The six countries under study are categorized in two groups , countries with a shorter period of lockdown and countries with a longer period of lockdown : Firstly , data are analyzed with descriptive statistics , applying a comparative approach between countries with a longer and a shorter period of lockdown , considering arithmetic mean and standard deviation of confirmed cases ( standardized with population ) and fatality rates ( i.e. , average values from April to August 2020 between countries ) , of indexes of the quarterly national accounts of GDP level in 2019 and 2020 , of healthcare expenditures in 2018 and median age of population in 2019 . In addition , the effects of different duration of lockdown on COVID-19 infected people and deaths are also investigated with average variation of confirmed cases standardized with population and average variation of fatality rates from 15 April 2020 to 30 August 2020 , a period indicating the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in Europe . The descriptive statistics are also applied categorizing countries having high / low investments in healthcare ( % of GDP ) , using as cut - off point the arithmetic mean of this variable among countries under study to detect the effects of different duration of lockdown in countries considering their level of investments in healthcare sector .