Coronavirus pandemic

***This is a current event that is still evolving (updated May 16, 2023)***

The **Coronavirus** pandemic is a worldwide event spanning many months originating in China and spreading across over 200 countries. Many countries varied in the responses and actions to the disease which was new and did not have either a cure or a vaccine. As of late August 2020 there were more than 22 million people affected and many hundreds of thousands have died.

## Background

The Coronavirus was first officially detected in the Wuhan Province in China in December 2019. Government secrecy in China has kept the exact details vague and limited to what they have released, leading to rumours and innuendo including an assertion that there was a detected case in November 2019. The virus is believed to be originating from bats and is related to the SARS virus. This strain however is apparently more virulent and contagious. It's full medical name is SARS‑CoV‑2 and it's more common medical name is COVID-19.

## Initial spread

Throughout the remainder of 2019 and into early 2020, the virus remained confined to China but it spread through other provinces. This was partly due to major movement in the lead up to the Chinese New Year - on January 25 in 2020. With Wuhan being a major transport terminal the spread was relatively easy. In early January it was being reported as "pneumonia of unknown causes" by China to the World Health Organisation.

The spread started to affect other countries - Thailand was the first country outside of China to report it, with the United States and Australia reporting it's first cases in the second half of January. Italy had it's first cases at the end of January, only a day after the WHO declared the virus a "public health emergency of international concern" (PHEIC). In February more countries reported cases, and the spread continued to the point that on March 11, 2020 the WHO declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic.

## Worldwide effects and responses

* ***As of May 16, 2023, the world has had 765,903,278 cumulative cases with 6,927,378 deaths.***

By the end of March, 2020, there were very few countries that had not been touched by the pandemic. As of November, 2021, only four countries and eight dependent territories had remained free of the virus, although in the case of North Korea and Turkmenistan this is highly unlikely. The rest were all islands, one in the Arctic Ocean, two in the Indian Ocean and the remainder in the Pacific Ocean.

A number of countries felt the danger had passed by June with a number of countries re-opening. At the end of June, the WHO warned that the spread was accelerating and such a move was premature. This warning proved justified as the northern Winter at the end of 2020 started producing mutations - first in Denmark and then in the United Kingdom. More variants appeared in 2021 with the mutations being given names after the Greek alphabet instead of the country of apparent origin of the variant.

The world's science laboratories wasted little time looking to develop a vaccine. With it's connection to the original SARS already established much work had already been done, and a number of candidates entered human trials in mid 2020. In November, the vaccine developed by Pfizer was providing the best results in efficacy. Other results of human trials of other vaccines varied from as effective to less effective. The Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine was popular due to the fact that it only needed to be stored in a regular refridgerator, whereas the Pfizer vaccine had to be stored at a much lower temperature. But clotting issues arose from the former, scaring a few countries from it despite the low rate of the issue compared to actual immunsations.

On March 13, 2021, the Lowy Institute in Australia published data that included their ranking of a country's performance in handling the pandemic. They were only able to examine data from 102 countries - notable omissions to the study were China and Brazil. This data is no longer available.

On May 6, 2023, the World Health Organisation downgraded the warning out of a PHEIC status. However there was no declaration that the pandemic was over given the ongoing case numbers and deaths.

### United States

* ***As of May 16, 2023, the United States has had 103,343,569 cumulative cases with 1,125,209 deaths.***

It can be argued that of all the countries in the world, the response to the virus itself by the United States as a whole has been the least effective. Throughout 2020, then President of the United States, Donald Trump, constantly played down the effects of the virus and persistently referred to it as the "China virus". The fifty states engaged in different responses, ranging from lockdowns to simple restrictions, and also had to deal with violent reactions from people demanding their freedom be retained in the crisis - mostly in states with lockdowns. One state capital in Michigan was invaded by such violence.

Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax are based in the United States.

### China

* ***As of May 16, 2023, China has had 99,252,425 cumulative cases with 121,015 deaths.***

China is in second position in cumulative cases due to a recent explosion in cases due to the government's complete reversal of it's zero cases policy. It is also uncertain if the numbers are in fact even more than what has been reported.

### India

* ***As of May 16, 2023, India has had 44,972,800 cumulative cases with 531,707 deaths.***

India is in third position in cumulative cases, and has been argued to be the second worst country in terms of effective response albeit for different reasons to the United States. India has a history of poor sanitation and diet issues making for very different conditions when it comes to combating disease. It is from India that two of later variants have originated from.

### France

* ***As of May 16, 2023, France has had 38,961,098 cumulative cases with 163,120 deaths.***

France is in fourth place in cumulative cases. They had an early lockdown and then re-opened mid year in 2020 before locking down again during the northern Winter. Unlike the others in more recent times the French government have been controlling the numbers as best as possible - relying on a version of a vaccine passport. This mandate attracted levels of violence only seen in the United States (in Michigan) although not to the level of the unrelated Capitol Hill Riot. This resistance led to a jump in numbers in 2022. France is the worst performing country in Europe.

### Germany

* ***As of May 16, 2023, Germany has had 38,413,078 cumulative cases with 173,473 deaths.***

Germany stands in fifth place in cumulative cases. Like France that went into an early lockdown and emerged in mid 2020 and locked down again during the following Northern Winter. While there haven't been the issues in violent resistance that France has had, a number of prominent conspiracy theorists are based in Germany. Like France, cases jumped in 2022.

### Brazil

* ***As of May 16, 2023, Brazil has had 37,487,971 cumulative cases with 701,833 deaths.***

Brazil stands in sixth place, but has been argued as the third worst country in terms of effective response to the pandemic and for similar reasons to that of the United States. It's now former President, Jair Bolsonaro, did not taken the virus seriously even when testing positive himself in July 2020. He even drew on the original report from China to the WHO claiming he had "mold in the lung" - a variation of pneumonia. Brazil is the worst country in South America and has the second worst death toll ion the world behind the United States.

### Japan

* ***As of May 16, 2023, Japan has had 33,793,429 cumulative cases with 74,654 deaths.***

Japan stands in seventh place in cumulative cases. It was dealing well with the pandemic managing the Olympic Games without incident after the postponement to 2021. However case numbers leapt in more recent times for reasons unknown.

### South Korea

* ***As of May 16, 2023, South Korea has had 31,285,910 cumulative cases with 34,534 deaths.***

South Korea stands in eighth place in cumulative cases. Like neighbouring Japan it was dealing well with the pandemic. However also like Japan case numbers leapt in more recent times for reasons unknown. There may have been a flow on from Japan or vice versa.

### Italy

* ***As of May 16, 2023, Italy has had 25,809,208 cumulative cases with 189,904 deaths.***

Italy is in ninth place in cumulative cases. The trend of other European countries was repeated here, although Italy was the first European country to report a case in January 2020. The Italian culture resisted the lockdowns and restrictions whenever they were instituted, but given the more recent numbers from other countries they have done okay in the circumstances.

### United Kingdom

* ***As of May 16, 2023, the United Kingdom has had 24,592,953 cumulative cases with 225,081 deaths.***

The United Kingdom is in tenth place in cumulative cases. The country's response has varied along the lines of the United States, except that the administrations only numbered four (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) and the differences were not as vast. Then Prime Minister Boris Johnson led a successful early campaign in 2020, but the northern Winter exposed holes as the virus surged and then Johnson showed over confidence in the vaccine leading to a later jump although not as big as the Winter of 2020/2021.

Astra Zeneca has it's headquarters in the United Kingdom.

### Other countries

As of May 16, 2023, Russia had over 22 million cumulative cases - with 398,000 deaths (the highest death toll in Europe). Turkey had 17 million and Spain had 13 million. Vietnam and Australia had 11 million and Argentina had 10 million.

The lowest cumulative case numbers as of May 16, 2023 have come from the Pitcairn Islands (4), Tokelau (5), Holy See (26), Niue (747), Saba (813), Sint Eustatius (1,217), Monserrat (1,403), the Falkland Islands (1,923), St Helena (2,166) and Tuvalu (2,779). North Korea and Turmenistan have persistently refused to reveal any data to anyone.