OxCGRT collects publicly available information on indicators of government response. These indicators take policies such as school closures, travel bans, etc. and record them on an ordinal scale. The remainder is financial indicators, such as fiscal or monetary measures.
OxCGRT measures the variation in governments’ responses using its COVID-19 Government Response Stringency Index. This composite measure is a simple additive score of nine indicators measured on an ordinal scale, rescaled to vary from 0 to 100. Please note that this measure is for comparative purposes only, and should not be interpreted as a rating of the appropriateness or effectiveness of a country's response.
It also includes a 'COVID-19 Containment and Health Response' index which is based on the metrics used in the 'Stringency Index' plus testing policy, contact tracing, face coverings and vaccine policy.
The specific policy and response categories are coded as follows:
School closures:
0 - No measures
1 - recommend closing
2 - Require closing (only some levels or categories,
e.g. just high school, or just public schools)
3 - Require closing all levels
No data - blank
Workplace closures:
0 - No measures
1 - recommend closing (or work from home)
2 - require closing (or work from home) for some
sectors or categories of workers
3 - require closing (or work from home) all but essential workplaces (e.g. grocery stores, doctors)
No data - blank
Cancel public events:
0- No measures
1 - Recommend cancelling
2 - Require cancelling
No data - blank
Restrictions on gatherings:
0 - No restrictions
1 - Restrictions on very large gatherings (the limit is above 1,000 people)
2 - Restrictions on gatherings between 100-1,000 people
3 - Restrictions on gatherings between 10-100 people
4 - Restrictions on gatherings of less than 10 people
No data - blank
Close public transport:
0 - No measures
1 - Recommend closing (or significantly reduce volume/route/means of transport available)
2 - Require closing (or prohibit most citizens from using it)
Public information campaigns:
0 -No COVID-19 public information campaign
1 - public officials urging caution about COVID-19
2 - coordinated public information campaign (e.g. across traditional and social media)
No data - blank
Stay at home:
0 - No measures
1 - recommend not leaving house
2 - require not leaving house with exceptions for daily exercise, grocery shopping, and ‘essential’ trips
3 - Require not leaving house with minimal exceptions (e.g. allowed to leave only once every few days, or only one person can leave at a time, etc.)
No data - blank
Restrictions on internal movement:
0 - No measures
1 - Recommend movement restriction
2 - Restrict movement
International travel controls:
0 - No measures
1 - Screening
2 - Quarantine arrivals from high-risk regions
3 - Ban on high-risk regions
4 - Total border closure
No data - blank
Testing policy
0 – No testing policy
1 – Only those who both (a) have symptoms AND (b) meet specific criteria (eg key workers, admitted to hospital, came into contact with a known case, returned from overseas)
2 – testing of anyone showing COVID-19 symptoms
3 – open public testing (e.g. “drive through” testing available to asymptomatic people)
No data
Contract tracing
0 - No contact tracing
1 - Limited contact tracing - not done for all cases
2 - Comprehensive contact tracing - done for all cases
No data
Face coverings
0- No policy
1- Recommended
2- Required in some specified shared/public spaces outside the home with other people present, or some situations when social distancing not possible
3- Required in all shared/public spaces outside the home with other people present or all situations when social distancing not possible
4- Required outside the home at all times, regardless of location or presence of other people
Vaccination policy
0 - No availability
1 - Availability for ONE of the following: key workers/ clinically vulnerable groups / elderly groups
2 - Availability for TWO of the following: key workers/ clinically vulnerable groups / elderly groups
3 - Availability for ALL the following: key workers/ clinically vulnerable groups / elderly groups
4 - Availability for all three, plus partial additional availability (select broad groups/ages)
5 - Universal availability