Covid-19 in the Commonwealth

2020 was the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the most significant global pandemic since the ’Spanish flu’ in 1918-1919. This book provides an analysis of the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic in a range of Commonwealth countries during 2020, covering public health, political, economic and international aspects.

The Commonwealth, within which about one quarter of the world’s population resides, provides a cross-section of the global experience of COVID-19. The Commonwealth ranges from highly populated countries such as India and Nigeria, to small island states and territories, encompassing also advanced industrialised countries and developing countries. The grouping also extends into many different regions of the world: Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Europe, the Americas and Oceania. In the first year of the pandemic, vaccines were still under development and national response strategies chosen by Commonwealth countries were diverse, spanning eradication, elimination, suppression and mitigation. The chapters in this book show the ways in which governments from a selection of Commonwealth countries responded to the multiple dimensions of the crisis, pointing to the factors that led to effective or less effective policies.

This book originally appeared as a special issue of The Round Table.

Derek McDougall specialises in Asia-Pacific international politics, with particular reference to Australian engagement. He is the author of Asia-Pacific in World Politics (2016). He is a frequent contributor to The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs and serves on the journal’s international advisory board.

Suan Ee Ong has an academic background in political science and public health. She is a senior researcher and member of senior management at Research for Impact, a Singapore-based social, behavioural and health research organisation. She also holds honorary fellowships at the National University of Singapore’s School of Public Health and the Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy in Malaysia.