Manyoni, Mncedisi JuniorAbader, Muhammed Irfaan2021-08-202021-08-202021-06Mncedisi Junior Manyoni, Muhammed Irfaan Abader, The effects of the COVID-19 lockdown and alcohol restriction on trauma-related emergency department cases in a South African regional hospital, African Journal of Emergency Medicine, Volume 11, Issue 2, 2021, Pages 227-230, ISSN 2211-419X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.afjem.2020.12.001.2211-419X (print)10.1016/j.afjem.2020.12.001http://hdl.handle.net/2263/81406The objective of this study was to compare the effect of the Covid-19 lockdown and the alcohol restriction on the number of cases that presented to the Emergency Department (ED) with the same time period two years prior. The method used was a retrospective review of medical records, directly comparing the types and numbers of trauma cases as well as non-trauma cases that presented to the ED in March and April 2020 with the same period two years prior. Our results showed a reduction during both months of lockdown compared to the same time period in 2018 with trauma cases in March 2020 down 33.14% and April 2020 down 57.93%. The non-trauma ED cases were down 2.52% in March and 37.43% in April compared to two years prior. When comparing only the last 6 days of March, a significant percentage decrease is visible as trauma cases fell from 20.79% in 2018 to just 8.58% of the total cases in 2020. In conclusion, our data showed a significant reduction in almost all types of ED cases during the lockdown period, but most significantly in trauma-related cases which was likely due, inter alia, to the prohibition of alcohol sales, gatherings and unnecessary travel.en© 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.LockdownTraumaEmergencyAfricaCOVID-19 pandemicCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)Alcohol restrictionHealth sciences articles SDG-03SDG-03: Good health and well-beingArticle