Best and worst countries on COVID-19 response

[CumbrianLefty]

China the best? Are you serious?
Russian answer so far is pretty mediocre, good steps, but too late. Testing seems OK.

From post-Soviet countries, best - Kazakhstan, worst - Belarus, Turkmenistan

Still officially zero cases yesterday, hur hur.

[CumbrianLefty]

That figure in India for "its all a Chinese conspiracy" - depressing.

[CumbrianLefty]

Fair comment, polling on this crisis is not an easy thing to get totally right.

[CumbrianLefty]

Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and N Korea *still* claiming officially no cases

[CumbrianLefty]

Sweden seems to be a trainwreck, especially compared to Norway and Finland.

That’s what happens when you don’t enforce social distancing.

Herd immunity in action.

[CumbrianLefty]

Update for post-USSR: Ukraine and Belorussia - total disaster, Turkmenistan - not a lot of info, but probably too.  Altic countries and Kazakhstan - very good.

Didn't Turkmenistan actually ban mentioning the virus?

I thought they actually claimed to be "banning" it per se?

[CumbrianLefty]

Best: North Korea, Belarus, Sweden
Worst: India, Hungary, Lesotho

Que??

[CumbrianLefty]

And a PM who wants all the glory of the post without any of the responsibility.

[CumbrianLefty]

Of the more populous countries, South Korea and Germany have absolutely hit it out of the park. The US & Brazil are the worst of the big countries.

Best smaller countries: New Zealand and Taiwan. Worst: Hungary and Lesotho.

I don't devote a lot of thought to Lesotho (although I know what and where it is). What makes its response so bad?

I think they were outright denialists (a la DPRK and Turkmenistan) until recently?

[CumbrianLefty]

Maybe more like W-shaped, given the likelihood of a second wave in the US?

[CumbrianLefty]

For me the best response is Sweden.  Even though they lag behind some Oriental economies in terms of minimizing economic impact they are now fairly invulnerable to any renewed outbreak where as the various Oriental economies mostly artificially suppressed the spread of the virus which merely delays the inevitable and is based on the premise that an effective vaccine can be quickly manufactured and dispersed.   

Which may yet happen, in which case they (and the likes of NZ) will look rather better.

[CumbrianLefty]

Worst: America. Is this even a question?

Yes, because Brazil exists.

[CumbrianLefty]

Worst: America. Is this even a question?

Yes, because Brazil exists.

Actually, per my methodology, Brazil only just barely cracks the top 10 (507% of world average in cases/1M, 59% of world average in deaths/1M) while the US are getting the bronze medal (500% in cases/1M, 224% in deaths/1M)

Well that is certainly telling for the US.

[CumbrianLefty]

Not terribly well I think.

[CumbrianLefty]

Worst response probably goes to North Korea.

Have they admitted its existence yet?

[CumbrianLefty]

Worst response probably goes to North Korea.

Have they admitted its existence yet?

It’s North Korea, what do you think?

Well there were rumours of a confirmed case a while ago, but this remains speculation.

[CumbrianLefty]

Given yet more chaos and confusion from our government since last night, they are likely carrying on their slow climb up the "worst" list.

[CumbrianLefty]

Worst response probably goes to North Korea.

Have they admitted its existence yet?

It’s North Korea, what do you think?

"The imperialist virus was destroyed by North Korean doctors. The whole world is thanking Kim Jung Un for his glorious leadership in defeating a virus that no one else knew how to defeat."

You jest, but I bet that's close to the official "line"

[CumbrianLefty]

UK can at least claim to have done well on the vaccination front - certainly our government has not been slow in claiming as much.

Which makes the rumblings they could be about to mess that up too all the more depressing.