COVID-19 is everywhere – or is it?
Strange as it may sound, there are eleven countries that have remained pandemic-free since the coronavirus ravaged the rest of the world.
Unsurprisingly, they are Pacific island nations with little to no outside traffic and locked early, keeping all international visitors off their shores. The 11 countries that have not registered one case of COVID according to the Star are:
The Cook Islands
Population: 17,000
Precautions included closing schools on Rarotonga, the most populous of the country’s 15 islands, and encouraging social distance in public – but after a few weeks, life returned to normal.
Tuvalu
Population: 11,500
The borders were immediately closed with a strict two-week quarantine imposed on anyone entering the country.
Tonga
Population: 104,000
Early on, this island state changed cruise ships and introduced a ban on international travel.
Pitcairn Islands
Population: 50
Populated entirely by the descendants of the famous HMS Bounty mutineers and a handful of Tahitian prisoners, who landed on the islands in 1789, not a single COVID-19 case has been recorded here.
Palau
Population: 17,900
Composed of more than 300 islands, the country has suspended all travel and imposed a strict quarantine for citizens returning home.
Niue
Population: 1,624
Nauru
Population: 12,700
It may be COVID-10 free, but for many, life on this island is still hellish. To make money, one of the poorest countries in the world, the government leases most of its land to Australia for use as an internment camp for illegal immigrants and refugees.
Kiribati
Population: 116,000
Very few airlines fly to Kiribati, so it was easier for this country to impose a travel ban.
Tokelau
Population: 1,411
This small country is located halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand and is still COVID-19 free.
Micronesia
Population: 112,000
The government, which consists of more than 600 islands, warned early on, “Passengers are not allowed to disembark any air or seagoing vessel originating outside the Federated States of Micronesia, with the exception of persons to whom an exception is granted by the National Government or those working on commercial seagoing vessels that adhere to precautions and protocols. “
Turkmenistan
Inhabitants: 5 million
This Central Asian country, the only non-island state in the group, just hasn’t recorded any cases – so voila! No COVID! Whether it is actually COVID-free is up for debate.