The Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) is a project that gathered data on government measures taken to address COVID-19 from 2020 to 2023 rigorously and consistently. It involved over 1500 volunteers and provided real-time information on various policy responses worldwide up to 2022. As of May 2023, most countries had lifted their pandemic-related policies, prompting the project to shift its focus to analysing the collected data and conducting research on the impacts and determinants of these responses.
The OxCGRT has made its datasets available, including the different versions, in a systematic and consistent way so as to aid those who require information have access to it efficiently. There have been three release versions of the OxCGRT datasets with the version dictated upon by its data structure which in turn is based on the methodology that the OxCGRT research team have developed and employed.
Start date: March 2020
Retirement date: 25 April 2020
The legacy version 1 dataset was in place before 25 April 2020. The datasets have the 13 ‘S’ indicators that the OxCGRT used in the months of March and April of 2020, early on at the start of the pandemic. S1-S7 are policy decisions relating to various kinds of public gatherings recorded on an ordinal scale. S8-S11 are financial indicators recorded as continuous variables. S12 and S13 relate to COVID-19 testing and contact tracing. S1-S6 are further classified as either “targeted” (meaning they apply only in a geographically concentrated area) or “general” (meaning they apply throughout the entire jurisdiction). This data structure is further described in this working paper.
The legacy version 1 dataset produced the first version (or legacy version) of the stringency index. The methodology used to calculate the legacy stringency index is found here.
The legacy version 1 dataset is currently available from OxCGRT’s legacy GitHub repository at this directory. The legacy version 1 dataset was also briefly available via and application programming interface (API) but was immediately superseded by a second version when legacy version 2 of the dataset was initiated (see next section).
Start date: 28 April 2020
Retirement date: 27 July 2022
OxCGRT expanded to 21 indicators of government response. Full descriptions of the policy indicators and their meaning can be found here. This version also included statistics on the number of reported Covid-19 cases and deaths in each country. These were taken from the JHU CSSE data repository for all countries and the US States. The OxCGRT legacy version 2 datasets also included some subnational data for US states, Brazilian States, Indian States, UK devolved nations, Canadian provinces and territories, and Chinese provinces.
In addition to an updated stringency index, four additional indices that aggregate the data into a single number were developed. These are described here and the calculation defined here.
The OxCGRT legacy version 2 datasets is currently available from OxCGRT’s legacy GitHub repository at this directory. This version of the OxCGRT datasets was also made available via a version 2 of the OxCGRT API which is formally declared as unsupported but continue to still be accessible.
Start date: July 2022
Date of final release: June 2023
From the end of July 2022, the data structure was again evolved to take into account the need to differentiate policies applying to vaccinated and unvaccinated populations. This brought about breaking changes to the previous data structure and the need to produce additional data file outputs. The OxCGRT stopped publishing real-time updates at the end of 2022. A final version of the OxCGRT dataset is available at https://github.com/OxCGRT/covid-policy-dataset. The final version of the dataset has more jurisdictions and more consistency in data format between files. No API support is provided for this version of the dataset.
The oxcgrt package facilitates access to the various OxCGRT data
versions for R users. This package also
includes functions to calculate the various OxCGRT indices. This package
is aimed at R users who use or plan to use
the OxCGRT data for their research or for other academic purposes or who
develop or want to develop other metrics or indices that build on the
OxCGRT approach.
The oxcgrt package has two main sets of functions that:
-
Retrieve various versions of the OxCGRT datasets (
get_*functions); and, -
Calculate various OxCGRT indicators, sub-indices and indices (
calculate_*functions).
There are other R packages that provide access to data from the OxCGRT.
The COVID19 package and
the oxcovid19 package are just
two examples of these. However, all these packages provide access to the
OxCGRT data as data dumps and only for the time-series of the
stringency index per country. To our knowledge, the oxcgrt package is
the only R package currently that provides an interface to the various
versions of the OxCGRT datasets available. Also, the oxcgrt package
provides functions to calculate the OxCGRT sub-indices and indices based
on their methodology. None of the other R packages that we have seen and
reviewed have this functionality.
You can install the released version of oxcgrt from CRAN with:
install.packages("oxcgrt")And the development version from GitHub with:
if(!require(remotes)) install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("OxfordIHTM/oxcgrt")The retrieve data functions are based on the OxCGRT’s JSON API described here. Two API endpoints are provided: 1) endpoint for JSON providing data for stringency index by country over time; and, 2) endpoint for JSON providing data on policy actions and stringency index for a specific country on a specific day.
For each of these endpoints, the data retrieval workflow is composed of two steps: first is the creation of the appropriate API URL query; and, second is the retrieval of the appropriate data as per query into a data.frame structure usable in R. This workflow is show in code below:
## Load oxcgrt package
library(oxcgrt)
## Step 1: Create the appropriate API URL query for time series data from
## 1 December 2022 up to current day
query <- get_json_time(from = "2022-12-01")
## Step 2: Retrieve the data
get_data_time(query)This results in the following:
#> # A tibble: 5,704 × 9
#> date_value country_code country_name confirmed deaths stringency_actual
#> <date> <chr> <chr> <int> <int> <dbl>
#> 1 2022-12-01 ABW Aruba 43641 236 25.9
#> 2 2022-12-01 AFG Afghanistan 206073 7834 2.78
#> 3 2022-12-01 AGO Angola 104676 1924 18.5
#> 4 2022-12-01 ALB Albania 333360 3594 11.1
#> 5 2022-12-01 AND Andorra 47219 157 11.1
#> 6 2022-12-01 ARE United Arab Emira… 1044468 2348 13.9
#> 7 2022-12-01 ARG Argentina 9727247 130025 25
#> 8 2022-12-01 AUS Australia 10742127 16203 11.1
#> 9 2022-12-01 AUT Austria 5566947 21216 35.2
#> 10 2022-12-01 AZE Azerbaijan 824385 9981 45.4
#> # ℹ 5,694 more rows
#> # ℹ 3 more variables: stringency <dbl>, stringency_legacy <dbl>,
#> # stringency_legacy_disp <dbl>
The oxcgrt functions are designed to work with pipe operators. The
steps shown above can be replicated using pipe operators as follows:
get_json_time(from = "2022-12-01") |> ## Step 1: Creat API URL query
get_data_time() ## Step 2: Retrieve dataThis results in the same output as the earlier workflow albeit sorted alphabetically by country code:
#> # A tibble: 5,704 × 9
#> date_value country_code country_name confirmed deaths stringency_actual
#> <date> <chr> <chr> <int> <int> <dbl>
#> 1 2022-12-01 ABW Aruba 43641 236 25.9
#> 2 2022-12-01 AFG Afghanistan 206073 7834 2.78
#> 3 2022-12-01 AGO Angola 104676 1924 18.5
#> 4 2022-12-01 ALB Albania 333360 3594 11.1
#> 5 2022-12-01 AND Andorra 47219 157 11.1
#> 6 2022-12-01 ARE United Arab Emira… 1044468 2348 13.9
#> 7 2022-12-01 ARG Argentina 9727247 130025 25
#> 8 2022-12-01 AUS Australia 10742127 16203 11.1
#> 9 2022-12-01 AUT Austria 5566947 21216 35.2
#> 10 2022-12-01 AZE Azerbaijan 824385 9981 45.4
#> # ℹ 5,694 more rows
#> # ℹ 3 more variables: stringency <dbl>, stringency_legacy <dbl>,
#> # stringency_legacy_disp <dbl>
For more detailed examples of how to retrieve data via the OxCGRT API version 2, read Retrieve data via OxCGRT API.
The calculate_* functions are based on the OxCGRT’s methodology
described
here.
There are two sets of calculate functions included in oxcgrt. The
first calculates the OxCGRT sub-indices and the second calculates
the four OxCGRT indices which are composed of various combinations
of the indicators used by OxCGRT sub-indices and indices.
For more detailed examples of how to calculate the various OxCGRT sub-indices and indices, read Calculate OxCGRT sub-indices and indices.
The oxcgrt package comes with helpful datasets which serve as guides
to facilitate in usage and interpretation of the OxCGRT data.
The OxCGRT provides an authoritative codebook found
here.
The oxcgrt package has extracted the tables from this documentation
into a single codebook that can serve as a handy and convenient
reference for an R user when working with OxCGRT data in R. The OxCGRT
codebook can be accessed as follows:
codebookwhich outputs the codebook as a singular table in tbl format as shown
below:
#> # A tibble: 47 × 6
#> ID Name Description Measurement Coding `Policy Group`
#> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr>
#> 1 C1 C1_School closing "Record cl… Ordinal sc… 0 - n… Containment a…
#> 2 C1 C1_Flag "" Binary fla… 0 - t… Containment a…
#> 3 C2 C2_Workplace closing "Record cl… Ordinal sc… 0 - n… Containment a…
#> 4 C2 C2_Flag "" Binary fla… 0 - t… Containment a…
#> 5 C3 C3_Cancel public events "Record ca… Ordinal sc… 0 - n… Containment a…
#> 6 C3 C3_Flag "" Binary fla… 0 - t… Containment a…
#> 7 C4 C4_Restrictions on gathe… "Record li… Ordinal sc… 0 - n… Containment a…
#> 8 C4 C4_Flag "" Binary fla… 0 - t… Containment a…
#> 9 C5 C5_Close public transport "Record cl… Ordinal sc… 0 - n… Containment a…
#> 10 C5 C5_Flag "" Binary fla… 0 - t… Containment a…
#> # ℹ 37 more rows
The current oxcgrt package version includes the OxCGRT codebook
version 3.7 released on 11 March 2022.
In the OxCGRT methodology document, an example indicator dataset is used
to demonstrate the calculation of per indicator sub-indices and the four
main indices that
OxCGRT
provides. This example dataset has been made available in table format
in the oxcgrt package and can be accessed as follows:
indicatorDatawhich outputs the example data as a singular table in tbl format as
shown below:
#> # A tibble: 16 × 6
#> indicator value flag_value max_value flag score
#> <chr> <int> <int> <int> <int> <dbl>
#> 1 C1 2 1 3 1 66.7
#> 2 C2 NA NA 3 1 0
#> 3 C3 2 0 2 1 75
#> 4 C4 2 0 4 1 37.5
#> 5 C5 0 NA 2 1 0
#> 6 C6 1 0 3 1 16.7
#> 7 C7 1 1 2 1 50
#> 8 C8 3 NA 4 0 75
#> 9 E1 2 0 2 1 75
#> 10 E2 2 NA 2 0 100
#> 11 H1 2 0 2 1 75
#> 12 H2 3 NA 3 0 100
#> 13 H3 2 NA 2 0 100
#> 14 H6 2 0 4 1 37.5
#> 15 H7 2 1 5 1 40
#> 16 H8 2 1 3 1 66.7
This dataset is used by the oxcgrt package to test the calculate_*
functions and for demonstrating how these functions work. This dataset
can be useful for those trying to learn the OxCGRT’s calculation methods
and R users who are learning how to use
the oxcgrt package calculate_* functions.
The current version of oxcgrt package is experimental in that its
stability and future development would depend on the OxCGRT’s current
and future development. The OxCGRT is in continuous evolution given that
the COVID-19 pandemic is still on-going and various governments’
responses to it are continuously changed and/or updated. The OxCGRT has
also been developing other indices that capture other aspects of
governments’ responses not yet covered by current indices.
The oxcgrt package author and maintainer commit to ensuring that
current functions are maintained and/or updated in a manner that ensures
backwards compatibility should changes to the data structure and/or to
the indices calculation are implemented by the OxCGRT team. This would
include maintaining the arguments used by the current functions,
maintaining the functionality of the current functions, and maintaining
the type of outputs of the current functions. Should changes implemented
by the OxCGRT team to the data structure and/or to the indices
calculation require the breaking of the syntax, functionality and/or
outputs of the current functions, a formal and proper deprecation
process will be implemented that include proper and detailed
documentation of the changes and the potential impact on current users.
The oxcgrt package is an independent development and is separate from
and not recognised and approved by the OxCGRT team. The author and
maintainer of the package is not affiliated with OxCGRT but is committed
to ensure fidelity to the methods and usage specified by OxCGRT and
accuracy of outputs described and required by OxCGRT.
Any mistakes, problems and issues with the functionality and outputs of
the oxcgrt including mistakes in interpretation of the calculation of
the sub-indices and indices noted (if any) are that of the author and
maintainer and not of the OxCGRT. Hence any problems and issues to the
usage, functionality and outputs of the oxcgrt package should be
addressed directly to the author and maintainer
here.
When using the oxcgrt package, please cite both the source of the
OxCGRT data and oxcgrt package itself.
For the source of the OxCGRT data, the following citation is recommended:
Thomas Hale, Noam Angrist, Rafael Goldszmidt, Beatriz Kira, Anna Petherick, Toby Phillips, Samuel Webster, Emily Cameron-Blake, Laura Hallas, Saptarshi Majumdar, and Helen Tatlow. (2021). “A global panel database of pandemic policies (Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker).” Nature Human Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01079-8
For the oxcgrt package, the suggested citation can be obtained using a
call to the citation function as follows:
citation("oxcgrt")
#> To cite oxcgrt in publications use:
#>
#> Guevarra E (2024). _oxcgrt: An Interface to the Oxford COVID-19
#> Government Response Tracker API_. doi:10.5281/zenodo.4293648
#> <https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4293648>, R package version 0.2.0,
#> <https://oxford-ihtm.io/oxcgrt/>.
#>
#> A BibTeX entry for LaTeX users is
#>
#> @Manual{,
#> title = {oxcgrt: An Interface to the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker API},
#> author = {Ernest Guevarra},
#> year = {2024},
#> note = {R package version 0.2.0},
#> url = {https://oxford-ihtm.io/oxcgrt/},
#> doi = {10.5281/zenodo.4293648},
#> }Feedback, bug reports and feature requests are welcome; file issues or seek support here. If you would like to contribute to the package, please see our contributing guidelines.
This project is released with a Contributor Code of Conduct. By participating in this project you agree to abide by its terms.