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We identify the following insights from our analysis of Oxford’s Stringency Index:
New Zealand and Taiwan are currently the least restrictive countries. Taiwan has been one of the least restrictive countries in the past few months while New Zealand, by contrast, has switched from its earlier position as one of the most restrictive countries given positive results from the measures imposed. Nevertheless, it is still too early to conclude whether severe or less restrictive measures are the best way to fight COVID-19.
The Philippines and Pakistan remain in the top 5 most restrictive countries, unchanged from a week ago.
Declining daily case numbers are one of the main reasons why governments are easing lockdowns. Philippines’ President has recently extended the lockdown until June as the number of daily cases remains high and without any clear downward trend. In contrast, New Zealand has started to lift measures such as schools and workplace closures since the last week of April.
Lastly, as a remainder, the latest update varies across countries (Table 1).
Charts 2 & 3- Stringency Index and New Daily Cases
Bilal Hafeez is the CEO and Editor of Macro Hive. He spent over twenty years doing research at big banks – JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, and Nomura, where he had various “Global Head” roles and did FX, rates and cross-markets research.
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