On February 18, SKY News UK trumpeted that ‘Lockdown is working! COVID-19 infection rate plummets in England’. Yet, as Figure 1 shows, Sweden with voluntary social distancing guidelines experienced an earlier and faster decline of COVID deaths per capita. The other interesting feature about the figure is how the mortality curves are policy-invariant, mimicking one another regardless of policy interventions between Sweden, the UK and the EU countries. The virus infection, hospitalization and mortality curves seem to rise and fall by seasons, independent of lockdowns.
Oman’s Renewed Economic and Political Challenges
The recent protests in Oman over economic slowdown due to the coronavirus pandemic pose a major economic and political challenge for Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al-Said, the new ruler of Oman.