Thread by @bopinion

From 🇪🇸Spain to the🇬🇧U.K. to the 🇺🇸U.S., the coronavirus epidemic has exposed poor leadership and governance worldwide.

But there’s one noticeable and surprising exception: 🇬🇷Greece trib.al/c7Dp7wo

Greece imposed severe social distancing measures at a much earlier stage of its epidemic than other southern European countries.

For now, this swift reaction has helped Greece avoid the tragic health care crisis that richer states are facing trib.al/c7Dp7wo

Greece responded much faster than Italy and Spain. After the first Covid-19 death, non-essential shops were closed:

🇬🇷Greece: 4 days later
🇮🇹Italy: 18 days later
🇪🇸Spain: 30 days later trib.al/c7Dp7wo

Those early actions reduced pressure on Greece’s precarious national health system.

➡️In mid-March, with a population of 10 million, it had only 605 intensive care units.
➡️Spain, in comparison, started with 4,400 ICUs for a population of 47 million trib.al/c7Dp7wo

So far, Greece’s case and death count per million people looks much better than Italy’s and Spain’s:

🇬🇷 181 cases and 8 deaths
🇪🇸 3,000 cases and 300 deaths
🇮🇹 2,306 cases and 292 deaths trib.al/c7Dp7wo

This may be because Greece has performed fewer tests, but there are no signs that the health care system is under as much pressure.

It has also recruited 4,200 new doctors and increased ICU capacity by about a third trib.al/c7Dp7wo

More worrying is the effect of the pandemic on Greece’s economy.

Tourism, for example, represents a fifth of the country’s total output and will suffer badly if travel restrictions continue into the summer trib.al/c7Dp7wo

However, given how quickly Greece responded to the outbreak, the country might be able to get back on its feet sooner than others trib.al/c7Dp7wo