Health and Healthcare

COVID-19: This Tiny Nation Has Only 3 Cases

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: March 22, 2021 8:10 am

Confirmed COVID-19 cases have reached 123,074,318 worldwide, and fatal cases number 2,713,028. Many scientists believe those figures are far too low because of poor tracking of cases and deaths, particularly in underdeveloped nations. The United States has posted about 20% of the world’s coronavirus cases (548,171) and 25% of confirmed cases (30,054,603). These figures also may be low because of poor testing efforts and asymptomatic cases.

Five other nations have reported over 4 million cases. Brazil, where the virus is currently out of control, has 11,998,233, and only 4% of its population has been vaccinated. India has 11,645,719, and less than 1% of its population has been vaccinated. Russia has 4,456,869 cases, with about 4% of its population having been vaccinated. The United Kingdom has 4,296,583 confirmed cases, and about 39% of its population has received at least one dose of vaccine. In France, there have been 4,282,603 confirmed cases, while about 4% of its population has had at least one vaccine dose.

Since the quality of vaccination rates varies from country to country, it is impossible to ascertain these numbers.

One country where the confirmed case count is almost certainly very accurate is Vanuatu. Only three COVID-19 cases have been reported there. The country is a series of islands in the South Pacific. It describes itself as “a double chain of 13 principal and many smaller islands in the south-western Pacific Ocean.” The islands were formed by volcanos and coral.

Vanuatu’s population is estimated at 289,100. The British and French controlled the country from the late 19th century until recently. It became the Republic of Vanuatu in 1980.

The CIA Factbook indicates that the nation’s gross domestic product (purchasing power parity) is $945 million. Much of this is driven by agriculture and fishing. Another large source of economic activity is tourism. Over 330,000 people visited in 2017. Obviously, the pandemic has halted that.

According to The Guardian, Vanuatu’s population will not be vaccinated soon:

Despite a tourism-dependent economy devastated by coronavirus shutdowns, Vanuatu’s Covid-19 vaccination programme will not inoculate most of its population until the end of 2023.

Isolation likely has protected the population against COVID-19. However, at the same time, the pandemic has crippled the economy.