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As Africa braces for a surge in coronavirus cases, its countries are dangerously behind in the global race for scarce medical equipment. Ten nations have no ventilators at all. Outbid by richer countries, and not receiving medical gear from top aid donor the United States, African officials scramble for solutions as virus cases climb past 25,000. Even in the best scenario, the United Nations says 74 million test kits and 30,000 ventilators will be needed by the continent’s 1.3 billion people this year. Very few are in hand. (Anna, 4/24)

Parts of India have recorded dramatic falls in mortality rates after a nationwide lockdown was imposed to fight the new coronavirus, suggesting there has not been an undetected surge in virus-related deaths. (Ulmer and Khanna, 4/24)

On a bright morning earlier this month, a former army officer was riding his motorcycle down a rural road south of India’s capital when he reached an improvised barricade. He had no idea the villagers were looking for a scapegoat. He slowed his bike to a stop. The men at the barricade quickly identified him as a Muslim from the neighboring area in the state of Haryana. “These people are spreading the coronavirus,” said one of the villagers, according to a police complaint filed by the man’s family. “Grab him.” (Slater and Masih, 4/23)

China has near-universal health insurance and the world’s most powerful surveillance state, yet it still failed to contain the initial spread of the new coronavirus in Wuhan. The disaster is bound to prompt some soul searching. Two trends look likely to gain steam: the rapid expansion of commercial health insurance and burgeoning online health-care services. (Taplin, 4/24)

Vietnam became one of the first countries in the world to ease social distancing measures this week. But its impressive public health response to the coronavirus pandemic only serves to underline the financial constraints it and other developing nations face in responding to the economic fallout. The government has reported fewer than 300 cases of Covid-19 and no deaths. Unlike other low income countries with minimal diagnostic capacity, Vietnam has conducted more than 180,000 tests. (Bird, 4/24)