The world has been heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and the global community is seeking solutions to minimise the massive loss of lives reported throughout. While some countries like New Zealand have shown us the way, nation-states across the world are grappling with the crisis and trying out various techniques to ease out its impacts. In this piece, we will be going through some of the uniques strategies that nations like New Zealand, Vietnam and Iceland have been adopting to minimise and alter the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that if there is one thing that is uniting the global community at this moment, it is the struggle to flatten the coronavirus curve and while some countries have been able to keep the number of new infections under control with better health services and citizen cooperation, there are some which are still struggling to keep matters in control.
The Unique Response of New Zealand
It was in March, 2020 that the government of New Zealand decided on adopting a full elimination strategy to deal with the pandemic. This was the time when New Zealand only had about 205 cases of coronavirus and had reported no deaths. The government decided to implement what is considered to be one of the most strictest lockdowns in the world. It even closed all the national borders and put a complete ban on the entry of any person from outside its borders. Residents were only allowed to leave their residents for essentials or during emergencies and all returning nationals had to undergo mandatory quarantine. In June, New Zealand lifted the domestic restrictions but continued with the border closure. The country has been able to flatten the curve to a great extent and there have been no new cases since May.
Vietnam Fights the Pandemic With Unique Strategy
Vietnam shares a very long border with China and therefore most people predicted that it could be one of the worst affected countries and become highly vulnerable to the infection. With limited healthcare and infrastructure at its disposal, Vietnam could easily be one of the most affected countries in the world but its unique fighting style helped it deal with the crisis quite effectively.
As of June 29, Vietnam only recorded 352 cases of coronavirus and nobody has died of the infection so far.
The government of the country also predicts a growth in the economy by 5% in spite of the pandemic. The county began taking its precautionary measures in January,2020 when most other countries of the world hadn’t even imagined the intensity of the pandemic. The borders were closed, schools were shut and robust health surveys were conducted at vulnerable spots. For each person who showed symptoms, contact tracing was undertaken and media campaigns worked for raising awareness.
Iceland Contact Tracing is Quite Successful in Controlling the Spread of Covid-19
One of the highest infection rates in Europe was recorded by Iceland and it accounted for 513 cases per 100,000 people. But by March, it made sure to have the highest test rate in the country and conducted widespread tests to eliminate all possibilities of the infection spreading. Iceland’s screening and contact tracing system has been so effective that today it boasts of the lowest virus death rates in the world, i.e. 3% per 100,000 people.
