The UK Government has been holding daily press briefings in order to provide updates on the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and outline any new measures being put in place to deal with the outbreak. Boris Johnson announced that the UK would be going into lockdown in a broadcast on March 23 which was watched live by more than half of the respondents to a daily survey. On June 28, just ** percent of respondents said they had not watched or read about the previous day's briefing. For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Press Briefings Corpus is a work in progress to collect and present in a machine readable text dataset of the daily briefings from around the world by government authorities. During the peak of the pandemic, most countries around the world informed their citizens of the status of the pandemic (usually involving an update on the number of infection cases, number of deaths) and other policy-oriented decisions about dealing with the health crisis, such as advice about what to do to reduce the spread of the epidemic.

Usually daily briefings did not occur on a Sunday.

At the moment the dataset includes:

UK/England: Daily Press Briefings by UK Government between 12 March 2020 - 01 June 2020 (70 briefings in total)

Scotland: Daily Press Briefings by Scottish Government between 3 March 2020 - 01 June 2020 (76 briefings in total)

Wales: Daily Press Briefings by Welsh Government between 23 March 2020 - 01 June 2020 (56 briefings in total)

Northern Ireland: Daily Press Briefings by N. Ireland Assembly between 23 March 2020 - 01 June 2020 (56 briefings in total)

World Health Organisation: Press Briefings occuring usually every 2 days between 22 January 2020 - 01 June 2020 (63 briefings in total)

More countries will be added in due course, and we will be keeping this updated to cover the latest daily briefings available.

The corpus is compiled to allow for further automated political discourse analysis (classification).

Context

On January 30, 2020, the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). On January 31, 2020, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II declared a public health emergency (PHE) for the United States to aid the nation’s healthcare community in responding to COVID-19. On March 11, 2020 WHO publicly characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic.

Content

The data files present the total confirmed cases, total deaths and daily new cases and deaths by country. This data is sourced from the World Health Organization (WHO) Situation Reports (which you find here). The WHO Situation Reports are published daily [reporting data as of 10am (CET; Geneva time)]. The main section of the Situations Reports are long tables of the latest number of confirmed cases and confirmed deaths by country.

This dataset has five files : - total_cases.csv : Total confirmed cases - total_deaths.csv : Total deaths - new_cases.csv : New confirmed cases - new_deathes.csv : New deaths - full_data.csv : put it all files together

Acknowledgements

This dataset is sourced from WHO and confirmed by OurworldInData Special Thank to Hannah Ritchie that did a great reports explaining those datasets.

Inspiration

Insights on - Confirmed cases is what we do know - Confirmed COVID-19 cases by country - How we can make preventive measures - Growth of cases: How long did it take for the number of confirmed cases to double? - Understanding exponential growth - Try to predict the spread of COVID-19 ahead of time .

Important Note:

The Government has stopped providing the data on total ICU and Ventilators after the 6th of May.

About

Nepal's total ICU and ventilator capacity in the COVID crisis.
Data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1f7SctpDyMjll2AAMkPXlvkJL2MIrSGIJvD33hitEAZ0/edit?usp=sharing

Content

Columns: Date, Province, ICU Patients, ICU Total, ICU Occupancy, Ventilators Patients, Ventilators Total, Ventilators Occupancy

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the Ministry of Health and Populations' daily COVID briefing.

Inspiration

We can analyze our healthcare capacity and predict the potential health crisis beforehand.

The briefing materials below were initially prepared for the Minister of Indigenous Services for Committee of the Whole on April 20, 2020. These materials were subsequently updated for appearances by the Minister at additional Committees of the Whole and meetings of the Special Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic that were held between April 29 and June 18, 2020. Briefing materials on the Northern portfolio are included when the Minister of Indigenous Services intervened on behalf of the Minister of Northern Affairs. Appearance dates: April 20, 28 (COVI Committee #1, no updates) and 29. May 5 (COVI Committee #3, no updates), 6, 12, 14, 20, 25 (Committee of the Whole, no updates). June 3, 11, 16 and 17.

Context

Different states in United States have different lockdown policy. I found this nice summary of the state action from https://www.ncsl.org that might be useful to those who like to investigate how different lockdown policies can help in flattening the curve. I cleaned up the dataset (like fill the null values, etc) without alternating any information and thus all the 'No' in the state can also be interpreted as NaN.

Content

Specifically, this dataset summarizes if each state (and US territories) perform the following actions (column of the dataset), as of April 10, 2020: 1. Emergency Declaration 2. Major Disaster Declaration 3. National Guard State Activation 4. State Employee Travel Restrictions 5. Statewide Limits on Gatherings and Stay at Home Orders 6. Statewide School Closures
7. Statewide Closure of Non-Essential Businesses
8. Statewide Closure of Some or All Non-Essential Businesses
9. Essential Business Designations Issued
10. Statewide Curfew
11. 1135 Waiver Status
12. Extension of Individual Income Tax Deadlines
13. Primary Election
14. Domestic Travel Limitations 15. Statewide Mask Policy
16. Ventilator Sharing

Acknowledgements

Again, this dataset was found from National Conference of State Legislatures website.

P.S.: Hope that this dataset is useful/helpful in understanding the impact of different lockdown policy.

Overview

This project contains a crowdsourced map of health policy data, broken down by county. A visual map interface to the data is available here as screenshot below. All of the structured data can be downloaded from the gh-pages branch, while all of the code to process the data is available as jupyter/colab notebooks on the master branch.

https://github.com/hikmahealth/covid19countymap/raw/master/HikmaLocalMap.png" alt="Map Screenshot">

Data Sources

County policy data was manually researched, entered into a web form, and validated in a crowdsourcing approach organized by Hikma Health. This dataset currently includes policy data from over 500 US counties, comprising over 200 million residents. Recommended citation for this dataset: Noah, Cray, Senan Ebrahim, Henry Ashworth, Ali Ebrahim, Adesh Kadambi, Tara Pattilachan, Dani Kiyasseh, Melecia Wright, Eliza Nguyen, and Hassaan Ebrahim (2020). COVID-19 US County Policies, Hikma Health. Data use policy: Apache 2.0 License.

State policy data was obtained from the following report by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Case counts displayed by county were obtained from the New York Times dataset.

Demographic and geographic information about states and counties were obtained from the United States Census.

License and Warranty Disclaimer

All code in this repository and the Hikma Health dataset of county-level policies are licensed under the Apache 2.0 license. For all other datasets, please see the underlying sources for license information. As a reminder, all code and data are provided here "as is" with no warranty, as described here.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the following volunteers for researching and submitting policy county data to construct this dataset: Henry Ashworth, Anna Buford, Linnea Champ, Sara Dada, Ali Ebrahim, Hassaan Ebrahim, Senan Ebrahim, Daniel Estupiñan, Ashley Fyle, Adesh Kadambi, Ali Asghar Kassamali, Bina Kassamali, Princess Kaka, Kevin Kalin, Saira Khan, Dani Kiyasseh, Tobias Krussig, John Laydon, Lyssa Leininger, Faith Lyons, Noor Mahmood, Chase Marso, Tracy McNeil, Becky Mer, Leonard Nettey, Sarah Nisivaco, Eliza Nguyen, Cray Noah, Felicia Noah, Wesley Noah, Daniel Ocampo, Darius Onul, Tom Parker, Tara Pattilachan, Olivia Plana, John Poppe, Nabeel Quryshi, Rumya Raghavan, Jessica Redmond, Jaclyn Saitta, Max Silverman, Robert Simco, Stephen Suffian, Evan Stieler, Jeremy Swisher, Arpi Tavil-Shatelyan, Dana Vigue, Leia Wedlund, Joan Wells, Melecia Wright, and Sonya Ye.

Briefing binder for the deputy head of the Minister of Health’s appearances at the Special Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic (COVI) – Week of January 17 2022

BackgroundWith the outbreak of COVID-19, government measures including social distancing and restrictions of social contacts were imposed to slow the spread of the virus. Since older adults are at increased risk of severe disease, they were particularly affected by these restrictions. These may negatively affect mental health by loneliness and social isolation, which constitute risk factors for depressiveness. We aimed to analyse the impact of perceived restriction due to government measures on depressive symptoms and investigated stress as mediator in an at-risk-population in Germany.MethodsData were collected in April 2020 from the population of the AgeWell.de-study, including individuals with a Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging, and Incidence of Dementia (CAIDE) score ≥9, using the depression subscale of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4). Feeling restricted due to COVID-19 government measures was surveyed with a standardized questionnaire. Stepwise multivariate regressions using zero-inflated negative binomial models were applied to analyse depressive symptoms, followed by a general structural equation model to assess stress as mediator. Analysis were controlled for sociodemographic factors as well as social support.ResultsWe analysed data from 810 older adults (mean age = 69.9, SD = 5). Feeling restricted due to COVID-19 government measures was linked to increased depressiveness (b = 0.19; p 

Briefing Package for the hearing on Government’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic before the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates – 26 April 2021

Digital Briefing and Roll Call Boards Market Outlook

According to our latest research and market analysis, the global digital briefing and roll call boards market size reached USD 2.1 billion in 2024. The market is experiencing robust expansion, registering a CAGR of 9.2% during the forecast period. By 2033, the market is projected to attain a value of USD 4.65 billion. The primary growth factor driving this surge is the increasing adoption of digital transformation strategies across public safety, corporate, and healthcare sectors, coupled with the need for real-time communication and operational efficiency.

The growth of the digital briefing and roll call boards market is heavily influenced by the rapid digitization of workplace processes and the growing emphasis on operational transparency. Organizations across various industries now recognize the need for real-time updates and seamless communication, especially in mission-critical environments such as law enforcement, military, and healthcare. The integration of advanced technologies like IoT, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing has further propelled the adoption of digital briefing boards, enabling instant dissemination of information and streamlined roll call procedures. This transformation not only enhances productivity but also minimizes human error, contributing significantly to the market’s upward trajectory.

Another major driver fueling the market growth is the surge in remote and hybrid work models, particularly in the wake of global disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Enterprises and government agencies are increasingly leveraging digital roll call boards to manage dispersed teams, coordinate shift schedules, and ensure accountability. The flexibility offered by both on-premises and cloud-based deployment modes caters to diverse organizational requirements, further accelerating market penetration. Additionally, the growing demand for data-driven decision-making and the need for compliance with stringent regulatory standards in sectors like healthcare and law enforcement have amplified the adoption of these advanced digital solutions.

The market is also benefiting from the continuous innovation in user interfaces and interactive functionalities. The evolution of interactive digital boards, featuring touchscreens, voice recognition, and integration with mobile devices, has revolutionized the user experience. These advancements facilitate quick updates, instant feedback, and improved collaboration among team members. As organizations strive to enhance situational awareness and response times, the adoption of digital briefing and roll call boards is set to witness sustained growth. Furthermore, the increasing focus on security and data privacy is prompting vendors to develop robust, encrypted platforms, thereby boosting user confidence and market expansion.

Regionally, North America holds the largest share of the digital briefing and roll call boards market, driven by the presence of major technology providers and early adopters in the law enforcement and corporate sectors. Europe follows closely, supported by strong investments in digital infrastructure and public safety modernization programs. The Asia Pacific region is expected to exhibit the highest CAGR during the forecast period, owing to rapid urbanization, rising security concerns, and government-led digital initiatives. Latin America and the Middle East & Africa are also witnessing steady growth, albeit from a smaller base, as organizations in these regions increasingly recognize the benefits of digitized communication and operational management.

Product Type Analysis

The digital briefing and roll call boards market is segmented by product type into interactive boards and non-interactive boards. Interactive boards are rapidly gaining traction due to their advanced functionalities, such as touchscreen capabilities, real-time annotation, and integration with communication platforms. These features allow users to engage directly with the content, faci

Abstract Facing the threat of disruption to the productive sector as a result of social distancing measures imposed in Brazil, and considering that micro and small enterprises are those hardest struck, this study aims to formulate a government emergency aid proposal for this segment. It presents a brief analysis of the federal government’s current actions and proposes a measure capable of filling the gaps observed. Finally, the study offers an estimation of costs for the National Treasury if adopting the proposed measure.

Briefing Package for the hearing on Government’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic before the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates on 29 May 2020

Background: The rapid spread of COVID-19 infection has led countries across the globe to take various measures to contain the outbreak, including the closure of Universities. Forcing University students to stay at home has created enormous stress and uncertainty in their daily life.Objective: This study aimed to assess the perceived stress and coping strategies among undergraduate health science students of Jimma University amid the COVID-19 outbreak.Materials and methods: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted involving 337 undergraduate health science students from August to September 5, 2020. The perceived stress scale (PSS)-10 and Brief-COPE scale were used to assess the level of stress and coping strategies, respectively. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 22 was employed for data analysis. Logistic regression was conducted to identify predictors of high perceived stress.Results: The overall mean [±standard deviation (SD)] age of the participants was 22.88 (±1.78) years. The mean (±SD) PSS score was 22.16 (±1.41), and high perceived stress was reported in 121 (35.9%) participants. The overall mean (±SD) coping score was 72.34 (±12.31), and approach coping was the predominantly used strategy for coping with stress. Personal perception of being stressed by the daily number of COVID-19 cases/deaths in Ethiopia (AOR = 4.61, p < 0.01), rare online talk/chat with friends (AOR = 4.07, p = 0.01), presence of confusion due to the inconsistent strategies developed by the health/government authorities in view of the scientific recommendations (AOR = 2.22, p = 0.01), perception of self/family members being at risk of getting sick (AOR = 0.53, p = 0.03), decreased household income following the COVID-19 pandemic (AOR = 3.92, p = 0.01), practicing denial (AOR = 1.34, p < 0.01), self-blame (AOR = 1.23, p = 0.02), planning (AOR = 1.28, p = 0.01), and religion (AOR = 1.41, p < 0.01) as means of coping with stress were associated with high perceived stress.Conclusion: Over one-third of the participants had a high level of perceived stress, and the majority of them were practicing effective means of coping with stress. The authors recommend that the hosting University in collaboration with the concerned bodies develop innovative strategies to improve the psychological well-being of the students.

Briefing package for the President of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency as witness before the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates on May 22, 2020 on the topic of the Government's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Briefing packages - Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion FEWO Appearance on Government’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic and the impacts on women July 8, 2020

During crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, it was necessary for political leaders to influence citizens to comply with public health measures and restrictions. These health measures (e.g., physical distancing, staying at home) had substantial negative effects on individuals lives and thus were sometimes met with defensive, non-cooperative responses. To influence citizens’ compliance with public health guidance and nationally imposed restrictions, political leaders needed to effectively motivate them through their public communications. We argue that whilst negative emotions may have discouraged citizens from deviating from public health restrictions, other factors such as citizens’ trust in political leaders played a role as well. We investigated whether the perception of the interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) strategies used by government leaders in ministerial briefings impacted citizens’ compliance intentions via either negative affect or perceived trustworthiness. Across three studies based in Western Europe (Studies 1 & 2 survey, Study 3 experimental), we consistently found that a leader’s affect-improving IER strategies increased compliance intentions via perceived trustworthiness but not via negative affect. Affect-worsening IER strategies demonstrated either no effect or an indirect worsening effect on the compliance intentions of citizens. Our findings highlight the importance of IER strategies in ministerial briefings and perceived trustworthiness of political leaders in motivating citizens to comply with public health restrictions during a pandemic.

Briefing package - Minister of Families, Children and Social Development OGGO Appearance on Government’s Response to the COVID-19 pandemic June 9, 2020

Briefing package - Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion: OGGO Appearance on Government’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, May 11, 2020