COVID-19 lockdowns

A usually congested highway in Penang, Malaysia, deserted during the Movement Control Order

Healthcare workers in Hong Kong prepare to conduct mass COVID-19 testing of Jordan residents during a localised lockdown.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon delivers a press conference instructing the public to stay at home during the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland.

At a community quarantine checkpoint in Bohol, Philippines, police officers check a passing jeepney.

Queue in front of a supermarket in Italy caused by social distancing measures and supply shortages during the lockdown

Volunteers in Cape Town pack food parcels to distribute to the needy during the pandemic lockdown in South Africa.

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During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, cordons sanitaires and similar societal restrictions), were implemented in numerous countries and territories around the world.^[1] These restrictions were established with the intention to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.^[2] By April 2020, about half of the world's population was under some form of lockdown, with more than 3.9 billion people in more than 90 countries or territories having been asked or ordered to stay at home by their governments.^[3] Although similar disease control measures have been used for hundreds of years, the scale of those implemented in the 2020s is thought to be unprecedented.^{[4][failed verification]}

Research and case studies have shown that lockdowns were generally effective at reducing the spread of COVID-19, therefore flattening the curve.^{[5][unreliable medical source?] [6][contradictory][7]} The World Health Organization's recommendation on lockdowns is that they should be very brief, short-term measures to reorganize, regroup, rebalance resources, and protect health workers who are exhausted.^{[citation needed]} To achieve a balance between restrictions and normal life, the WHO recommends a response to the pandemic that consists of strict personal hygiene, effective contact tracing, and isolating when ill.^{[8][better source needed]}

In addition to the health effects of lockdown restrictions,^[9] researchers have found the lockdowns have reduced crime and violence by armed non-state actors, such as the Islamic State, and other terrorist groups.^[10] They have also had profound negative economic impacts, and have been met with protests in some territories.