Not as stated

摘要

FOR A FEW months it seemed that the Balkans were having a good pandemic. Infection and death rates were low. In March, as covid-19 began to spread fast across Europe, most Balkan countries locked down quickly and strictly. In May the Montenegrin prime minister crowed that his was the first covid-free country on the continent. But by the end of July Montenegro had the second-highest infection rate in Europe. Now, eight of the ten European countries with the fastest-rising infection rates are in the Balkans. If it were ever true that early firm action had worked, that advantage was lost with rapid reopenings. Or perhaps the early numbers were wrong, thanks to poor measurement or a cover-up; maybe the picture was never as good as it had seemed to be.