Photo taken on June 1, 2020 shows social distancing signs at a Honda showroom in London, Britain. (Photo by Tim Ireland/Xinhua)

Lockdown may have prevented 3.1m deaths according to a new study released by the Imperial College London.

LONDON, June 9  -- Large-scale lockdowns and other non-pharmaceutical intervention in 11 European countries may have helped avert approximately 3.1 million deaths as the measures successfully curbed the novel coronavirus transmission, according to a new study released by the Imperial College London.

From March 2 to 29, European countries began implementing major non-pharmaceutical methods, such as school closures and national lockdowns, to control the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this modelling study, a team at the Imperial College London used death data to infer changes in the course of the pandemic as a result of non-pharmaceutical interventions. They analyzed data from 11 European countries, including Britain, Spain, Italy, Germany and Belgium, up until May 4.