The lockdown and vaccination distribution in Thailand's COVID-19 epidemic: A model study

BACKGROUND: Several countries used varied degrees of social isolation measures in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. In 2021, the lockdown in Thailand began on July 20 and lasted for the following six weeks. The lockdown has extremely detrimental effects on the economy and society, even though it may reduce the number of COVID-19 instances. Our goals are to assess the impact of the lockdown policy, the commencement time of lockdown, and the vaccination rate on the number of COVID-19 cases in Thailand in 2021. METHODS: We modeled the dynamics of COVID-19 in Thailand throughout 2021 using the SEIR model. The Google Mobility Index, vaccine distribution rate, and lockdown were added to the model. The Google Mobility Index represents the movement of individuals during a pandemic and shows how people react to lockdown. The model also examines the effect of vaccination rate on the incidence of COVID-19. RESULTS: The modeling approach demonstrates that a 6-week lockdown decreases the incidence number of COVID-19 by approximately 15.49–18.17%, depending on the timing of the lockdown compared to a non-lockdown scenario. An increasing vaccination rate potentially reduce the incidence number of COVID-19 by 5.12–18.35% without launching a lockdown. CONCLUSION: Lockdowns can be an effective method to slow down the spread of COVID-19 when the vaccination program is not fully functional. When the vaccines are easily accessible on a large scale, the lockdown may terminated.