From outright ignoring a pandemic to resorting to police brutality, the ways countries are battling the outbreak of COVID-19 vary widely. In many countries, their procedures differ from those in the United States. The Eagle’s Eye has made a list of some of the interesting ways countries across the globe have been handling the deadly virus that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide as of April 10, 2020.

South Korea

South Korea is deemed by many as a country with one of the most protective and effective virus battling procedures in the world. With 10,537 cases and 217 deaths in counting (since April 13, 2020), the Asian country took extreme measures to fight the virus. South Korea has been recognized for its efforts in implementing wide-spread testing for infection, making it available at phone booths, drive-through centers, and many more public areas. South Korea officials have worked swiftly to hunt down the virus as quickly as possible. The test takes about ten minutes to administer and the results are texted to the patient, usually the next day. Thankfully, it’s free — paid for by the government.

India

As the country’s officials enforced a nationwide lockdown, authoritative figures wanted to make sure their citizens obey the policy. Several controversial videos on various social media platforms showcase police wielding batons, striking citizens in public. With 10,453 confirmed cases and counting 358 deaths (since April 13, 2020). India’s reaction to the virus is deemed by many as extremely controversial since violence is used as a driving force to quarantine the citizens of India.

China

Originating from China, COVID-19, caused a staggering amount of people to become infected in the past few months. Previously, the country was leading in the world with the most amount of infected. Furthermore, the country was infamous for trying to cover up the outbreak and also for various social media claims falsely stating that the virus did not originate in China. Even though China faced terrible conditions due to the outbreak, the number of infected people is slowly decreasing.

“China has gone from reporting thousands of cases a day in February to reporting one or two a day now,” said Jason Beaubien, NPR’s Global Health and Development Correspondent on the Science Desk.

With 82,249 people infected, and counting, (since April 4, 2020) as well as more than 3,341 deaths, China no longer holds first place as the country with the most infected individuals.

To do this, Chinese officials enforced a strict “stay at home” order, quarantining people for weeks. They also restricted all public gatherings, medical workers were moved to highly infected cities and online schooling was provided to students.

Australia

Australia was one of the countries to react to the pandemic much faster than most countries. Officials there activated the country’s emergency responses on February 27. Recently, Australia looked to strengthen its response to the virus by providing free childcare.

“The childcare centre subsidy adds to a growing list of support packages,” Byron Kaye, a journalist, stated in his article. “Worth some $200 billion ($121 billion) for airlines to mall owners as the government attempts to “hibernate” the Australian economy, to be reawakened when the crisis has passed.”

Additionally, officials there closed public areas and borders, and they encouraged civilians to self-isolate for two weeks. Australia has an edge thanks to an early reaction against the pandemic. The country currently has 6359 confirmed cases and 61 deaths and counting as of April 13.

Britain

Contrasting to Australia’s early action against the virus, Britain took the opposite route. Britain’s policies were enacted late into the pandemic.

Why? According to Kim Hjelmgaard, “because COVID-19 will spread widely in society, the country’s (Britain) best bet will be to try to get to “herd” or majority immunity as quickly as possible.”

Due to this political gamble, Britain suffers over 88,621 confirmed cases and 11,329 deaths, counting as of April 13. Recently, the British government enacted on total lockdown and only essential operations are functioning.

Singapore

Singapore, one of the countries praised by the World Health Organization for early action against the virus, enacted its policies against COVID-19 this April 4. With aggressive quarantine measures, government-covered testing and treatment, strong public health communications and incentives for medical workers, Singapore looks to set an example to other countries across the world. Singapore currently has 2,918 confirmed cases and only 9 deaths as of April 13.

Italy

Italy was one of the first countries to surpass China with the most deaths due to COVID-19. Why? Because of the belated response to the virus. According to Kelsey Piper and Christina Animashaun on Vox, “Italy has been devastated by the virus because the action it took was just a little too moderate, a little too restrained, and a little too slow.”

Now, Italy experiences record-high losses compared to other countries across the globe. As of April 13, Italy has about 159,516 confirmed cases and about 20,465 deaths.

The different measures each country has taken show the drastic differences in the political attitudes of their leaders. While each country is handling the battle against COVID-19 differently, everyone in the world is engaged in a battle to stop its spread from taking a heavy death toll on the planet. Hopefully, leaders have awoken to the fact that they must respond quickly so they can learn from each other to combat the virus as efficiently as possible.