Short- and medium-term impacts of strict anti-contagion policies on non-COVID-19 mortality in China

• The effects of COVID-19 public health policies on non-COVID-19-related mortality are unclear.

• Here, using death registries based on 300 million Chinese people and a difference-in-differences design, researchers found that China’s strict anti-contagion policies during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced non-COVID-19 mortality outside Wuhan (by 4.6%).

• The health benefits persisted and became even greater after the measures were loosened: mortality was reduced by 12.5% in the medium term.

• Significant changes in people’s behaviors (for example, wearing masks and practicing social distancing) and reductions in air pollution and traffic accidents could have driven these results.

• They estimated that 54,000 lives could have been saved from non-COVID-19 causes during the 50 days of strict policies and 293,000 in the subsequent 115 days.

• The results suggest that virus countermeasures not only effectively controlled COVID-19 in China but also brought about unintended and substantial public health benefits.

Published: 29 November 2021

source:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01189-3

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01189-3