Effectiveness of Containment Measures to Control the Spread of COVID-19 in North Africa

Abstract

Objectives: Since the first case of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2, identified in December 2019, in Wuhan in China, the number of cases rapidly increased into a pandemic. Governments worldwide have adopted different strategies and measures to interrupt the transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The main objective was to report and evaluate the effectiveness of the adopted measures in North Africa countries. Methods: In these countries, the effective reproductive number R(t), the naïve case fatality rate, and the adjusted case fatality rate were estimated and compared on different dates. Results: The obtained results show that the early strict application of containment measures and confinement could help contain the spread of the epidemic and maintain the number of deaths low. Conclusions: These measures might be useful for other countries that are experiencing the start of local COVID-19 outbreaks. They could also serve to halt the spread of new epidemics or pandemics.