The corona pandemic has now claimed over two million lives.
That is more people than are killed in traffic accidents or AIDS around the world every year.
While the deaths in hospitals in Europe continue and medical professionals are forced to triage, countries in East Asia seem to be coping better with the pandemic.
The number of infections and deaths there is significantly lower.
Is this due to the Confucian culture of societies, in which discipline and collective are more important than individual freedom?
The limited data protection that allows seamless tracking of the population?
Does the regime type play a role?
For some time now, political scientists have been discussing the question of whether a democracy or an autocracy is more effective in combating epidemics.
Are Democracies More Prone to Epidemics?
Is it perhaps a good thing that the virus broke out in China and not in the US because an authoritarian regime can act much more uncompromisingly?