Dealing with COVID-19 in small European island states: Cyprus, Iceland and Malta
BACKGROUND: COVID-19 became a global pandemic within weeks, as every country including small states and islands experienced a surge in cases. Small islands are known to face a number of challenges but in the quest to curb the viral spread, with the absence of land boarders and small population size,...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:7658554 2023-05-15T16:47:12+02:00 Dealing with COVID-19 in small European island states: Cyprus, Iceland and Malta Cuschieri, Sarah MEng, Elena Pallari Hatziyiann, Amalia Sigurvinsdottir, Rannveig Sigfusdottir, Inga Dora Sigurðardóttir, Árún Kristín 2020-11-12 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7658554/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2020.105261 en eng Elsevier B.V. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7658554/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2020.105261 © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active. Early Hum Dev Best Practice Guidelines Text 2020 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2020.105261 2020-11-15T01:51:48Z BACKGROUND: COVID-19 became a global pandemic within weeks, as every country including small states and islands experienced a surge in cases. Small islands are known to face a number of challenges but in the quest to curb the viral spread, with the absence of land boarders and small population size, these factors should have played to their advantage to minimize the spread. The aim of this article was to compare and contrast the COVID-19 situation, restrictions, preparedness, management and the healthcare systems between the small population island states of Cyprus, Iceland and Malta. METHOD: Data were obtained from Ministry of Health websites and COVID dashboards of the three respective Island states in Europe. Comparisons were made between the reported cases, deaths, swabbing rates, restrictions and mitigation measures and healthcare system structures. RESULTS: Malta contained the COVID-19 spread better than Cyprus and Iceland during the first wave. However, a significantly higher viral spread was observed in Malta during the second wave. Similar healthcare preparedness and services, restrictions and relaxation measures were implemented across the three islands with some exceptions such as the maximum number of people permitted in one gathering, free movement restrictions and airport regulations. CONCLUSION: The small population size and island status proved to be an asset during the first wave of COVID-19 but different governance approaches led to a different COVID-19 outcome during the transition phases and the onset of the second wave. Text Iceland PubMed Central (PMC) Early Human Development 105261 |
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Best Practice Guidelines Cuschieri, Sarah MEng, Elena Pallari Hatziyiann, Amalia Sigurvinsdottir, Rannveig Sigfusdottir, Inga Dora Sigurðardóttir, Árún Kristín Dealing with COVID-19 in small European island states: Cyprus, Iceland and Malta |
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Best Practice Guidelines |
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BACKGROUND: COVID-19 became a global pandemic within weeks, as every country including small states and islands experienced a surge in cases. Small islands are known to face a number of challenges but in the quest to curb the viral spread, with the absence of land boarders and small population size, these factors should have played to their advantage to minimize the spread. The aim of this article was to compare and contrast the COVID-19 situation, restrictions, preparedness, management and the healthcare systems between the small population island states of Cyprus, Iceland and Malta. METHOD: Data were obtained from Ministry of Health websites and COVID dashboards of the three respective Island states in Europe. Comparisons were made between the reported cases, deaths, swabbing rates, restrictions and mitigation measures and healthcare system structures. RESULTS: Malta contained the COVID-19 spread better than Cyprus and Iceland during the first wave. However, a significantly higher viral spread was observed in Malta during the second wave. Similar healthcare preparedness and services, restrictions and relaxation measures were implemented across the three islands with some exceptions such as the maximum number of people permitted in one gathering, free movement restrictions and airport regulations. CONCLUSION: The small population size and island status proved to be an asset during the first wave of COVID-19 but different governance approaches led to a different COVID-19 outcome during the transition phases and the onset of the second wave. |
format |
Text |
author |
Cuschieri, Sarah MEng, Elena Pallari Hatziyiann, Amalia Sigurvinsdottir, Rannveig Sigfusdottir, Inga Dora Sigurðardóttir, Árún Kristín |
author_facet |
Cuschieri, Sarah MEng, Elena Pallari Hatziyiann, Amalia Sigurvinsdottir, Rannveig Sigfusdottir, Inga Dora Sigurðardóttir, Árún Kristín |
author_sort |
Cuschieri, Sarah |
title |
Dealing with COVID-19 in small European island states: Cyprus, Iceland and Malta |
title_short |
Dealing with COVID-19 in small European island states: Cyprus, Iceland and Malta |
title_full |
Dealing with COVID-19 in small European island states: Cyprus, Iceland and Malta |
title_fullStr |
Dealing with COVID-19 in small European island states: Cyprus, Iceland and Malta |
title_full_unstemmed |
Dealing with COVID-19 in small European island states: Cyprus, Iceland and Malta |
title_sort |
dealing with covid-19 in small european island states: cyprus, iceland and malta |
publisher |
Elsevier B.V. |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7658554/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2020.105261 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
Early Hum Dev |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7658554/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2020.105261 |
op_rights |
© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2020.105261 |
container_title |
Early Human Development |
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105261 |
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