Failing to be aware of the danger of COVID-19 and act early by many countries is the main cause of the uncontrollable situation now. Below are the reasons why many governments missed the critical time to contain the spreading in the first place.

 

- Limited evidence makes it hard for authoritative health organizations such as WHO and CDC to make right judgements about this new virus and recommend effective measures to contain the spreading of COVID-19 in time.

 

- Signals from China about the seriousness of this virus is has been underestimated. Preparations taken seemed to be delayed. Click here to see the joint mission report of WHO and China on 16th, Feb, which has explained situation in China and what China has done to fight the virus.

 

- Overly positive media propaganda misled the public to think of COVID-19 as flu. This has also led to the disobey of many supposedly effective measures such as 'stay at home', especially for young people who think they are young and healthy.

 

- Complex factors like politics, economics, regional conflicts are involved in the combat of COVID-19. It makes the combat against COVID-19 even harder to pull all strength to fight the virus.

 

- There exists a certain level of information asymmetry that prevents the whole world from combating the virus collectively and effectively. Most up-to-date information about COVID-19, such transmission rate, incubation period is not transmitted efficiently across countries.