Recovery, Renewal, Resilience

Mongolia's government took early, decisive preventative measures to fight COVID-19. Reports suggest that its 3.2m population have contained the virus to (at the time of writing) 287 confirmed cases and 0 deaths. Mongolia's weak health system and links to epicentres of COVID-19 (China with which it shares a land border, and South Korea with a large population of Mongolian migrant workers), suggests it could be hard-hit by COVID-19. Following WHO's advice on 22nd January 2020, containment action included:

• Immediate activation of the State Emergency Commission to support the Ministry of Health
• On 25th January, closed all schools and kindergartens, transferring classes to TV and internet-based lessons
• In mid-February, implemented preventative measures e.g. cancelled a national holiday, stopped travel between the capital (Ulaanbaatar) and provinces
• Closed borders with China and Russia to all land and air travel
• 21-day quarantine and testing for citizens who returned from overseas
• Enforced wearing of masks with additional handwashing and sanitisation

These actions also helped reduce flu infections and gastro-intestinal infections.