A new analysis has shown how New Zealand's pandemic response left it with one of the lowest rates of excess mortality in the world. While Singapore pivoted away from elimination last July, South Korea continued to use control measures like isolation, quarantine, contact tracing and physical distancing, and managed to avoid general lockdowns. South Korea had experienced the year's largest wave, reaching about 7814 cases per million of population in mid-March. In terms of cumulative Covid-19 deaths, Australia and South Korea reported the highest totals, at 516 and 504 per million respectively. "Omicron has changed the pandemic landscape substantially, requiring a regular reassessment of the optimum response strategy," they concluded.

Source: Otago Daily Times August 24, 2022 22:25 UTC