How are different parts of the world so different?!

[JC17fj74]

How are we all dealing with Covid so differently right now?
So far I've seen friends in Australia enjoying the 'normal' things in life such a beach days, meals out and drinks and cocktails in bars. Friends in America dining out in restaurants etc
And here we are in full shitty lockdown with no end date in sight.
Why are we so different over her?!
It's like the rest of the world has started to get back to normal and we are stuck in this nightmare 😫

It is virtually impossible to make a straight comparison due to multiple factors e.g. geographic area/population density (e.g. Spain might be large country but most people live in densely populated urban areas; UK is densely populated), time of virus introduction (Europe had it early), number of international/foreign nationals and international travel (UK is undoubtedly a major global hub with many major international airports compared with its population size and land area), % of ICU beds (low here), % of overweight and suffering with metabolic syndrome (e.g. type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure one of the key risk factors), culture of elderly residing in care homes with agency workers who are low paid (e.g. UK, Belgium, Sweden - often working across multiple sites with no PPE -- this is a major one, most fatalities have been in the elderly and those in care homes), % of new immigrants (new immigrants/asylum seekers often have to reside in less than optimal conditions and in densely populated areas; some may not initially had the 'messages' about social distancing etc communicated effectively or are frankly distrustful of authorities due to where they have fled from. If you look at these parameters (and these are only a few) it is not that surprising that the UK is one of the worst affected and it would just be totally unfair to compare our situation with Australia or New Zealand. Once community transmission has taken full hold (which it had done long before the UK even knew it was a problem and reacted), closing borders do not make that much of a difference. Now, it might make sense because we're trying to keep new variants out until the vaccination of key groups have completed. It's complicated....

The UK's death rate is currently the highest in the world:

"The UK had the highest Covid death toll in the world in the week to 17 January with 16.5 deaths per 1 million people on average, according to Our World in Data."

From the Guardian.

Enacting a law on face coverings but refusing to enforce it or police it in case anyone is rude or aggressive but instead allowing the police to stop people driving to take exercise.

Hospitals with hundreds of Covid-19 patients but staff treating them wearing paper FFP1 masks, while in Austria and Bavaria, and soon to be Germany, they have to wear FFP2 masks to go into a shop or on the bus. In the UK this pathetic PPE provision leads to mass Covid-19 transmission within hospitals, particularly to staff, then their families, then the community.

The UK pretends to be taking a tough stance and enforcing restrictions. In reality it is months since the law on face covering came into force and it has never been policed.
All it takes is one deranged covid-denier to film police trying to enforce the law and all the police officers are redeployed to the countryside and coast to stop people driving for exercise so priti patel and the police can say that they are being so tough on lockdown flouters. Except the open air is not where the virus is being transmitted, so the virus is free to spread in supermarkets, public transport, work places, all essential.

Tens of thousands of individual fines given, not a single one to a company. All those workplaces are essential and safe.

Driving to the countryside for a walk however requires the full force of the police (despite not being illegal).

This is why we have the world's highest death rate. Our government is incompetent and not stopping transmission where it is actually taking place. The police are only fit to intercept hikers. The government won't shut any business belonging to a party donor, and only introduced the most flimsiest of border controls 10 months too late.

I'm in India and things have gradually opened up here. Masks are mandatory outside the house with even tiny children wearing them. When going into any public building, your temperature is checked and you have to use hand sanitizer from a dispenser there. I hardly hear of people falling ill from Covid anymore, that is, in my own network of friends and acquaintances, though I did know people who were ill during the peak of it done months ago. Schools have been shut since March, but are gradually opening up for the older kids in the final four years of school since they have major exams coming up in the next few months.

Some months ago, not done...