An International Comparison of the COVID-19 Experiences of the Group-of-Seven and the BRICS Countries

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has been around since December 2019. In this study, the experiences of the Group-of-Seven Countries (G-7 — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US) and the BRICS Countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are compared in terms of the numbers of confirmed cases and deaths and the infection and mortality rates. The objective is to see whether such a comparison may yield some insight on how and when the COVID-19 pandemic in the world will finally be under control. The key turns out to be the minimization of secondary and higher-order transmissions of the virus. This requires, first, the practice of good personal hygiene and social distancing on the part of all the residents; second, mandatory rapid testing and exhaustive contact tracing, by the public health authorities; and third, lockdown, quarantine and travel restrictions by the government. The governments of the individual countries must fight the COVID-19 epidemic as if it were a war if they expect to succeed in bringing the epidemic under control in their respective countries.