open-index/open-wikipedia-markdown huggingface dataset:
COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico

The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached Mexico in February 2020. However, the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) reported two cases of COVID-19 in mid-January 2020 in the states of Nayarit and Tabasco, one case per state.

As of May 13, there had been 40,186 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Mexico and 4,220 reported deaths, although the Secretariat of Health said in early May 2020 that there were more than 104,562 cases in Mexico.

## Background
On January 12, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a large group of people in Wuhan, Hubei, China, which was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 31, 2019.

## Early action
On January 22, 2020, the Secretariat of Health issued a statement saying that the novel coronavirus COVID-19 was not a threat to Mexico. 441 cases had been confirmed in China, Thailand, South Korea, and the United States. A travel warning was issued on January 9.

## First cases
On February 28, Mexico confirmed its first three cases. A 35-year-old man and a 59-year-old man in Mexico City and a 41-year-old man in the northern state of Sinaloa tested positive and were held in isolation at a hospital and a hotel. They had travelled to Bergamo and stayed in Italy for a week in mid-February.

## López Obrador's reaction
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador did not take the pandemic seriously such as the impact of coronavirus. He said "Pandemics ... won't do anything to us," and criticized the press and the opposition for its reportage.

A poll showed that 63% of Mexicans feared contracting COVID-19 and 25.5% feared dying from it. 28% said they were not willing to stay in their homes. 38.6% believed President López Obrador was handling the situation well, and 37% disapproved.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have spread to Brazil on 25 February 2020, when a man from São Paulo tested positive for the virus. 

As of 13 May 2020, 188,974 cases have been confirmed in the country, causing 13,149 deaths.

## Background
On 12 January, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a new coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.

## Cases
On 17 March, Brazil's first coronavirus-related death was confirmed. At this time, there were 291 confirmed cases in the country. Three days later, State health departments reported almost a thousand confirmed cases across 23 of 26 states and also in the Federal District.

A month after the first confirmed case on February 26, the Ministry of Health reported that Brazil had 2,915 confirmed cases and 77 deaths. On 30 April, Brazil overtook China in number of confirmed cases, passing 87,000.

## Government responses
's official announcement about COVID-19 on March 6.]]
The pandemic has caused a large difference of responses from federal, state and local governments. On 27 March Brazil announced a temporary ban on foreign air travelers, and most state governors have added quarantines to prevent the spread of the virus. 

### Criticism of Bolsonaro's response
Despite the global impact of the virus and guidelines from the World Health Organization, President Jair Bolsonaro says that the risk caused by coronavirus has been exaggerated. State governors have disagreed, causing lockdowns measures in their own states.

On 13 March, President Jair Bolsonaro tested negative for COVID-19. The same day, the Ministry of Health issued a warning recommending Brazilians and foreigners arriving in Brazil to stay in isolation for at least 7 days.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Italy

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was first confirmed to have spread to Italy on 30 January 2020, when two Chinese tourists in Rome tested positive for the virus. 

## Clusters
A large amount of cases was later found, starting with 16 confirmed cases in Lombardy on 21 February, and 60 additional cases and the first deaths on 22 February. By the beginning of March, the virus had spread to all regions of Italy.

On 30 January, the Italian government stopped all flights to and from China and declared a state of emergency. In February, eleven cities in northern Italy were seen as the centres of the two main Italian infected areas and placed under quarantine. The majority of positive cases in other regions traced back to these two areas. 

## Conte's response
On 8 March 2020, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte expanded the quarantine to all of Lombardy and 14 other northern provinces, and on the following day to all of Italy were placed on quarantine. On 11 March 2020, Conte prohibited nearly all commercial activity except for supermarkets and pharmacies. 

On 21 March, the Italian government closed all non-essential businesses and industries, and stopped movement of people.

## Cases
, Italy has 78,457 active cases, one of the highest in the world.
Overall there have been 
222,104 confirmed cases and 
31,106 deaths (a rate of 509  deaths per million population), while there have been  
112,541 recoveries or dismissals. 

By 13 May, Italy had tested about 1,779,000 people. Because of the limited number of tests performed, the real number of infected people in Italy, as in other countries, is seen to be higher than the official count. 

## Numbers
On 19 March, Italy became the country with the highest number of confirmed coronavirus deaths; however, on 11 April, the United States topped Italy.

## References
Thongloun Sisoulith

**Thongloun Sisoulith** , (; born 10 November 1946) is a Laotian politician. In 2021, he became the President of Laos. He was the Prime Minister of Laos from 2016 until 2021.

## Related pages
*General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines

The ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (), a new infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (), spread to the Philippines on January 30, 2020. The first case of the disease was confirmed in Metro Manila. 

## Cases
The first case was a 38-year-old Chinese woman who was quarantined at a hospital in Manila. The second case was confirmed on February 2, that of a 44-year-old Chinese man who died a day earlier, which was also the first confirmed death from the disease outside mainland China. 

The first case of someone without travel history abroad was confirmed on March 5, a 62-year-old male who was a Muslim prayer hall in San Juan, Metro Manila. The man's wife was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 on March 7, which was also the first local transmission to be confirmed.

## Numbers
As of September 13, 2020, there had been 261,216 confirmed cases of the disease in the country. Out of these cases, 207,568 recoveries and 4,371 deaths were recorded. 

The Philippines has the most number of cases in Southeast Asia, ahead of Indonesia and Singapore. 

The largest single-day increase in the number of confirmed cases was on August 10, when 6,958 new cases were announced.

At least one case was confirmed in all of the country's 17 regions.

## Notes
## References
Royal Flash (movie)

***Royal Flash*** is a 1975 British adventure comedy movie directed by Richard Lester and is based on the 1970 novel of the same name by George MacDonald Fraser. It stars Malcolm McDowell, Alan Bates, Oliver Reed, Florinda Bolkan, Joss Ackland, Alastair Sim, Britt Ekland, Bob Hoskins, Bob Peck, Frank Grimes, Christopher Cazenove and was distributed by 20th Century Fox.

## Other websites
*
COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

The first case of COVID-19 in New Zealand during the 2019–20 COVID-19 pandemic was reported on 28 February 2020. , the country has had a total of 3,464 cases, of which 551 are currently active, and 26 people have died from the virus. 

## Actions
All borders and entry ports of New Zealand were closed to all non-residents at 11:59&nbsp;pm on 19 March 2020, with returning citizens and residents being required to self-isolate. Since 10 April, all New Zealanders returning from overseas must go into two weeks of quarantine.

## Response
A four-level alert level system was added on 21 March to manage the outbreak within New Zealand. At higher alert levels, these levels enforce higher restrictions on what services can operate and how the available services will operate.

On 16 March, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called for an end to public gatherings of more than 500 people and warned that the outbreak could lead to a recession greater than the 2008 global financial crisis.

## Cases
On 4 March, a New Zealand woman in her 30s who had returned from northern Italy on 25 February was confirmed as the second case of the virus in New Zealand.

On 1 April, 61 new cases (47 confirmed and 14 probable) were reported, bringing the total to 708 (647 confirmed and 61 probable). That same day, it was reported that the Chatham Islands, which are part of New Zealand, were facing a food shortage due to panic buying.

On 1 May, 3 new cases (all confirmed) were reported, bringing the total to 1,479 (1,132 confirmed and 347 probable), and 11 new recoveries were reported, bringing the total 1,252. Six people were in hospital.

## References
## Other websites
COVID-19 pandemic in Japan

The COVID-19 pandemic was first confirmed to have spread to Japan in January 2020. Numbers have been recorded in each of the 47 prefectures except for Iwate. The country has seen over 10,000 sick people.

## The beginning
The Japanese government said its first outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 () started on 16 January 2020. The first was a person of Kanagawa Prefecture who had come back from Wuhan, China. The second outbreak was from Europeans and Americans from 11 March to 23 March. 

## Government response
The Japanese government has tried to stop the outbreak. On 30 January, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe created a national task force to help stop the outbreak.  

On 27 February, Abe stopped all Japanese elementary, junior high, and high schools until early April. 

On 7 April, Abe set a one-month state of emergency for Tokyo and the prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Osaka, Hyogo, and Fukuoka. On 16 April, the declaration was extended to the rest of the country.

## 2020 Olympics
The pandemic was a problem for the 2020 Summer Olympics. The Japanese government and the International Olympic Committee tried to wait until 2021 before starting the Olympics. 

## Criticism of the government response
Medical experts and the news have did not like the Japanese government's actions. They said the government was not testing many people for COVID-19. Medical experts said that the government should have used pneumonia surveillance numbers to help very sick patients.

## Notes
## References
COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic spread to South Korea on 20 January 2020, when the first case was announced.

## Cases
The number of confirmed cases increased on 19 February by 20, and on 20 February by 58 or 70, giving a total of 346 confirmed cases on 21 February 2020.

## Actions
With the fears of further contamination, mass gatherings in the affected cities were cancelled and a few hundred soldiers in Daegu are in isolation. On 4 February 2020, in order to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, South Korea began denying entry to foreigners traveling from Hubei Province.

## Numbers
By 23 September 2020, South Korea had about 23,216 cases and 388 deaths, and by 9 April 2020, with over 494,711 people having been tested.

## Programs
South Korea created what was thought to be one of the largest and best-organised epidemic control programs in the world, along with Taiwan, Vietnam, and Singapore.

Different actions have been taken to screen the mass population for the virus, and isolate any infected people as well as trace and quarantine those who contacted them, without further lockdown.

The rapid tests taken by South Korea have been successful in limiting the spread of the outbreak, without added a mass quarantine action.

## References
## Other websites
* COVID-19 South Korean page
COVID-19 pandemic in Norway

The COVID-19 pandemic began in Norway on 26 February 2020, with cases increasing during the month of March. Physical distancing actions were introduced on 12 March. 

## Cases
The first death caused by COVID-19 was documented on 26 February 2020. Most confirmed cases that were traced to outside Norway were Norwegian tourists returning from Austria and Italy.

## Testing
 Norway had performed 208,874 tests and reported 8,168 confirmed cases and 229 deaths.

## References
If I Had a Million

***If I Had a Million*** is a 1932 American comedy drama movie directed by seven directors Ernst Lubitsch, Norman Taurog, Stephen Roberts, Norman Z. McLeod, James Cruze, William A. Seiter, H. Bruce Humberstone and starring Gary Cooper, Charles Laughton, George Raft, May Robson, Charles Ruggles, Gene Raymond. It was distributed by Paramount Pictures.

## Other websites
*
*
*
COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was first confirmed to have spread to Denmark on 27 February 2020. As of 13 May 2020, there have been 10,667 confirmed cases. Starting on 15 April, a very slow and gradual reopening has been initiated, but if there are indications that the number of infections increases too fast, it will be reversed.

## Greenland
The pandemic was confirmed to have spread to Greenland in March 2020. There have been 11 confirmed cases, but none in need of hospitalization. The last infected person had recovered on 8 April and there are no known active cases in Greenland.

## Economic response
In an attempt to reduce the economic impact of the pandemic, the government created a large economic packages with the support of all parties in Parliament. Nevertheless, it was expected that the decrease in GDP would be between 3 and 10% in 2020.

## Notes
## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore

The first case relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore was confirmed on 23 January 2020.

## Numbers
By late-March and April, COVID-19 areas were detected at multiple areas for foreign workers, which soon caused a large number of new cases in the country. Singapore currently has the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia, having overtaken Indonesia on 19 April 2020.

## Response
To fight against COVID-19, a multi-ministerial committee was formed on 22 January 2020 with Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong and Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong as the co-chairs and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat as advisors. 

Singapore also spent US$500,000 to support World Health Organization (WHO) efforts against COVID-19. 

In response to the growing number of new cases, Singapore announced on 3 April 2020 a strict number of measures called a "circuit breaker" from 7 April to 4 May 2020. The circuit breaker was extended to 1 June on 21 April 2020.

## Cases
National authorities began reporting on suspected cases on 4 January 2020, however the first confirmed case of infection was reported on 23 January. The person was a tourist from Wuhan. Until 30 January 2020, there were a total to 13 confirmed cases, all of whom were visitors to Singapore from China. 

The first case involving a Singaporean was confirmed on 31 January 2020 after returning from Wuhan. 

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Ecuador

The COVID-19 pandemic was reported to have spread to Ecuador on 29 February 2020. That was when a woman in her 70s tested positive for the virus. Ecuador was described in April as the growing "epicentre" of the pandemic in Latin America. 

## Deaths
The city of Guayaquil had so many deaths that bodies were left in the street. Ecuador gave out cardboard coffins because the country had difficulty removing all the dead bodies. The government was planning to build emergency cemeteries to dispose of the bodies which are left in the streets.

## Vaccination
In April 2021, newly elected President Guillermo Lasso said that his main priorities after being inaugurated would be to increase the COVID-19 vaccination rates in the country. Lassos said he aim for bilateral talks with Russia, China, the United States, the European Union and Chile to try to acquire vaccines. A *New York Times* analysis found 7,600 more deaths had happened from 1 March to 15 April as the mortality rate spiked to three times as much as usual. That showed that the official death toll was lower than the actual death toll.

## Current number of cases by provinces
## Notes
## References
Stay-at-home order

A **stay-at-home order** (North America) or a **movement control order** (Southeast Asia) is an order from a government to lower/end movements of a population as a mass quarantine move for stopping an epidemic, or pandemic. This is done by ordering residents to stay home except for essential tasks or to work in essential businesses.

In many cases, outdoor activities are allowed. Nonessential businesses are either closed or made to working from home.

In some regions, it has added a curfew or called a **shelter-in-place order**, but it is not to be confused with a shelter in place situation.

Similar measures have been used around the world, but the term **lockdown** is used instead.

## Related pages
* Quarantine
* Self-isolation
* Social distancing

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached Portugal in March 2020 by the Directorate-General of Health (DGS).

## Cases
The first recorded cases of COVID-19 in Portugal were reported on 2 March. A week later, the Portuguese government declared the highest level of alert because of COVID-19 and said it would be maintained until 9 April. 

## Response
On 18 March, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, declared State of Emergency for the following fifteen days, with the possibility of it being extended. It was the first act of emergency since the Carnation Revolution in 1974. The act was extended on 2 April.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand

The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached Thailand on 13 January 2020, when the first case outside China was announced.

## Cases
The first reported local transmission was confirmed on 31 January. The number of cases remained low throughout February, with forty confirmed by the end of the month. Cases had a sharp increase in mid-March. Confirmed cases rose to over a hundred per day over the following week, and public areas and businesses were ordered to close in Bangkok and several other provinces. 

## Response
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha declared a state of emergency, beginning on 26 March. A curfew has been announced, beginning on 3 April 2020.

The Thai government's response to the outbreak was based on surveillance and tracing. Temperature and symptom screening for coronavirus testing was added at international airports, as well as at hospitals for patients with travel or contact history. 

Ads were introduced focused on self-monitoring for at-risk groups, practicing hygiene (especially hand washing), and avoiding crowds (or wearing masks if not possible).

While residents returning from high-risk countries were encouraged to self-quarantine, travel restrictions were not announced until 5 March, when four countries were designated as "disease-infected zones".

## Criticism
The government was criticized for its slow response to the crisis. In early February, in response to concerns over hoarding and price increase of face masks, the government issued price controls. The move failed to prevent shortages among hospitals, and became a scandal. Criticism was also for the slow response to end foreign travel.

## Background 
On 12 January, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, who had initially come to the attention of the WHO on 31 December 2019.

Unlike SARS of 2003, the case fatality ratio for COVID-19  has been much lower, but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Finland

The first case of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Finland was confirmed on 29 January 2020, when a Chinese tourist visiting Ivalo from Wuhan tested positive for the virus.

## Background
On 31 December 2019, the Health Commission of Wuhan, Hubei, China, informed the WHO about a large number of acute pneumonia cases with unknown origin in its province. On 9 January 2020, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC) reported the identification of the SARS-CoV-2 as the cause. 

On 27 January, following the developments of COVID-19 outbreak in mainland China, Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs advised citizens to avoid unnecessary travel to Hubei province. The following day, Finnair announced it would be ending its five weekly routes to Nanjing and Beijing Daxing until the end of March.

## Numbers
On 30 January, Finland's health officials said that up to 24 Finnish people may have the virus.

## Response
On 16 March, the president declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19. 272 laboratory-confirmed cases caused by COVID-19 had been diagnosed in Finland by 16 March 2020 at 2 pm. 

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic reached Ireland on 29 February 2020, and within three weeks had spread to all counties. 

## Response
On 12 March 2020, the government shut all schools, colleges, childcare facilities and cultural institutions. St Patrick's Day festivals and events were cancelled. Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar addressed the nation that night. On 24 March, almost all businesses, venues, facilities and amenities were shut; but gatherings of up to four were allowed. 

Three days later, the government banned all "non-essential" travel. People were made to keep apart in public.

## Lockdown effect
The lockdown has caused a recession and a rise in unemployment, with a longer lockdown forecast to cause greater damage. 

By mid-April 2020, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) reported that the growth rate of the pandemic had been "as low as it needs to be", that the curve had flattened and that there would be no peak coming.

## Cases
By 25 June 2021, the Department of Health had confirmed 270,477 cases and 4,989 deaths;
More than 90% of those that have died were aged over 65, and most also had underlying illnesses or lived in care homes.

## References
Flatten the curve

**Flattening the curve** is a term used in public health to mean slowing down the spread of diseases such as COVID-19. The curve being flattened is the epidemic curve, a representation of the number of infected people needing health care over time. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the term was mostly used by healthcare professionals. However, during the pandemic it was used frequently by the media. 

Flattening the curve relies on techniques such as quarantine, stay at home orders (lockdown), and social distancing.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Uruguay

The first cases of the **COVID-19 pandemic in Uruguay** were reported on the 13th of March by the Ministry of Public Health. 

As of March 2020, there is an ongoing outbreak in Uruguay, with the first few cases imported from Italy and Spain.

## Cause
The majority of early cases were caused by a wedding with 500 people in Montevideo. It was attended by a Uruguayan returning from Spain who later tested positive. 

On 14 March, it was announced that the two patients who took the bus ride on 8 March caused some 200 contacts, who were seen as suspected cases with home quarantine recommended.

## Response
On 16 March, the government issued an order to close all border crossings except Carrasco International Airport. The border with Argentina was closed effective 17 March at midnight.

President Luis Lacalle Pou said that the idea of closing the border with Brazil was "a little more complex", because it is a dry land border, and many people living near the border. Lacalle Pou advised people over 65 to stay at home.

Flights from the United States were suspended effective 18 March, and from Europe effective 20 March at midnight (00:00), at which point the airport was to close.

The government recommended working from home and not traveling. To free up hospital beds, surgeries were rescheduled.

Temperature checks were introduced in prisons and activities for prisoners restricted.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Paraguay

The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have spread to Paraguay on 7 March 2020 in a 32-year-old man from Guayaquil, Ecuador, living in San Lorenzo, Central department.

## Response
On 10 March 2020, the Paraguayan government suspended classes and all activities that involve groups of people, as well as public and private events, for 15 days. Other measures include partial closure of borders, restricting entry of foreigners, and curfews.

## Numbers
On 20 March 2020, the first death and the first case of community transmission were confirmed. The government declared a total quarantine until 3 May, with free movement restricted completely. Public movement was restricted to buying food, medicine and other essential items.

## Reopening
On 4 May, the country began to “smart quarantine”, which is the slow return to work and social activities with social distancing and hygiene measures.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Peru

The COVID-19 pandemic was reported to have spread to Peru on 6 March 2020 when a 25-year-old man who had travelled to Spain, France and the Czech Republic tested positive. 

On 15 March 2020, President Martín Vizcarra announced a country-wide lockdown, closing borders, slowing down domestic travel, and ending nonessential business, except health facilities, food vendors, pharmacies, and financial institutions. 

Peru, with a total population of 32 million, had a total of 500 intensive care unit (ICU) beds available as of April 2020, and was working on expanding its nation-wide ventilator system from 40 to 540 machines within the coming months. 

The engineering and production was supplied by the Peruvian military.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic

The COVID-19 pandemic saw its first three confirmed cases in the Czech Republic on 1 March 2020. 

## Response
On 12 March, the government declared a state of emergency, for the first time in the country's modern history for the area of the entire country. On 16 March, the country closed its borders and issued a nationwide curfew. 

While originally planned until 24 March, the measures were later extended until 1 April and then again until the end of State of Emergency which was extended by the Chamber of Deputies until 30 April 2020 and then again until 17 May 2020.

A general closure of services and retail sale was in place from 14 March until 11 May, however all shops could conduct distance sales with delivery from 24 March onwards. Government didn't order closure of manufacturing plants, but many did so voluntarily during second half of March with gradual reopening from 14 April. 

Czech Republic was first European country to make wearing of facemasks mandatory from 19 March onwards. 

## Testing
COVID-19 testing was made widely available with drive through locations from 14 March, and from 27 March anyone with a fever, dry cough or shortness of breath being eligible for a free test. 

From 13 April onwards, COVID-19 testing passed its demand. 

## Deaths
Contact tracing in the country included also voluntary disclosure of mobile phone position and debit card payments data for previous days and quaranting of identified contacts. 

By 1 May 2020, altogether 257 COVID-19 related deaths were identified in the Czech Republic compared to 2,719 in similarly populous Sweden, which did not impose any lockdown.

## Reopening
Czech Republic started gradual easing of measures from 7 April 2020 onwards with most restrictions being lifted by 11 May 2020.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic spread to Hungary on 4 March 2020, when the first cases in the country were announced. 

## Cases
The first coronavirus-related death was announced on 15 March on the government's official website.

On 18 March, the government announced that the virus had spread to every part of the country.

## Response
At the beginning of the pandemic, Hungarians living in China who wanted to move back to Europe were transported home through France. The affected seven persons were under quarantine for two weeks. As they remained healthy during the next two weeks, they were released on 16 February.

The Government of Hungary launched its official webpage and official Facebook page about the new coronavirus, both on 4 March 2020.

On 11 March, the Hungarian government declared a state of emergency.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed by Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize to have spread to South Africa on 5 March 2020. The first known case was a South African returning from Italy.

## Response
On 15 March, the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, declared a national state of disaster, and announced measures like travel restrictions and the closure of schools from 18 March. 

On 17 March, Ramaphosa formed the National Command Council on COVID-19, "to lead the nation's plan to contain the spread and mitigate the negative impact of the coronavirus". 

The parliament of South Africa suspended all activities on 18 March. Both the African National Congress and Democratic Alliance postponed their respective elective congresses.

On 23 March, a national lockdown was announced, starting on 26 March 2020. On 9 April, Ramaphosa announced that it would be extended until the end of April.

On 21 April, a 500 billion rand stimulus was announced in response to the pandemic. 

On 23 April, Ramaphosa announced that the lockdown restrictions would slowly be phased out. Level 4 started on 1 May. On 1 June, the country entered level 3.

Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, extended the state of disaster on 3 June. It ended on 4 July.

## Testing
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) started testing people in South Africa for SARS-CoV-2 on 28 January 2020.

By the middle of March, state hospitals were offering free COVID-19 testing.

On 11 June, the Health Department said that over 1 million tests had been completed.

## Numbers
, the median age of people with laboratory-confirmed cases was 38 years, and  the median age of patients who died was 64.

, there were  confirmed cases and  confirmed deaths, as well as  recoveries.

, there were  confirmed cases and  confirmed deaths, as well as  recoveries.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Afghanistan

The Chinese pandemic was confirmed to have spread to Afghanistan in Herat, was confirmed on 24 February 2020.

## Numbers
As of 14 May 2020, there have been 5,639 positive cases, with 691 recoveries and 136 deaths across all 34 provinces in the country. Kabul Province has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Afghanistan at 1556, followed by Herat with 935 cases, and then Kandahar with 613 cases.

## People returning from Iran
In March 2020, at least 150,000 Afghans returned from Iran, due to the outbreak across the country, at the Islam Qala border in Herat Province. 

As many as over 1000 people a day crossed the border during the month. Between March and April 2020, the number of cases increased in Herat Province to over 200 cases. 

At the Chaman and Torkham borders, over 60,000 Afghans returned from Pakistan in three days.

## Response
On 14 March, President Ashraf Ghani, told the public to avoid large public gatherings and to pay attention to hygiene to prevent the spread of the disease.

On 18 March, the Ministry of Interior Affairs banned all large gatherings, including the closure of venues that attract large crowds such as entertainment places, sports grounds, swimming pools, fitness clubs and wedding halls.

## References
Arthur Holmes

**Arthur Holmes** (18901965) was an English geologist. He made two important contributions: the use of radioactive isotopes for dating minerals, and the suggestion that convection currents in the mantle play an important role in continental drift. 

Holmes showed us that thermal convection currents were strong enough to move large land masses, which contributed to Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift or theory of Plate tectonics. Harry H. Hess (19061969) also supported this view.

Holmes was a pioneer of geochronology, and performed the first accurate uranium-lead radiometric dating while an undergraduate in London. This gave a date of 370 mya to a Devonian rock from Norway.  This result was published in 1911, after his graduation in 1910.

Holmes worked on the problem of the age of the Earth all his life. He reached an approximately correct estimate by the 1940s of 4,500±100 mya.
COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan

The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached Pakistan on 26 February 2020.

## Cases
The first case in Pakistan happened when a student in Karachi tested positive after returning from Iran. By 18 March, cases had been registered in all four provinces, the two autonomous territories, and the federal territory of Islamabad.

## Numbers
 there have been  over 34,300 confirmed cases with 8,812 recoveries and 737 deaths in the country. Punjab has recorded the most cases at over  13,200, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has reported the most deaths in the country, a total of 245. 

## Response
The country was put under a nation-wide lockdown until 9 May, which was initiated on 1 April and later extended twice. On 7 May, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced to slowly end lockdown phase from 9 May 2020.

## Effect
According to a report by the federal government, Pakistan could have expected 50,000 cases of the disease by 25 April. However, the number by then remained under 13,000, less than half of what was expected. 

## Vaccine
Pakistan started vaccine trials in collaboration with Sinopharm, a Chinese pharmaceutical company in April 2020.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Venezuela

As part of an ongoing worldwide pandemic,  the first two patients with COVID-19 in Venezuela were confirmed on 13 March 2020; the first death was reported on 26 March. 

## Records
However, the first record of a patient claiming to have symptoms of coronavirus disease dates back to 29 February 2020, with government officials suspecting that the first person carrying the virus could have entered the country as early as 25 February.

## Vulnerability
Venezuela is particularly vulnerable to the pandemic because of its ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis causing massive shortages of food and basic necessities, including medical supplies. 

The mass emigration of Venezuelan doctors has also caused chronic staff shortages in hospitals.

To prevent the spread of the disease into Venezuela, the governments of Brazil and Colombia temporarily closed their borders with Venezuela.

## Response
Stay-at-home orders were announced on 15 March, when the country registered another seven cases, and introduced the next day across six states and the Caracas area. 

It was on the first day of the quarantine across six states, 16 March, that Argentina's ambassador in Venezuela, Eduardo Porretti, tested positive for the virus, and Nicolás Maduro announced that sixteen new cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 33. Maduro extended the quarantine to the entire country.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Panama

The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have spread to Panama on 9 March 2020. 

## Cases
, Panama reported 2528 cases, 63 deaths and 16 recoveries. 

Of those infected, 83 were sent to a hospital. 

A 13-year-old girl died of Covid-19 on 23 March.

## Response
The government declared a state of emergency on 13 March 2020. The move freed US$50 million for a period of 180 days to purchase goods and services to combat COVID-19.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in El Salvador

The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached El Salvador on 18 March 2020.

## Numbers
As of 13 May 2020, El Salvador reported 1,112 cases, 20 deaths and 405 recoveries.

On 31 March 2020, the first COVID-19 death in El Salvador was confirmed.

## Response
President Nayib Bukele banned public gathering of more than 500 people and shut down educational institutions on 17 March.

## Arrests
El Salvador had arrested more people for violating the quarantine than it had diagnosed cases of COVID-19, a total of 2,424 people had been arrested for violating quarantine orders, and 48,913 people had been tested for the virus.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Iceland

The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached Iceland in February 2020. 

## Cases
, the total number of cases registered is 1,802, of which 1,780 have recovered and 10 have died.). The infection rate was 1 case per 203 people, one of the highest in the world. This is because more tests had been carried out in Iceland than any other country.

On 8 April, as the cases surged over 1,600 and more recoveries than new infections were recorded for the second day in a row. The total number of patients hospitalized in the country since the outbreak was 112.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic spread to Saudi Arabia on March 2, 2020, when the Ministry of Health confirmed the first case in the kingdom. 

By April 8, as many as 150 members of the Saudi royal family had tested positive. The king's nephew, Faisal bin Bandar Al Saud, has been put in the intensive care unit over coronavirus problems. 

As of November 25, the country had 355,741 confirmed cases, the highest among the Arabian Gulf States with 344,311 recoveries and 5,811 deaths.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Bolivia

The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have spread to Bolivia when its first two cases were confirmed on 10 March 2020. They were in the departments of Oruro and Santa Cruz.

On 12 March, Bolivia ended all public school sessions until 31 March, as well as all commercial flights to and from Europe for a long time. They also prohibited large-scale public gatherings of more than 1,000 people.

Following the announcement of the first confirmed case, incidents were reported among the local population, including panic buying of surgical masks and hand sanitizer and blocking access to hospitals.

On 19 March a patient under observation who was required to stay in isolation tried to escape but was caught when he tried to take a trip between departments.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Colombia

The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached Colombia on 6 March 2020.

## Cases
On 6 March, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection confirmed Colombia's first case of coronavirus, a 19-year-old female patient who recently traveled to Milan, Italy.

On 12 March, four more cases were confirmed, two in Bogotá and two in Neiva. Authorities declared a health emergency, suspending all public events involving more than 500 people, as well as implementing measures intended to keep cruise ships from docking in any national port.

## Response
As of 17 March, Colombia is not allowing entry to those who are not Colombian citizens, permanent residents or diplomats.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Iraq

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was first confirmed to have spread to Iraq in February 2020. 

## Cases
Cases have been confirmed in all 19 Iraqi Governorates as of the 27 March, with the Iraqi Kurdistan region having 309 (26%) of those cases as of 8 April. 

During the pandemic, Iraq reported its first confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 infections on 22 February 2020 in Najaf. By April, the number of confirmed cases had passed the hundred mark in Baghdad, Basra, Sulaymaniyah, Erbil and Najaf.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Serbia

The **COVID-19 pandemic in Serbia** is a current outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 in Serbia caused by SARS-CoV-2. 

## Cases
Its first case in Serbia was reported on 6 March 2020. The case was a 43-year-old man from Bačka Topola who had travelled to Budapest.

As of 12 May 2020, 151,304 individuals were tested of which there have been 10,243 confirmed cases, 3,600 recoveries and 220 deaths in Serbia.

## Response
On 15 March 15, a state of emergency was declared. Many argue the declaration was against the constitution, because there was no debate among the MPs in the Serbian Parliament. All schools, Kindergarten and universities were closed.

The following day, a curfew from (20:00h) to (05:00) was created across the whole country. In addition, people of the age of 65 and above have been forbidden to leave the house.

On 20 March, cafe bars, shopping malls, public transportation were all closed. Food delivery, however, was allowed.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina

The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have spread to Argentina on 3 March 2020, with 6,866 people being infected.

## Cases
On 7 March, the Ministry of Health confirmed the country's first death, a 64-year-old man who had traveled to Paris, France, who also had other health conditions. The case was only confirmed as positive after the patient's death. The Argentine government announced the extension of the lockdown, originally expected to end on March 31, then mid April, and later until 26 April. 

On 25 April, President Alberto Fernández announced that the lockdown would be extended in major cities until 10 May. The lockdown was lifted up throughout all the country since 10 May, excepting the Greater Buenos Aires, as the lockdown was expected to continue in that urban area at least until 24 May.

## Notes
## References
Bolliger & Mabillard

**Bolliger & Mabillard**, commonly known as **B&M**, is a roller coaster company based in Monthey, Switzerland. After installing its first coaster in 1990, they have now installed more than 100 rollercoasters across the globe. Bolliger & Mabillard left Giovanola, but the company continued to use their track design; the company's roller coasters *Goliath* (at Six Flags Magic Mountain) and *Titan* (at Six Flags Over Texas), use a track style very similar to B&M's.

## Other websites 
*
COVID-19 pandemic in Jamaica

The **COVID-19 pandemic in Jamaica** is part of an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed in Jamaica in 10 March 2020. It happened at the same time as the ongoing dengue fever epidemic in Latin America and the Caribbean.

## Background
On 12 January, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a new coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness on 31 December 2019. 

Unlike SARS outbreak of 2003, the case fatality ratio for COVID-19  has been much lower, but the transmission has been greater, with a significant total death toll. 

On 12 March, Prime Minister Andrew Holness ordered all primary and secondary schools closed for 14 days.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea

Before May 2022, North Korea had not reported any cases of COVID-19. Foreign analysts believed that the virus had spread to the country. On 12 May 2022, the North Korean government declared a national emergency. It found an unspecified number of people who tested positive for COVID-19.

The North Korean government has taken extreme measures, including quarantines and travel restrictions.

## Response
North Korea was one of the first countries to close borders due to COVID-19. The government created widespread travel restrictions, including closing the border to foreign tourists in late January 2020 and then suspending flights and banning travel in and out of the country.

Though many parts of the border were closed, the bridge between Dandong and Sinuiju remained open and allowed supplies to be delivered. 

In late February, the North Korean government said that it would keep the border closed until a cure was found.

On 18 March 2020, Kim Jong-un ordered the construction of new hospitals in North Korea.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Israel

The first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel was confirmed on 21 February 2020, after a female citizen tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 after return from quarantine on the *Diamond Princess* ship in Japan. 

## Response
As a result, a 14-day home isolation rule was created for anyone who had visited South Korea or Japan, and a ban was placed on non-residents and non-citizens who were in South Korea for 14 days before their arrival.

Beginning on 11 March, Israel began enforcing social distancing and other rules to limit the spread of infection. 

Gatherings were first restricted to no more than 100 people, but on 15 March this was lowered to 10 people. 

On 19 March, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a national state of emergency. Israelis were not allowed to leave their homes unless absolutely necessary.

## Cases
As coronavirus diagnoses spiked in the city of Bnei Brak, reaching nearly 1,000 infected individuals at the beginning of April, the cabinet voted to declare the city a "restricted zone". On 12 April, Haredi neighborhoods in Jerusalem were placed under closure.

On 20 March, an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor in Jerusalem who suffered from previous illnesses was announced as the country's first death. 

Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman and his wife tested positive for the coronavirus on 2 April; Litzman was the first member of the cabinet to be infected.

## References
Diamond Princess (ship)

***Diamond Princess*** is a British-registered  cruise ship owned and operated by Princess Cruises. She began operation in March 2004 and mainly cruises in Asia during the northern hemisphere summer and Australia during the southern hemisphere summer. 

*Diamond Princess* was built in Nagasaki, Japan, by Mitsubishi Industries.

There have been two known outbreaks of infectious disease on the ship&nbsp;– an outbreak of gastroenteritis caused by norovirus in 2016 and an outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus in 2020. At least 712 out of the 3,711 passengers and crew were infected,

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Cuba

The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have spread to Cuba on 11 March 2020 when three Italian tourists tested positive for the virus.

## The beginning
On 11 March, the first three cases in Cuba were confirmed. The patients were Italian tourists. They were kept in isolation at the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute in Havana.

## Response
The government told citizens to make their own face masks. People were told to carry several cloth face masks with them, depending on how many hours they plan to spend in public areas.

On 18 March, the number of confirmed cases increased to 10, and the first death was announced, a 61-year old Italian who had been one of the first three confirmed.

As of 30 March, the amount of confirmed coronavirus cases is at 170, with 4 deaths.

## References
COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt

The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached Egypt by 14 February 2020. As of 1 May 2020, there have been 5,895 confirmed cases, 1,460 recoveries and 406 deaths.

## Response
All flights from China to Egypt were banned starting on 26 January. Egypt's health ministry announced the first case in the country at Cairo International Airport involving a Chinese national on 14 February. 

Egyptian authorities had talked to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the patient had been placed in quarantined isolation in hospital. 

## Cases
On 8 March, a 60-year-old German citizen died in Hurghada, the first German fatality from the virus. The next day, the World Health Organization said that there were 56 confirmed cases in Egypt. On the same day, the Egyptian Minister of Tourism said that they discovered 3 additional cases with three people who work in a hotel.

In early April, cases surpassed 1000.

## References