These 18 countries are free of Covid-19
These days, the world is struggling with the new coronavirus called Covid-19. Covid-19 is a highly dangerous virus that came from Wuhan in China. Then, it spread out across almost all countries in the world.
The virus caused enormous changes in the world from global isolation to remote working. Also, it had a strong impact on global economy. Now, many countries are in a battle with coronavirus. However, The USA, Italy, Spain, France, Germany and Iran have the highest number of Covid-19 cases.
While almost all the countries are in a war with corona virus, it comes as a huge surprise that a handful of countries are free of the dangerous disease.
According to a BBC tally using data from Johns Hopkins University, there are 18 countries without even one Covid-19 case. Unfortunately, around 193 countries being members of the United Nation are struggling Covid-19 with the statistics showing an upward trend in the number of victims.
The 18 countries without Covid-19 are Kiribati; Comoros; Lesotho; Marshall Islands; Nauru; Micronesia; North Korea; Turkmenistan; Palau; Samoa; South Sudan; Sao Tome and Principe; Solomon Islands; Tajikistan; Yemen; Tonga; Tuvalu; and Vanuatu.
Based on UN data, some of these countries are among 10 least-visited places in the world where the virus has not landed. In addition, most of them are small islands with few visitors.
One of these is Nauru. It is an island country in Micronesia located at northeast of Australia. The nearest “major” city to this small country with direct flights is Brisbane.
As said earlier, Nauru is one of the least-visited places in the world. Based on what a tour operator said, the country has only 160 tourists a year. It is interesting to note that even this island has imposed rigorous laws in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.
Professor Andy Tatem who is a professor in spatial demography and epidemiology at the University of Southampton has said that distant islands in the South Pacific may be saved from this dangerous disease. In his opinion, these islands are worth putting money in.
However, Tatem has also said that it is not totally possible that any country or island will escape such an infectious disease due to our globalized economy.
To be more precise, almost all of these countries rely on importation from outside including goods, tourism as well as food. They also have to do some kinds of exportation of their own commodities. A complete lock down in these countries may be possible, but it will be damaging without any doubt. So, they will have to open up at the end.