Around the World: Two Years Post the Onsetof the Pandemic
Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
COVID-19 has repeatedly surged back into prevalence worldwide, despite countries working tirelessly to contain it.
Since the end of March, Shanghai has been under immense pressure due to the massive COVID outbreak within the metropolitan area. The Chinese government put the entire city in lockdown, providing a ‘zero-tolerance’ approach to combating the virus. For two weeks, starting on March 28, the citizens of Shanghai were confined to their homes, fully reliant on the government to provide them with food and necessities. Gu Honghui, the director of the city’s working group on epidemic control, called the situation “extremely grim,” with the Chinese government sending more than 10,000 health workers to aid the situation in Shanghai.
Despite the strict structure China has implanted to keep COVID at bay, the virus has still managed to infect the citizens. Chinese authorities and the government imposed an increasing number of lockdowns in 2021, with the emergence of the Delta variant. The model held strong in the face of the Delta variant, but now, the Omicron variant has swept across the country, infecting previously untouched places such as Hong Kong. The city has had almost 30,000 COVID cases and 200 deaths a day, with healthcare systems being wholly overwhelmed by the surge of cases.
On the flip side, South Korea has taken a very dif ferent approach to dealing with the virus. In spite of the fact that in March, there was a peak of 621,328 COVID infections in a single day, the country kept a lackadaisical attitude towards the virus. Majority of the adult population in South Korea are vaccinated, with almost all elderly hav- ing received a booster shot; the country moved forward with easing social distancing measures and restrictions. The citizens of South Korea have divided opinions regarding these decisions. “Everyone used to be hush-hush about getting infected, like you were causing a nuisance / The perception is it’s like getting a cold.” said Lee Soo-won, a bartender who owns two cocktail bars in central Seoul, in an interview conduct- ed by the New York Times. Kim Jin-ah, 28, a Seoul resident who works at a department store, expressed her concern over the measures being dropped. “I worry that things might devolve into a situation that feels like a disaster movie.”
In Europe, the state of COVID is not much better. The Center for Disease Control (CDC)’s travel warning list has recently been overhauled, with many European nations being placed on Level 3––high risk. Some of the most popular tourist destinations, such as France, Germany and Greece, have had strong advisories against visita- tions. However, the EU on April 27 declared an end to the state-of-emergency. Many European countries have shifted their view of COVID-19, labelling it as an “endemic” rather than a “pandemic”; the Spanish Prime Minister declaring in an interview back in January that COVID-19 should be addressed as a flu. Italy had ceased the state-of-emergency on March 31, and Sweden had ended their mass testing program, along with the lifting of restrictions back in Feb- ruary. Stella Kyriakides expressed her concerns in a speech at a press con- ference conducted on April 27, saying “The risk that the situation can change quickly with a new variant is real,” about the Omicron variant in regards to its potential effects on Europe. During that speech, Kyriakides gave the public a glimpse into a novel plan for next-gen- eration vaccines that intend to protect against all variants and for them to be long-lasting.
Along with many other British citizens, Queen Elizabeth II herself battled with a recent bout of COVID-19. Her positive result was announced on April 11 through a virtual interview, and has now since recovered. The restrictions in place, however, have been mild, with masks only being mandated in healthcare settings.
Similar to most of Europe, Canada has also been deemed unsafe as a travel destination by the CDC. The most recent weekly report of April 10 to 16 issued by the Manitoba public health details the situation in Manitoba. Hopitalizations due to COVID have been trending upwards. The whole of Canada has been facing a resurgence in infections, but according to Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam, was not unexpected given the easing of restrictions. Despite this, the federal health agency claims that COVID in Canada is “expected to be manageable for health systems without the needs for restrictive public health measures.”
The United States has gone with a unique approach to handling the virus within its borders. There have been plans from the Center of Disease Control to administer fourth vaccine shots for the broader population. However, in a five-hour meeting held on April 20, the CDC’s panel of vaccine experts stated that repeatedly deploying booster shots to prevent infections was not realistically attainable with the current generation of vaccines, and refused to endorse a fourth round of COVID shots. All the while restrictions and mask mandates are being retracted. Many American airlines, including Delta Airlines, United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and more have eliminated the mask mandates within the planes. School districts as well; the Los Angeles school district dropping the man- date, while saying that masks are still “strongly recommended.” The rest of the country soon followed suit, and masks are no longer mandatory in almost every state.