Assessing Public Health and Social Measures Against COVID-19 in Japan From March to June 2021

Abstract

BackgroundPublic health and social measures (PHSM) against COVID-19 in Japan involve requesting the public to voluntarily reduce social contact; these measures are not legally binding. The effectiveness of such PHSM has been questioned with emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant (B.1.1.7), which exhibited elevated transmissibility.Materials and MethodsWe investigated the epidemic dynamics during the fourth epidemic wave in Japan from March to June 2021 involving pre-emergency measures and declaration of a state of emergency (SoE). We estimated the effective reproduction number (Rt) before and after these interventions, and then analyzed the relationship between lower Rt values and each PHSM.ResultsWith implementation of pre-emergency measures (PEM) in 16 prefectures, the Rt was estimated to be < 1 in six prefectures; its average relative reduction ranged from 2 to 19%. During the SoE, 8 of 10 prefectures had an estimated Rt < 1, and the average relative reduction was 26%–39%. No single intervention was identified that uniquely resulted in an Rt value < 1.ConclusionAn SoE can substantially reduce the Rt and may be required to curb a surge in cases caused by future SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern with elevated transmissibility. More customized interventions did not reduce the Rt value to < 1 in this study, but that may be partly attributable to the greater transmissibility of the Alpha variant.