COVID-19 pandemic: List of countries where no cases of coronavirus have been reported yet
COVID-19 pandemic: List of countries where no cases of coronavirus have been reported yet
The exponentially spreading coronavirus disease SARS-Cov-2 has had an impact on more than 6,00,000 people across the globe and led to the death of thousands. In spite of that there are still a few dim and distant corners where the virus has not infected any individual.
One such place is the Palau Island, located in the northern Pacific. It has a population of 18,000, but has still not reported any coronavirus case.
A tiny mass of land in the ocean hundreds of kilometres from the nearest neighbours, Palau is encircled by the immeasurable Pacific, which has acted as an armour against the deadly pathogen.
The stern travel restrictions have also helped out in keeping infections at bay for a number of nations in the region including Tonga, the Solomon Island, the Marshall Island and Micronesia.
The unconnected bracket also includes Samoa, Tukmenistan, North Korea and Antarctica.
But aloofness is not certain to impede the fierce progress of the disease. The North Mariana Island reported its first case over the weekend, followed by a suspected death on Monday.
“You can feel a rising tension and anxiety just shopping,” 28-year-old artist Klamiokl Tulop told news agency AFP. “Stores are crowded even more during non-payday weeks.”
She is optimistic that Palau can refrain from the fate of New York, Madrid and Wuhan, where finer resourced health service were overgrown.
There have been a number of scares on Palau, including a potential case that saw a person placed into isolation this week as officials await test reports.
The scares, and the worldwide spread of the Covid-19, has brought about an economic logjam on the island.
Supermarket aisles in the country’s largest town Koror have seen panic buying and there are dearth of sanitisers, masks and alcohol.
The island nation rely heavily on goods being shipped or flown in, which means supplies can quickly run low.
United Airlines used to fly sic times a week from close to Guam, which as seen more than 50 coronavirus cases, but now there is only one flight in operation. Many of them rely on tourism, but work has already petered out.
Islanders have been observing social distancing. Doctors are waiting for test kits to come from Taiwan. The government is also setting up five isolation facilities that will be able to hold 14 patients.
The only virus free continent is Antarctica. There is no need for social distancing in the tundra.
The group of expeditioners there are secure, but they do think about their close ones going back home.
In some places, reporting no cases does not always mean there are no cases. North Korea has portrayed emergency steps as an unqualified success in keeping the virus at bay.
But state media also appears to have doctored images to give ordinary North Koreans face masks - handing sceptics reason to believe the world’s most secretive regime may not be telling the truth.
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