Each week, we’re taking a look at how COVID-19 is impacting life around the world. Here’s the roundup for this week:
Bangladesh
Bangladesh has one of the lowest ratios of hospital beds to patients in the world—estimated to be over 1,000 beds for a population of more than 160 million—and as hospitals turn patients away, fears rise that the densely populated South Asian country will become a new global coronavirus hotspot. (BBC)
Portugal
Portugal is competing with Greece to sell itself as Europe’s safest travel destination this summer. The tourism authorities herald the country’s relatively low infection rates (it’s had 1,520 fatalities among a population of less than 11 million). Both countries face financial hardship if they’re unable to encourage tourists. (CNN)
Belarus
Belarus did not impose any lockdowns in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and the World Health Organization has regularly recommended that authorities there enhance social distancing and ban mass public events, yet President Alexander Lukashenko has praised the country’s “exemplary” battle against the pandemic—despite over 55,000 cases of COVID-19. (TASS)
Peru
Despite being one of the first Latin America countries to go into lockdown, Peru has now reported more than 237,000 cases of COVID-19 and 7,000 deaths. Fake masks have flooded the market, and authorities are trying to enforce a $6.9 million fine for alleged price-fixing imposed in 2013 on two companies that dominate the supply of oxygen to public hospitals. This is on top of a public health-care system which had suffered decades of underinvestment. (Washington Post)
