The effectiveness of mobility control, shortening of restaurants’ opening hours, and working from home in Japan

Since the occurrence of the first outbreak of COVID-19 in a year ago, various interventions have been implemented to prevent its spread across the globe. Using an agent-based model that describes the attributes and mobility of the Japanese population, the present research evaluates the effectiveness of mobility control, shortening of restaurants’ opening hours, and working from home. Results show that severe mobility control that restricts 90% of domestic travels on a national level decreases the peak cases by a half, compared to when no interventions are undertaken. The effectiveness of this strategy is more than 20% compared to all other types of contact restrictions. Therefore, mobility control thatonlylimitsmovementfromandtohighlypopulatedregionsisaseffectiveas nationwide travel restrictions. This finding rationalizes region-specific mobility control that does not restrict travel among less populated regions, which are less conducive to the spread of the virus. Furthermore, shortening of restaurants’ opening hours is the most effective of all interventions taken in a state of emergency, thus, it should be utilized even after the emergency is lifted. However, working from home has limited effects.