section_path: Strategies
section_name: Strategies
paragraph_text: Strategies
  
  Many countries attempted to slow or stop the spread of COVID-19 by recommending, mandating or prohibiting behaviour changes, while others relied primarily on providing information. Measures ranged from public advisories to stringent lockdowns. Outbreak control strategies are divided into elimination and mitigation. Experts differentiate between elimination strategies (known as " zero-COVID ") that aim to completely stop the spread of the virus within the community, and mitigation strategies (commonly known as " flattening the curve ") that attempt to lessen the effects of the virus on society, but which still tolerate some level of transmission within the community. These initial strategies can be pursued sequentially or simultaneously during the acquired immunity phase through natural and vaccine-induced immunity.
  
  Nature reported in 2021 that 90% of researchers who responded to a survey "think that the coronavirus will become endemic ".