Explainer: Lockdown Measures across the World
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 21, 2020
India is currently in the period of an extended lockdown. However, India is not the only country to have chosen lockdown measures to contain the spread of COVID-19. More than 90 countries around the world have imposed a partial or full lockdown. Here is a detailed explainer on lockdown measures in some of the important countries around the world.
Addressing the nation on 14 April 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced the extension of the Nation-wide lockdown till 03 May 2020. This extension is in continuation of the initial 21 day lockdown which was announced on 24 March 2020, in an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
Thelockdown being imposed in India is a complete lockdown, which means that thepeople are required not to step out of their houses, except for essentials andemergencies. The 2 phase of lockdown, however, includes certainrelaxations in non-hotspot districts and areas.
On 15 April 2020, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued the revised guidelines in view of the lockdown extension. Prior to the nationwide lockdown, few states like Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka etc. had already announced state-wide lockdowns in view of the prevalence of COVID-19 in the respective states.
Withits initial lockdown announcement on 24 March 2020, India joined a growing listof countries which have announced lockdown as a preventive measure in wake ofCOVID-19 epidemic. More than 90 countries have imposed partial or completelockdowns. In this story, we take a look at lockdown & other containmentmeasures implemented by countries across the globe.
Lockdown
as a pre-emptive measure
Lockdownis an emergency protocol imposed by someone in authority and prevents people fromleaving a designated area. Although in recent times it is being associated withpublic health concern, it is not always the case. Lockdowns have been earlierused as a response to an emergency situation. For e.g. terrorist attack orthreats, rioting etc.
Inhealth-related terms, ‘Quarantine’  is the technical term which is used inreference to contain and restricting the movement of an infected person or asuspect, to contain the spread of an infectious disease.
TheWorld Health Organization (WHO) has issued guidelines for quarantine of individuals in context of containment of COVID-19.
However,implementing lockdown measures for a health-related issue is beyond thesuggested actions and guidelines of WHO. The first instance of the same wasannounced in the place of origin of COVID-19 i.e. Wuhan, China.
In the wake of outbreak of COVID-19, in Wuhan (China), quarantine measures were announced on 23 January 2020 which not only restricted the movement in and out of Wuhan & other cities in Hubei province, but also movement within the city with the exception of emergency services. The WHO albeit terming the lockdown as ‘unprecedented in Public Health History’ supported it as a key move towards containing the epidemic.
Thisaction has been later replicated in other countries like Italy and Spain wherethe number of people infected with COVID-19 was increasing at alarming levels. Manyof the countries which have announced the lockdown have termed it as a pre-emptivemeasure to:
Lockdown
in Wuhan and other infected areas helped in containing COVID-19
Asper available information, during mid-December, a new cluster of people inWuhan linked to the Huanan Seafood Market were diagnosed with pneumonia. Thecause was traced to a new strain of Coronavirus.
Therehave been cases of initial panic among the public as well as on the economic
front post the announcement of the lockdown. However, WHO backedthis move. While few
experts thought of this as an overreaction on part of thegovernment, few other experts supported the lockdown measures whose studies indicate that the lockdown hashelped in containing the spread.
Italy
and France among the first countries in Europe to announce lockdowns
Europehas been badly hit by COVID-19, with many  countries like Italy, Spain, France, UnitedKingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal etc. reporting a high number ofCOVID-19 cases. The responses of each of these countries has been varied.
Italy
Ason date, Italy is the second worst affected country in terms of fatalities. Itis also the first COVID-19 epicentre beyond Wuhan. The first cases of thisdisease were confirmed by the Italian government on 30 January 2020. These were two Chinese touristsvisiting Italy. Lombardy was the first region which was majorly hit by the disease.
France
Spain
Spaincurrently has the second highest number of infected cases and the third highestnumber of deaths caused due to COVID-19.
United
Kingdom
UnitedKingdom was comparatively late in announcing a nation-wide lockdown, in spiteof the increasing COVID-19 positive Cases. On 23 March 2020, Prime MinisterBoris Johnson announced a Nationwide lockdown. These measures are considered to be the strictest Peace-time measures. As perthe measures, people can leave their home sparingly for:
Apartfrom these, few of the other European countries (but not restricted to) whichannounced National lockdowns include – Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland,Greece, Netherlands, Ireland, Poland etc.  Germany & Russia have city/state specificlockdowns.
National
Lockdown not announced in USA as yet
UnitedStates has emerged as the country with the highest number of COVID-29 infectedcases as well as the country with highest deaths caused due to the disease.More than 7.5 lakh people are infected and more than 35 thousand have died.
On 31 January 2020, USA announced restriction on entry of immigrants and other persons who come from infected areas especially from China. USA has not announced a nationwide lock down yet.
However,in view of the prevailing situation, few of the states have announcedlockdowns. These states include – California,Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New
York, Oregon, Wisconsin & Michigan.Apart from these, Kansas City and Clark Country have announced lockdowns intheir own jurisdiction.
No
National lockdown in South Korea and Iran despite being early hotspots.
SouthKorea was one of the first countries which was impacted by COVID-19, outside ofChina due to its geographical proximity which influences its travel andbusiness. The country has since then been applauded for the proactive action ittook in testing and identifying the cases.
However,South Korea has not announced any region wise lockdown. It however did have alockdown for its military
bases after three soldiers were tested positive.
Meanwhile,Iran has also not announced any national wide lockdown to contain the epidemic.It was the second hotspot after China where the disease spread rapidly.However, they did announce the closure of schools and Universities. Sports Events, Friday prayers and cultural eventswere cancelled. Further, Iranian Parliament was shutdown with 23 of the 290 members being tested positive.
Apartfrom India, Singapore,Thailand, UAE, Bangladesh, Pakistan are among the countries which have announced for a nationwide lockdown. WhereasJapan, Philippines & Saudi Arabia are among the Asian countries that haveimposed lockdowns restricted to specific provinces, cities or states.
New
Zealand among the countries which effectively used lockdown
New Zealand recorded its first case on 20 February 2020. Since then, the spread and fatalities have been among the lowest with more than 1400 cases and 12 deaths.
NewZealand has introduced a 4-level alert system based on the severity, with eachlevel introducing different set of restrictions. The system is implementedacross the country.
Asper recent developments, the lockdown is expected to end within a week as the Nation moves back to Level 3.  The country was in a nationwide lockdowncorrelating to Level 4 for  the past 4weeks.
Among the other countries across the world, South Africa has announced a Nationwide lockdown on 28 March 2020 for a period of 21 days, which was later extended.
Amongthe Latin American countries, Chile, Columbia, Argentina, Peru have announced Nation-wide lockdowns whereas Brazil with the highest number ofcases in the region has locked down only two of its states.
No conclusive evidence yet on the real impact of Lockdown
Theofficial number of cases from China indicates that a major portion of theCOVID-19 cases are restricted to Hubei province with the rest of the country accountingfor far fewer numbers. One of the reasons attributed to the limit of the spreadis the lockdown of Wuhan and the Hubei province.
Meanwhilethe lockdowns imposed in Europe were after the infection spread across thecountry. Especially in Italy, it was initially limited only to Lombardy, thenthe northern Italy and then being extended to whole of Italy. In thesecountries, lockdown has been a reactive measure rather than a proactive one.Whether the numbers have subsided because of lockdown will only be known infuture.
Ashighlighted, New Zealand stands out as an example controlling the spreadthrough proactive lockdown measures.  Meanwhile,South Korea does seem to have managed to control the spread without any suchmeasures.
Inaddition to lockdowns, proactive testing and identification does appear to bethe way forward for countries which are still in the early stages of COVID-19spread.
The case of India is no different as the current nation-wide lockdown coupled with increased testing are being seen as measures to control the rapid spread. The state of Kerala where the first case was reported does offer a model in terms of containing the spread by taking the required measures.
Featured Image: Lockdown Measures across the World