How to evaluate the success of the COVID-19 measures implemented by the Norwegian government by analyzing changes in doubling time

Biljana Stangeland

Throughout the current epidemic, tremendous efforts have been made in many countries to contain the spread of the virus. The DT values are therefore expected to change over time. A shift towards higher DT values will indicate that the applied measures have been efficient. Figure 1D shows the plot of nested DT values during the exponential growth, comparing Nordic countries with Western Europe and South Korea. The trend in Nordic countries that started shortly after implementing the extraordinary measures for containment of the epidemic on the 12 th of March is positive. The increase in DT values is evident in all Nordic countries, especially Denmark. In this country DT changed from 2 to 10 days during few weeks. COVID-19 mortality rates were also relatively low in the Nordic countries so far (Supplemental Figure 2 ).