Without a doubt, the globally recognized COVID-19 pandemic has been the perfect litmus test of leadership among world leaders over the last three months. Events might have started initially in China, and it was without a doubt that under President Xi Jinping’s leadership, the decision to lock down cities and towns has resulted in stopping the virus from escalating further. It is no mean feat that China is now not only able to keep the spread of the virus under control, but can now offer support to countries like Italy, Iran and Spain in their fight against the pandemic.

One might want to ask how well other world leaders are doing. Were they acting with resolution and determination in protecting and supporting their citizens from the pandemic?

In the United States, President Donald Trump demonstrated clearly that he is totally out of his depth when confronted with such a serious situation, which he believes can be dealt with just by throwing vast sums of money at it. CNN, a US television news channel, branded the president as someone who thrives on “insular populism” after Trump initially referred to the outbreak as a “foreign virus”. Then when the World Health Organization recognized COVID-19 as a pandemic, the president’s response was to ban flights from Europe, resulting in confusion at airports and on global markets. Trump should know better that the world is globalized; each and every nation, including the US, is not immune from an international crisis.

The United Kingdom, under Prime Minister Boris Johnson, took advice from public health experts from the very beginning. The UK put forward a four-step approach to “contain, delay, research and mitigate” the spread of the virus. At the time of writing, there are 1,543 cases of COVID-19 in the UK with 35 deaths.

It is no mean feat that China is now not only able to keep the spread of the virus under control, but can now offer support to countries like Italy, Iran and Spain in their fight against the pandemic

Britain’s NHS (National Health Service) advice for citizens who might be more vulnerable to the virus was to keep at least three steps from other people — particularly older people or those with long-term health problems; to ask friends to deliver food and medicines if necessary; to sleep alone if possible; to wash their hands regularly with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds; to keep away from sick people; and to drink plenty of water.

Following the examples of some of its European neighbors like France, Spain and Italy, Britain has now reached a lockdown stage. All citizens are advised to avoid social contact and stop nonessential travel to fight the coronavirus. The strategy is to delay the onset of the peak of the disease until the summer months, when the NHS is under less pressure. As a result, the peak of the epidemic is spread over a longer period to make it easier to handle the rising number of people needing treatment. Let’s hope Johnson has adopted the correct approach to manage the crisis.

What about Hong Kong? As it borders the Chinese mainland, the SAR’s first step of action was to curtail cross-border travel in order to avoid the virus spreading. In his latest budget, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po pointed out that 2019 has been an “unsettling year fraught with obstacles and an unforgettable one for Hong Kong.” The so-called “social incidents” that broke out in June have undoubtedly destabilized the SAR as a whole — politically, socially and economically. An Anti-epidemic Fund of HK$30 billion (US$3.86 billion) has been set up to support local industries and employees.

Latest figures indicate that the SAR has around 200 confirmed cases with 88 recovered and four deaths. As Hong Kong is a business and tourist destination for many from around the globe, travelers are now required to stay in quarantine accommodation or home quarantine. There are many Filipino domestic workers working and living in the SAR, and a small number of them have been infected by the virus as well.

In early February, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor faced criticism when she refused to completely shut down the border between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland. She argued that doing so would be “inappropriate and impractical” as well as “discriminatory”. With unlawful civil protests starting to resurface in the SAR, the test for the chief executive will be to do the right thing and meet difficult future challenges.

The author was the first-ever Chinese British citizen to be elected mayor of the London Borough of Redbridge (2009-10) and served as a member of the borough council for 12 years.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.