How to handle coronavirus: Identify, isolate and communicate

Singapore: Singapore, a tiny city-state of less than 6 million people, had one of the earliest and biggest clusters of cases of the coronavirus in early February, before it began its rapid, inexorable expansion around the globe.

Within weeks, the country’s tally of infections with the highly contagious virus that causes COVID-19 was overtaken by skyrocketing caseloads in South Korea, several European countries and the U.S.

Some strategies are proving more effective than others in containing the pandemic: pro-active efforts to track down and isolate the infected, access to basic, affordable public health care, and clear, reassuring messaging from leaders.

East Asia’s experience with the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which also originated in China, has likewise helped.

Since testing rates vary widely, it’s hard to know for sure. But with the global number of infections surpassing 210,000, Singapore appears to be among the handful of places that tick all those boxes, though recent spikes in new cases show that any lapses can have dire consequences.