David Dodwell

Outside In | Lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic are clear – but are we ready to apply them?

We know which countries to learn from and what practices to adopt, but political tensions and fears cause leaders to hesitate

Perhaps more power and funding ought to be ceded to multilateral organisations like the WHO to tackle global threats – but how many political leaders would do that?

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A gravedigger walks among the graves of Covid-19 victims at the Nossa Senhora Aparecida cemetery in Brazil on April 29. The Americas make up nearly half the global pandemic death toll. Photo: AFP

David Dodwell

Published: 3:30am, 27 Nov 2021Updated: 4:26am, 27 Nov 2021

After almost two years of being haunted and immobilised by Covid-19, there is ambiguity, debate and disagreement over what ought to be a simple answer to a simple question: who has managed the pandemic best?

We could look at the data on cases and deaths. Since January last year, the World Health Organization says there have been more than 258 million cases and 5.16 million deaths – with 45 per cent of the death toll in the Americas and 29 per cent in Europe. This suggests many of the right lessons should be learned from Asia.

Or we could look at the economies with the fewest cases and deaths per capita. One problem is that the list is crowded with tiny, distant, island economies. It also includes China and Hong Kong which, given poisoned and polarised international relations, are either ignored or given credit for nothing.

People’s eagerness to castigate China, where the first infections were reported, seems to far outweigh our willingness to acknowledge and learn from Beijing’s astonishing success in managing the pandemic.

The WHO’s coronavirus dashboard reports that China has had over 127,000 cases, and just under 5,700 deaths. That total is just half the deaths in the US in the past week alone, and half the cases so far in Norway, praised for its successful Covid-19 management even though its population of about 5.4 million is comparatively minuscule.

03:15

Anti-Covid-19 lockdown protests throughout Europe amid rising cases and increased measures

Back in February, Time magazine updated its list of best pandemic performers, putting Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates close to the top – with New Zealand and Australia as “contenders for the crown of ‘best responder’”.

Outside In | Lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic are clear – but are we ready to apply them?

We know which countries to learn from and what practices to adopt, but political tensions and fears cause leaders to hesitate Perhaps more power and funding ought to be ceded to multilateral organisations like the WHO to tackle global threats – but how many political leaders would do that?

We know which countries to learn from and what practices to adopt, but political tensions and fears cause leaders to hesitate

Perhaps more power and funding ought to be ceded to multilateral organisations like the WHO to tackle global threats – but how many political leaders would do that?