2 | MATERIALS AND METHODS
We downloaded data covering the COVID-19 pandemic until June 27, 2020, from Our World In Data (Max et al. 2020). This global database is updated daily and offer free access to country-level information on various pandemic related indicators. The data used in this study are total confirmed cases, daily new cases, total deaths, and daily new deaths, which is sufficient to build and assess statistical models. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows software, Version 21.0. (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY) for statistical analysis. We calculated mean values of above-mentioned variables for three time periods: during lockdown [(first four-weeks of lockdown (March 22nd to April 18th) and last four-weeks of lockdown (April 12th to May 8th)], and four-weeks after lockdown lifting (May 9th to June 6th). The calculation of mean scores was based on both raw variables and “normalized” by the number of checks performed during the same time periods. We used paired sample t tests to compare means of variables between post-lockdown-lifting period and two lockdown periods (i.e., first and last four-weeks).