Governments' Responses to COVID-19 and the Implications of the Governance and Control of the Pandemic

National governments have their individual strategies to combat the COVID-19 pandemic which largely boil down to managing restrictive policies. In other words, individual governments introduce and lift appropriate restrictions depending on the development of the epidemic situation in their own countries. Therefore, throughout the entire duration of the COVID-19 epidemic, national governments choose restrictions and policies in relation to the scale of the problems arising, taking into account both medical and economic factors. Based on the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT), covering the period from 1st January to 8th June of 2020 (160 days in total), we have developed a longitudinal data model that shows structural differences in crisis management at national level. Using an innovative index developed by Oxford University staff, which combines different measures of government reactions, we describe the difference in government reactions, showing how changing government responses affects the rate of new infections.