Variations in Size and Timing of Containment Measures

FIGURE 1.2

Stringency Index across Countries in MENA Shows Big Variations in Size and Timing of Containment Measures

Average stringency index

100 90

Average stringency level (%)

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 January 2020February 2020March 2020April 2020May 2020June 2020July 2020August 2020September 2020October 2020November 2020December 2020January 2021February 2021

ARE OMN SAU BHR PSE MAR DJI QAT IRQ DZA SYR IRN EGY TUN KWT YEM LBY LBN MLT JOR

Source: World Bank calculations based on data from Our World in Data (Roser and Ortiz-Ospina 2021), https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-data. Note: The stringency index is a composite measure based on nine response indicators, including school closures, workplace closures, and travel bans, rescaled to a value from 0 to 100 (100 = strictest). If policies vary at the subnational level, the index is shown as the response level of the strictest subregion. December data represent only until 10th of the month.

while others faced reduced mobility because of social confinement measures imposed by governments. These disruptions hit the self-employed and those in the informal sector in contractual jobs the most. Supply chains fell short because of disruptions in transportation and businesses, thereby heavily hampering economic activity.

Stringent workplace closures have been relaxed in many countries, but the current measures continue to have a widespread impact. Overall, about 80 percent of MENA’s workers currently reside in countries with some sort of workplace closure measure in place (figure 1.3). This share reached a peak of more than 90 percent for a period of five months from April to September 2020, then slowly declined until end-October, after which it started to increase slightly again. Specifically, lockdowns of workplaces for all but essential workers (that is, the most stringent of possible measures) continue to affect a sizeable share of the global workforce. As of end-2020, almost 20 percent of the region’s workers were living in countries with such lockdowns. More recently, the most stringent workplace closure measures have begun to be targeted at highly infected