Countries with notable success against Covid-19

The Covid-19 from the Coronavirus family is a global pandemic engulfing around 185 countries and territories around the globe.

 According to Al Jazeera, as of now more than 2.1 million cases are prevalent and 143,000 lives have been claimed.

Countries with notable success against Covid-19-(Image taken for web- for reference only)

Each country comes up with its’ own strategy for containing the virus. Speaking of which , Asian nations’ success in curbing the virus is apparently more than the European nations and North America .Reason being, Asian nations have witnessed the horrors of SARS 2002 which taught them to take such contagious diseases seriously.

Strategically, countries like New Zealand, Taiwan, Singapore and Canada response to the virus shows that Covid-19 can be contained.

NEW ZEALAND

NEW ZEALAND and covid-19 (Image taken for web- for reference only)

As at 17 April 2020 a total of 1409 cases have been recorded in New Zealand with 816 recovered, 582 active and 11 deceased.

Out of the two familiar strategies- elimination and mitigation New Zealand chose the more ambitious one that is elimination resulting in one of the most stringent lockdown in the world even before a single death was reported. From 25th March onwards a complete lockdown and national emergency have been imposed. Only supermarkets, groceries and pharmacies are excluded. The idea was to curb the virus before it spreads rampantly and eventually work on the exit of pathogen from the country.

On Thursday, the Prime minister in her daily update about the covid-19 situation said “The success of our lockdown and the majority of people showing they can follow the rules give me confidence.”

Owing to the strict lockdown some civil liberties have been encroached upon but it is also to understand that liberal ways would not have been so effective. The success does not solely crown upon the top leadership but also on the public servants, opposition and the masses. The success is a collective one. The opposition leaders came forward voluntarily agreeing 20% pay cut for six months. 80% of the kiwis have trust in their government’s way of dealing with the pandemic.

The high testing rate which is 12 per 1000 is a prominent reason the country is moving towards elimination of the disease from their country. The government released the largest spending package on per capita basis which equals 4% of the country’s GDP to aid its’ people in the crisis.

The Prime minister, Jacinda Ardern will make a decision on Monday as to whether ease the lockdown or not. Currently, the country is on alert level 4 and will decide if it is fit to move backwards to level 3.

TAIWAN

TAIWAN AND COVID-19 (Image taken for web- for reference only)

A country with a population of 24 million and despite being geographically close to china by just

130km made its way through to battle against the virus. Currently as less as 395 confirmed cases and 6 deaths is dealt by the country.

Taiwan showed response to the virus as early in December by alerting the WHO, when the world was unaware of the impending crisis. It followed a policy of hefty production of masks, meteoric isolation and digital tracking. From mid- January, Taiwan reduced its flight engagements with china continued this policy by eventually closing its international borders.

By 5th January Taiwan’s CDC began monitoring those who travelled to Wuhan within 14 days. On 20th January the Central Epidemic Command Centre (CECC) was activated.

The first case was reported on 21st January and in the first week of the outbreak the government acted swiftly and allocated resources for wide scale production of masks. Production of masks increased from 4 million per day to 9 million and by March to 13 million per day .Consequently ascending Taiwan’s position to second largest producer of masks in the world.

The country made the most of its technology and could track every citizen’s 14 day travel history. Taiwan expects expenditure of $35 billion which equals 5% of its’ GDP.

Government did not misguide its’ people by keeping the severity of the disease instead cleared the misconception of the disease as a mere flu and gained public trust. In return the government received cooperation from the people and showed its resilience against the disease.

CANADA

Canada and Covid-19  (Image taken for web- for reference only)

The public health agency of Canada is working with provinces, territories and international partners to actively monitor the situation.

Canada’s microbiology laboratory is performing diagnostic testing for coronavirus. On April 3, Canada announced an invest5ment of $100 million to improve access to food for Canadians facing social, economic and social health impacts.

After confirming the first case on February 20, Canada started taking preventive measures. On March 9, Canada confirmed its first death related to covid-19. On March 18, Canada implemented a ban on foreign nationals from all countries except United States from entering Canada. On the same day financial assistance was announced through the Economic Response Plan.

On March 23, new measures were announced to support local farmers and agro food business. Canada announced support to quickly mobilize Canadian researchers and life sciences companies to support large scale efforts towards countermeasures to combat Covid-19.

On April 2, Canada launched the ‘Canada Covid-19 app’ on IOS and android to provide Canadians with latest information on Covid-19 and ways to check their symptoms.

SINGAPORE

Singapore and Covid-19  (Image taken for web- for reference only)

With a population of 6 million Singapore has been one of the countries who is handling the pandemic quite well. The first case was reported on January 23 of a woman from Wuhan. East Asian nations were worst affected by SARS including Singapore which taught them epidemic management.

Rapid testing and isolation combined with tracing by surveillance videos and with the efforts of police personnel helped in combating the virus.

From February 14 borders were closed for new visitors who travelled to China in the past 2 weeks. This further included visitors with travel history from Italy, Iran and South Korea.

Worship places were shut, people who travelled from abroad were asked to stay home quarantine. The nation functioned as normal with a bit of social distancing. Though by mid- March cases surged to 2321 but with top notch medical facilities the situation is expected to be under control. Schools are closed from April 8.

Though the cases are relatively high in Singapore but their strategies and model are worth appreciation and can be followed by other countries also. President lee said intrusive policies such as encouraging personal hygiene and telecommunication are a must to follow and easy to maintain.

On March 26, a stimulus package worth US$33.7 billion was released. This will widen the budget deficit to 7.9% of the country’s GDP.

Though it is far too soon to claim victory against the pandemic but these countries made notable success against the disease.

Data from the Economic times and The Guardian.

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Article by Nancy Verma,

Content writer (intern)