We can all learn from each other and our response to this pandemic. Understanding the state of other nations in different areas of the world can also provide better insight into what needs to be done to help the global economy bounce back and our nations to heal after this pandemic.
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North America
North America is divided when it comes to coronavirus response, with both Mexico and Canada performing far differently than the US, which has the highest number of cases and deaths in the world.
Europe
Europe was one of the first and hardest regions hit by the coronavirus, and the difference between nations in and outside of the EU is apparent. Countries that locked down early are already well on their way through their lockdown lift, whereas those who took too long or had a greater population of vulnerable people are still under lockdown and are only opening up due to economic hardship.
The Middle East
The Middle East is comprised of a variety of nations, some rich, others poor. Iran, in particular, was already experiencing an economic freefall due to sanctions before the pandemic. Today, it is estimated that the breadth of the pandemic was more severe than we have seen in New York and hotspots throughout Europe.
Worse, according to the experts at SyrianConflictNews, is that the pandemic is being used to further the divide between Iran and its international neighbors, with conspiracy theories emerging that the US is the responsible party for spreading the virus. This has put pause on the scheduled peace talks and made providing aid a complicated matter.
Other countries facing difficulty are Turkey, who also delayed response, and Libya and Yemen, who don’t have the infrastructure to respond. Not all countries are in such a crisis. The UAE was ahead of the curve and managed to flatten the curve like many other nations throughout North America, Europe, and beyond.
International aid is a must, but personnel safety is a huge issue, as aid workers cannot currently be adequately protected in many of these areas.
Asia
Asian countries have felt the weight of respiratory pandemics before, which is possibly why they acted so swiftly and decidedly when the coronavirus began. It is here that countries enforced the strictest lockdown measures. Taiwan, for example, only has 59 confirmed cases, and one death when it took action, and though many condemned China’s response (especially in Wuhan), the results are obvious. Even with the second spike, countries that took a laxer approach have experienced a far higher body count and infection rate than the Chinese.
Africa
Like Asian countries, African nations also have experience with pandemic viruses, theirs being Ebola. They have used the lessons learned during the 2014 Ebola outbreak to improve early detection and enforce a rapid response to the crisis.
Oceania
Australia, though it had a small delay in responding to the pandemic, has managed to keep a lid so to speak on the virus. The same applies to other nations in the region, particularly New Zealand, who also enforced an early lockdown and dampened the spread considerably.
Nations will need to work together as we ease out of lockdown to provide aid to the nations in most desperate need, but more than that, we need to learn from each other so that one mistake is never made more than once.
