COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
The COVID-19 pandemic began in Asia in Wuhan, Hubei, China, and has spread widely through the continent. As of 24 April 2024,[3] at least one case of COVID-19 had been reported in every country in Asia except Turkmenistan.
The Asian countries with the highest numbers of confirmed coronavirus cases are India, South Korea, Turkey, Vietnam, and Iran.[4] Despite being the first area of the world hit by the outbreak, the early wide-scale response of some Asian states, particularly Bhutan,[5] Singapore,[6] Taiwan,[7] and Vietnam[8] has allowed them to fare comparatively well. China was criticised for initially minimising the severity of the outbreak, but its wide-scale response has largely contained the disease since March 2020.[9][10][11][12]
As of July 2021, the highest numbers of deaths are recorded in India, Indonesia, Iran, and Turkey, each with more than 90,000 deaths and more than 900,000 deaths combined. However, the death toll in Iran and Indonesia are claimed to be much higher than the official figures.[13][14] Per capita, the highest deaths have been disproportionally in several Western Asian states, with Georgia having the highest figure closely followed by Armenia, and Iran in third, whereas China had the lowest.[15]