Best Global Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic
It’s almost been a year since the COVID-19 pandemic began in the United States, resulting in nation-wide lockdowns and economic crisis. Though most of us in America are still suffering through the spread of the virus and continuing to quarantine, many countries have almost made full recoveries. Here are some that have had better responses to the pandemic than the United States:
Taiwan
Neighboring China, Taiwan was prepared for the spread of coronavirus and took action fairly early. They halted flights from China, closed their borders, prevented cruise ships from docking, and banned surgical mask exportation. The country also began widespread testing, contract tracing, strictly enforced quarantine rules, and quadrupled its mask production within one month. As a result, they have totaled less than 1,000 cases in their population of about 24 million.
New Zealand
This country was already at an advantage considering it’s an island tucked away in the corner of the globe. However, they have never experienced a major pandemic, so their swift actions were impressive. New Zealand closed its borders after the first case, shut down non-essential businesses, and issued a “level 4 lockdown,” meaning people could only interact with those residing in their household in an attempt to “eliminate” the virus all together. As a result, they have totaled at about 2,000 cases with their population of over 5 million.
Auckland, New Zealand: completely empty during lockdown
South Korea
South Korea started testing early and conducted more than double the amount of COVID-19 tests per capita compared to any other country at the beginning of the pandemic. They flattened the curve aggressively by extensive contact tracing and enforcing lockdown measures. As a result, they have about 88,000 confirmed cases in total with a population of over 55 million.
These nations, specifically compared to the United States, have taken tremendously better action throughout the past year to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Currently, we are at about 30 million cases with a population of about 330 million, putting us at the #1 spot for the country with the highest total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases.
The Top 15 Most Populated Countries with COVID-19 Case Total
Hi, my name is Aditi! I'm a business student intending to minor in Community Action & Social Change and Sustainability. Outside of UNICEF, I'm involved in SAPAC, Business BootCamp, Roe v. Rape, and Detroit Education Society. In my free time, I love to scrapbook, learn to cook new vegan recipes, and go biking! Writing for the UNICEF UM Blog has taught me so much more about COVID-19 in many different ways, so I hope it does the same for you!
Sources:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/which-countries-have-responded-best-to-covid-19-11609516800
https://time.com/5851633/best-global-responses-covid-19/
https://www.movehub.com/blog/best-and-worst-covid-responses/