Debre Tabor Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, North Central Ethiopia; 2021: cross-sectional study.
TL;DR: In this article, a structured questionnaire containing 16 items was used to assess the attitude of health professionals on COVID-19 vaccine acceptance, and Bivariable and multivariable logistic analysis was done to identify factors associated with the attitude.
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Global health (security), immigration governance and Covid-19 in South(ern) Africa: an evolving research agenda
TL;DR: In this paper, the Covid-19 pandemic provides a stark reminder of the political tensions associated with the field of immigration and health, highlighting the central role that nationalism, racism and xenophobia play in determining responses to communicable diseases.
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Analyzing the Effectiveness of COVID-19 Lockdown Policies Using the Time-Dependent Reproduction Number and the Regression Discontinuity Framework: Comparison between Countries
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compared the effectiveness of COVID-19 control policies on the virus's spread and on the change of the infection dynamics in China, Germany, Austria, and the USA relying on a regression discontinuity in time and epidemic models.
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The effect of the Ontario stay-at-home order on Covid-19 third wave infections including vaccination considerations: An interrupted time series analysis
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the effect of lockdown policy on Covid-19 third wave implemented by the province of Ontario, Canada, on April 3rd 2021, followed by a stay-at-home order on April 7th 2021 while free vaccination were in progress.
References
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Leveraging Africa's preparedness towards the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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A matching framework to improve causal inference in interrupted time-series analysis
TL;DR: A novel matching framework is introduced to create a comparable control group by matching directly on covariates and then use these matches in the outcomes model, which has the advantage of being technically less complicated, while producing statistical estimates that are straightforward to interpret.