Easier said than done. Stop the arrogance and be a global team player

Erik Solheim and Kaveh Madani

We don’t have to reinvent the wheel if we recognize the successful mitigation practices of the East Asian countries in fighting COVID-19.

The coronavirus pandemic is taking lives around the world. The leaders of the western countries are now being questioned for their lack of preparation and slow actions, putting millions of people at risk.

China’s population is twenty-three times bigger than Italy. But Italy has now overtaken China’s official COVID-19 death toll. Unlike China, Europe, United States and Canada had time to get prepared for this. Yet they did not choose to act like Singapore, a country very close to China that was affected by the virus very early. Singapore now has only a small fraction of COVID-19 cases in comparison to similar-size European nations and no death so far.

While China has reported no new domestic transmission, Europe is on its way to see many more people dying than in East Asia. North America does not look any better. It is simply impossible to understand why the West is refusing to learn from China, Singapore, South Korea and other Asian nations who have managed to already beat the deadly virus.