Coronavirus transmission rates reduced by non-pharmaceutical interventions

Large-scale lockdowns and other non-pharmaceutical interventions in Europe have been successful in reducing the transmission levels of coronavirus, according to a modelling study from Imperial College London. The study, published online in Nature used death data to infer changes in the course of the Covid-19 epidemic as a result of non-pharmaceutical interventions. They analysed data from 11 countries in Europe, including the UK, Spain, Italy, Germany and Belgium, up until 4 May 2020. The team estimate that by that date between 12 and 15 million individuals in these countries had been infected with coronavirus (3.2% to 4% of the population, with large country-to-country fluctuations). By comparing the