Hungary was badly prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic. The country’s crisis management system, healthcare system and education system were already in bad shape, and the Hungarian economy proved vulnerable to the pandemic as a...

The Irish government introduced coronavirus-related restrictions relatively early on 12 March 2020, the day after the WHO declared a global pandemic. This entailed the closure of schools, limitations on economic and social...

Israel’s response to some aspects of the crisis has been a huge failure, to others it was mediocre, and on vaccination policy, it has thus far been a considerable success. As of mid-January 2021, Israel was a world leader in two...

The giant stress test produced by the pandemic has revealed the weaknesses and strengths of the Italian system. The health and economic impacts within the country was particularly severe due to the fact that Italy was the first...

The first major outbreak of coronavirus in Japan occurred following the arrival of the cruise ship “Diamond Princess” in Yokohama on 3 February 2020. A first wave of infections hit the country, stretching from about March to early...

Mexico is one of the countries that has been hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis. According to Reuters, at least 1.7 million people in the country had already died from or with the virus by December 2020, and nearly 79 million...

In spite of all the national, regional and local crisis management efforts, never since World War Two have so many Dutch citizens died in one year: 967 persons per 100,000 inhabitants. In 1993, a year with a vehement...

From a public health perspective, New Zealand is a COVID-19 success story. As of January 2021, New Zealand recorded only around 2,200 cases of and 25 deaths caused by COVID-19, which translates to a mortality rate of 0.51 deaths...

When COVID-19 infections began spreading first in China and then in Italy, the PiS government downplayed the threat of a pandemic. Once the pandemic hit Poland, however, the government responded very quickly. Already two days...

South Korea was comparably successful both in limiting the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and in limiting its social and economic consequences. As of 15 January 2021, the country had registered 71,820 confirmed Corona cases...