Tracking the Coronavirus Pandemic

On our final episode (for now), we examine an older public health crisis and the lessons it offers.

Which Politicians and Senior Officials Have the Coronavirus?

The continent has managed to take a great leap forward—but there still might be a crash landing.

Health inequalities and government indifference are hitting communities hard.

Health care success could inspire economic change, but the future still looks bleak.

From FP Analytics: A country-by-country assessment of government responses to the pandemic.

“Confinada” critiques the disproportionate toll the coronavirus has taken on poor and Black Brazilians—on top of ongoing systemic inequality in the country.

Washington has a golden opportunity to counter China’s gains.

Countries are too rich to access conventional aid, but they can’t cope by themselves.

Ulrich Beck was a prophet of uncertainty—and the most important intellectual for the pandemic and its aftermath.

It is only temporary—and poorly enforced—but the move does represent a first step in overcoming decades of brutality.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, politicians are calling for a rethinking of global supply chains. If they are serious, they’ll need to proceed carefully.

China’s efforts to use the Houston consulate to steal science and technology secrets were “particularly aggressive and particularly successful,” Trump administration indicates.

A guide to understanding the science, and the politics, preventing U.S. children from being educated this year.

In India, education under lockdown and a deep digital divide threaten to undo real progress in rural areas.

A country that stopped the virus cold now faces an ominous second wave.

A look at how protests, political violence, and conflict have played out during the pandemic.

Despite the border with hard-hit Brazil, the coronavirus is well under control in the country.

The COVID-19 catastrophe is shrinking remittances from the United States and creating a looming humanitarian disaster.

As his poll numbers fall and coronavirus cases rise, the U.S. president needs a scapegoat—and he’s turning to his usual target, Mexico.

After a brief period of praising whistleblowers, Beijing is targeting medical staff and COVID-19 victims again.

The pandemic-fueled food shortage in Syria suggests the worst is yet to come in other conflict-riven countries around the world.

The government tried to bury evidence of a national outbreak—until Egyptians forced it to confess.

Projections based on economic and development data show an increased risk of internal violence in fragile states driven by rising prices and falling incomes.

The rise of “vaccine nationalism” threatens to leave poor countries out in the cold. 

New Delhi is invoking the pandemic to accelerate its suppression of the press.

The pandemic proved, once and for all, that the world can’t be flat. But global trade can recover—if we rewrite the rules.

The United States has abdicated its dominant role. Here’s how to fill the gap.

Populists came to power peddling political fantasies—but the coronavirus has broken the fever.

Despite the government’s anti-immigration rhetoric, many Polish businesses rely on workers from other parts of Eastern Europe.

Ableism has pervaded the failed response to the coronavirus.

One of the greatest achievements of U.S. foreign policy has been targeted by a vicious disinformation campaign.

The foundational international relations theory has been revealed to be far less realistic than it claims.

Many countries have criticized the Swedish government’s lax lockdown, but the deadly mistakes of defunding elder care and decentralizing public health oversight were made before anyone had heard of COVID-19.

Hasty reopenings and inadequate health care are piling up casualties.

The fired commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt failed to “take charge” in responding to the coronavirus outbreak aboard the ship, the Navy found in an investigation.

As coronavirus cases there exceed 1 million, the country’s poorest are struggling to access medical care.

Undocumented migrants and refugees are caught in the crossfire of Malaysia’s coronavirus response and a xenophobic backlash.

After months of lockdown, believers of all faiths are clamoring for houses of worship to fully open their doors to group prayer. Doing it too soon could be disastrous.

The pandemic has given China a chance to assert global leadership.

A disastrous pandemic and the botched Olof Palme investigation have one thing in common: Swedes’ belief that they’re special.

Travel and tourism will be changed forever. We asked seven leading thinkers for their predictions.

With little faith in the government’s coronavirus response, many rural Cambodians are turning to the divine.

A swift government response has kept the coronavirus at bay, for now, but stark inequalities, heavy-handed security forces, and racist rhetoric are threatening the country’s hard-won unity.

Experts have long said extensive testing is the key to mitigating the pandemic. But an analysis of testing data shows low-income countries have few resources.

New surveys show a surprising decline in the Russian president’s popularity. The pandemic will accelerate a trend of mistrust in the Kremlin.

How Trump’s response to both endangers U.S. national security.

It’s the country’s biggest crisis in decades—and all signs suggest Americans will absorb all the wrong lessons from it.

Doctors are being attacked and critics silenced as Moscow tries to control the narrative.

Governments and companies are returning to business at many different speeds. All worry that something might go wrong.

As the coronavirus death toll mounts, interrupted mourning rituals leave families unmoored.

“Nearly all the Taliban leadership in Doha has the bug,” a senior Afghan official said.

Taiwan beat the virus with efficient government and advanced technology—the same ingredients that power the economy.

Germany’s reopening is working because Angela Merkel treats citizens like adults; China’s is succeeding because people see results. In India, there’s no trust—and little evidence of progress.

The White House’s official narrative about the pandemic is contradicted by the facts—and creates new obstacles to stopping the virus.

Democrats and NGOs slammed the White House decision, saying the U.S. president was ceding influence to China and further undercutting the coronavirus response.

Wall Street and Main Street are on two different planets. We asked six leading experts why.

A step-by-step reconstruction of events reveals a long series of mistakes and missteps.

The Trump administration says manufacturing jobs are coming home. The facts tell another story.

A commonsense solution to the housing crisis has gained backers amid the pandemic—but can the political will remain?

With frustration rising over haphazard responses to the coronavirus, community networks are filling the void across the continent.

The coronavirus has exacted a terrible toll—but some good things may come of it yet.

From insurgent groups to charities, a range of nongovernmental organizations are stepping in to respond to the coronavirus crisis.

In Southeast Asia, the coronavirus pandemic has provided a handy excuse for a clampdown on free speech.

The invisibility and silence of Congress is another reason for America’s shocking abdication of global leadership.

Countries begin to reschedule elections after many were postponed due to the coronavirus.

Europe’s pandemic bailouts are trying to save the continent’s economy. Less clear is if they can save the planet.

State leaders are showing up the president in their pandemic response, giving López Obrador’s critics their loudest opportunity yet to oppose his policies.

Emergency monetary policies produce an unintended consequence: rising food prices around the world.

U.S. fails to gain support for an immediate investigation into coronavirus origins and for bringing Taiwan on as observer. 

The nostalgia for George W. Bush inspired by his rousing coronavirus video message is misplaced.

When the coronavirus arrived, aboriginal communities sprang into action long before the government. But in light of a neglected health system, can their tenuous successes be maintained?

Anti-Chinese sentiment and a public health backlash have vaulted Hong Kong-born Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam into the firing line for Canada’s extremists.

As the coronavirus rages on, diplomacy has moved completely online—with mixed reviews.

The psychological harm of lockdown hits people with existing conditions hardest.

Public health is a convenient pretext for extending authoritarian controls.

As the lockdown begins to ease up, coronavirus patients in ICUs across the country are just waking up—and beginning a long road to recovery.

Ten leading global thinkers on government after the pandemic.

The country should address the worsening coronavirus crisis with policies that will also repair long-standing inequality.

Despite indifferent lockdowns and poor testing, Japan seems to be skipping the worst of the pandemic.

Beijing’s advocates whitewash an increasingly oppressive regime.

An advocate for China describes why the pandemic has increased his trust in Xi, the party, and Beijing.

With the coronavirus now an excuse for inaction, the threat to the embattled minority is growing ever sharper.

In the U.S. health care system, failure is institutionalized. Getting rid of Trump in November would not solve the problem.

The country has taken a unified, middle-of-the-road approach to the coronavirus, rooted in respect for science. It’s working.

A new spurt of cases after the lifting of social distancing restrictions exposes an undercurrent of hate.

In India and around the world, community health workers are being rerouted to deal with the pandemic—with dangerous results.

With Putin’s help, Assad has constrained the capacity of the United Nations to deliver health supplies in opposition-controlled territory, which faces rising risk of the coronavirus. 

New information may offer insight into the honesty of China’s coronavirus numbers.

The U.K. epidemiologist Neil Ferguson cheated regulations to see his lover. But he’s not the only scientist to fall victim to the Dunning-Kruger effect.

Despite Pompeo’s push for more active diplomacy, his senior deputies want to go slow.

Insufficient water for washing is likely to worsen the coronavirus in the poorest nations. There’s a better way forward.

The Communist Party’s tools of control made for effective virus-fighting weapons.

Given how much remains unknown about the virus, talk of success may be premature.

Leaders in the United States and Europe insist they’re at war with the coronavirus. Here’s what they would do if they meant it.

The world is pouring trillions of dollars into coronavirus vaccines and economic stimulus efforts. But without strict measures, graft will prevent funds from reaching the right recipients.

The coronavirus will ravage a resilient Somalia—with ripples far beyond its borders.

America needs a medical microgrid focused on treating patients where they are. Without locally focused care, doctors will continue to fail those who need them most.

If you think tracking apps will keep people safe as economies reopen, look to South Korea, Singapore, and Australia to see why you’re mistaken.

After a new spurt of coronavirus cases in Seoul and with a second wave deemed “inevitable,” South Korea is bracing itself for a new normal.

As the pandemic threatens livelihoods, the country’s poor are relying almost exclusively on the charity of fellow citizens.

A snapshot of life on Earth under COVID-19 in early May.