Re: Fasten Your Pandemic Seat Belts (Nov. 9): Columnist André Picard draws attention to how Melbourne is now reaping the benefits of locking down until cases were down to literally zero each day. It is worth pointing out that Australia is the latest member of a group of countries, located mostly in the Asia-Pacific region, that have chosen this path.

Some have sustained zero community transmission for many months, even managing to contain outbreaks through aggressive testing, contact tracing and targeted quarantines. The diversity among these countries shows that success cannot be explained in terms of geography, population density, political systems and so on. Some are authoritarian, such as China and Vietnam; others are relatively democratic, including Taiwan and South Korea, or facing active pro-democracy protests, namely Thailand and Hong Kong; two are even settler colonies like Canada – Australia and New Zealand.

In all these countries, governments have been able to push back against those who argue that it’s necessary to find a balance between saving the economy and saving lives.

Peter Vandergeest Professor of Geography, York Centre for Asian Research, York University; Toronto

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*Originally published in The Globe and Mail, 11 November 2020: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/letters/article-nov-11-we-immigrants-honour-that-by-sharing-in-building-a-canadian/