An Overview of Existing Evidence for Non-PharmacologicalInterventions against COVID-19 Transmission

Background: Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) are public health measures that aim to preventand/or control COVID-19 transmission in the community. This over view aimed to summarize themost common available options of NPIs on reducing COVID-19 transmission have been implementedglobally.Materials and Methods: Eight databases: Medline, EMBASE, PyscINFO, Cochrane libraryEMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Sciences, Scopus, and WHO database of publications on COVID-19 forpeer-reviewed studies that reported on potential non-pharmacological interventions for COVID-19were searched from 1 December 2019 through 10 January 2023. We included systematic review studiesproposing NPIs for reducing COVID-19 transmission. Two authors independently undertookscreening selection, data extraction, and quality assessment (using AMSTAR 2, and SANRA).Results: 15 related studies were included. Evidence suggest that continued use of NPIs is the onlycontainment strategy until ‘herd immunity’ is achieved to reduce the severe disease and mortality.There are three main categories of NPIs: individual (hand hygiene, face masks) environmental(cleaning and ventilation of indoor spaces.); and community (social distancing, isolation andquarantine). According CDC recommendation , an early response, and a combination of NPIs shouldbe implemented simultaneously to maximize effectiveness. However, most NPIs can have a negativeimpact on economies and the physical, mental and social wellbeing of the underlying population.Therefore, their use should be guided by data on the local epidemiological situation, with the overallgoal of protecting the most vulnerable individuals in the society.Conclusion: An early response and a combination of individual NPLs (hand hygiene and use offacemasks), environmental NPLs (cleaning and ventilation of indoor spaces) , and community NPLs(social distancing, isolation and quarantine) are effective at reducing COVID-19 cases and deaths.

An Overview of Existing Evidence for Non-PharmacologicalInterventions against COVID-19 Transmission Keywords:

COVID-19 , Interventions , Non-Pharmacological , Prevention