Italian and Austrian researchers compared in a study the measures taken by states to combat the Covid-19 pandemic in order to find out which are the most effective.

The ban on gatherings tops the table.

The indicators of Covid-19 in France continue to improve.

4,000 new cases have been recorded in the past 24 hours, far from the peaks of 60,000 at the start of the month, and the pressure is slowly easing on hospitals.

How to continue on this good path?

Which measures are effective and which are less so?

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 Coronavirus: follow the evolution of the situation Tuesday, December 1

A very large study, published on November 16 in the journal

Nature Human Behavior,

 provides some answers.

Italian and Austrian researchers compared 6,000 decisions made in 79 countries to understand which are the most effective.

The researchers used four different mathematical models to compare these measurements, and the results agree.

Effective alternatives to containment

What has worked best so far to limit the spread of the virus is first the ban on small family or festive gatherings, then the closure of schools, especially high schools and universities.

Then the border closures, movement restrictions and the distribution of masks. 

Professor Antoine Flahault, who heads the Institute for Global Health in Geneva, validates the approach of these studies in the absence of a vaccine.

The interest of this work, according to him, is that they allow to know the effective alternatives to the total containment of a country.

In addition, there is not only one solution that emerges, but several devices that complement each other.

Limiting public transport works less

Among the less useful measures that appear lower in the ranking, we find the limitation of public transport or the disinfection of surfaces in offices or at home.

Health authorities released their schedule for the vaccination campaign on Tuesday.

The 750,000 elderly people living in EHPAD and the employees of these establishments most at risk will be given priority, that is to say about 100,000 people.