Countries' pandemic response helped beat COVID-19 while neighbours suffered

They're next to neighbours which became epicentres of COVID-19, but Uruguay and Mongolia have become beacons of hope for countries fighting the pandemic.

Uruguay in South America has just 3165 confirmed cases and recorded 60 deaths, while Mongolia in Central Asia has done even better, with no current cases and zero deaths.

Both border nations have been ravaged by the pandemic.

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Across the Uruguyan border in Brazil, there has been 160,000 fatalities, most of them poor city residents living in slums without access to decent healthcare and sanitation.

Similarly, Mongolia shares a 4600km border with China - where COVID-19 broke out earlier this year.

It also borders Russia, which has recorded more than 1.6 million cases and more than 28,000 deaths.

So how did they achieve such low infections?

Both responded quickly, Uruguay shutting its borders in March while Mongolia acted even swifter, locking them down in January.

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Their governments also acted decisively in other areas: introducing widespread testing and contact tracing; awareness-raising campaigns introduced and large public gatherings banned.

But both were also helped by a strong public health system and calling in international experts.

Uruguayans were able to fall back on their long-established unemployment benefits and universal healthcare.

The small country also has lower rates of inequality, poverty and employment compared with other South American countries.

Mongolia had just endured a horrific flu season and had many public health warnings - such as regularly washing hands in place.

But when officials saw the ballooning COVID-19 cases in China earlier this year, they asked the World Health Organisation for help.

The WHO responded with a mass supply of testing kits and Mongolian authorities were able to scale up quickly.

But success in fighting the pandemic has come at a cost for both Uruguay and Mongolia.

There has been no influx of wealthy Brazilian and Argentinian tourists for Uruguay this year, while Mongolia has seen its valuable export market dry up.