- Yahoo News Australia
There are few places on the globe where the novel coronavirus has not reached, but some countries have done better than others at keeping the disease at bay.
While parts of Europe and the Americas struggle through a second wave of coronavirus, there is one country that is being held up as a quiet achiever in the global pandemic – and a surprising one at that.
Mongolia shares a border which China – where the pandemic is believed to have originated – and lacks the healthcare system of wealthier countries. With very few ventilators in the country, Mongolia would seem like a prime candidate to be ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic.
But the country hasn’t recorded a single COVID-19 death and has no community transmission to speak of.
Unlike many Western countries, Mongolia was uniquely prepared and ready to deal with a global virus pandemic, says Professor Li Narangoa from the ANU’s Mongolia Institute.
“I was worried when it spread in China because Mongolia and China have such close trade relationship and there are a lot of travellers on land as well, not only in air,” she told Yahoo News Australia.
But a nomadic lifestyle that involves living in close quarters with animals has meant a history of dealing with zoonotic disease outbreaks. When news of the novel coronavirus spread, it was just the latest episode…Continue reading
