Opinion

What have we learnt about responding to COVID-19 outbreaks?

By Quentin Grafton, John Parslow, Tom Kompas, Kathryn Glass, Emily Banks
Updated May 14 2021 - 12:02am, first published December 30 2020 - 5:25am
Victorian police patrol the streets of Melbourne's CBD during the lockdown in October. Picture: Getty Images
Victorian police patrol the streets of Melbourne's CBD during the lockdown in October. Picture: Getty Images

On New Year's Eve 2019, the World Health Organization's Country Office in the People's Republic of China was alerted to cases of "viral pneumonia" in Wuhan. This disease has since become known to everyone as COVID-19. As 2020 now ends, many countries are struggling to respond to a second wave (or even a third wave) of COVID-19 infections, through mandatory and voluntary social distancing measures, testing, contact tracing and isolation, border controls, and economic incentives and stimulus measures.

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