After the initial outbreak in China in December of last year, the COVID-19 virus spread throughout the Asia Pacific region before reaching the rest of the world. The number of cases rose in Asia in January but began to quickly stabilize. Today, the number of cases per capita in Asian countries remains significantly lower than in Europe and North America. Asia is home to half of the world's population but, as of April 21, had only six per cent of reported COVID cases and four per cent of deaths globally. Although each country has responded to the outbreak differently, Asia's successes at containing the virus is in part attributable to aggressive and early containment measures.
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