The responses to outbreaks and ways the world can strengthen them.
In the UK for the majority, it has been ranked 66th in the list of good responses against the outbreak of COVID-19. Those that were in the top 10 included: New Zealand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, Cyprus, Rwanda, Iceland, Australia, Latvia, and Sri Lanka.
New Zealand made number one spot by their early responses to any cases within the country. When countries started opening their borders, Prime Minister Jacinda Arden said, “a world where the virus is escalating, not slowing, and not even peaking in some countries yet, when cases exceed 10 million globally and deaths half a million, where countries are extending and returning to lockdown. All of the while, we get to enjoy weekend sport, go to restaurants and bars, our workplaces are open, and we can gather in whatever numbers we like.” Which was said in 2020. This is yet another reason why New Zealand took a lead in best COVID-19 response. Even though smaller nations do have some advantages in responding to outbreaks, there is still something that every country can learn from the way New Zealand responded, that being, early detection and how truly important it is.
2019, most of 2020 and 2021 saw countries cases increasing rapidly, those that led with most cases during 2020 were countries whose leaders downplayed the severity of COVID-19, which they eventually got themselves after spending almost the entirety of the year ridiculing lockdowns and rules put in place in other countries.
The countries who were ranked having the worse responses were Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Iran, and the United States. It is a fact that no country was prepared for COVID-19 and what it brought with it, isolation, and variants, to name a few. Still, the efforts made by those leading various countries were at times, not strong enough, leaving people to feel even more isolated and fearful of the present and the approaching future. The selfish reaction that some of the world leaders had in response to the outbreaks has affected everyone and only now are people (including those who were sceptical) starting to see this.
In future, we must have faster reactions to outbreaks of any sorts so that countries and its people do not get dragged behind in the process.
As said by the BMJ,
‘Public health responses to pandemics must be people centred, include core public health functions with effective systems, and have complementary public policies and social supports able to rapidly scale up.’ They also mention how the responses have been dominated by public policies aimed at reducing transmission.
As the new variant Omicron has now been discovered by WHO’s Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti. Multiple countries rushed to close their borders but many hospitals around South Africa, WHO and Moeti are urging countries to not take unnecessary steps after telling the public that this variant is currently presenting mild symptoms. Advising people follow science not fear.
Overall, communication between each country can be difficult but when everyone has a solid plan that protects their country and supports others then positive changes can be made in the responses to virus outbreaks. The same is seen within news travelling through multiple media outlets, each telling a different narrative, leading people to only have misinformation and unaware of their own safety. As said above, public health and safety should be the number one priority.
The world continues to stay unprepared for future outbreaks, some progress has been made but not by every country. We can see this when countries such as the UK and USA rushed to get more vaccines, hoarding them, and taking away any possibility of countries that need them the most getting their hands on them, leading to vaccine shortages worldwide.
When the world learns from past mistakes, we can increase response times and make sure that saving lives and slowing down future outbreaks is one of the main priorities collectively.
