PONE-D-20-16051

The effect of lockdown on the outcomes of COVID-19 in Spain: an ecological study

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Dyego Leandro Bezerra de Souza

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

I read your article with interest.

I believe that, following the reviewer's suggestion, the document can be accepted

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Francesco Di Gennaro

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments:

I read your article with interest.

I believe that, following the reviewer's suggestion, the document can be accepted

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Partly

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: N/A

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Summary of research:

Overall, this is a very important and well conceptualized, timely study whose findings will be useful for guiding public health policy globally.

Major:

The major observation is that the discussion did not compare findings with work from previous authors. The authors mention that South Korea, China and Singapore instituted lock downs but do not share how the findings of this study compare with what happened in the other countries. The authors should go back to literature and explain how their findings compare with the trends in other countries that had the outbreak before Spain.

Minor:

There are minor grammatical errors, possibly due to the article being translated from Spanish but these do not affect the general understand-ability of the paper.

In the abstract, delete the comma between 'countries' and 'which declared'

Line 33, delete the comma between 'countries' and 'which declared'

Line 45: Use the word 'in contrast' instead of 'in opposition'

Line 47: Rewrite the sentence as: "This highlights the importance of early and assertive..." and make similar changes in the conclusion in the abstract.

Line 60: The word independently doesn't bring out the meaning, perhaps use another word.

Line 67: Remove all commas

The figures were well illustrated and are easy to understand. The methods are sound and the statistical methods employed are appropriate. The results and data are well presented and can be relied on because they are from an official source (Ministry of Health website). The references are okay but there is need to compare with other countries, this study has mainly focused on Europe. It would be good to see if the same effect was observed in Asia.

The research title is precise and concise and describes exactly what the authors did.

Reviewer #2: The text was written correctly. The analysis of essential elements to clarify the factors influencing mortality in the various areas of Spain is lacking (discussion about the use of different IPD based on the geographical area? Mobility of the area? Number of health workers infected? Diagnostic methods of investigation?). English was good.

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If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: Yes: Joanitah Atuhaire-Mutanga

Reviewer #2: No

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The effect of lockdown on the outcomes of COVID-19 in Spain: an ecological study

PONE-D-20-16051R1

Dear Dr. Dyego Leandro Bezerra de Souza ,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Francesco Di Gennaro

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Congratulations, well done.

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Partly

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The authors have addressed the comments and the article has improved significantly, I wish them the best.

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: Yes: Joanitah Atuhaire-Mutanga

Reviewer #2: No