It doesn't account for Africa, but many of best-performing countries have been island countries (Australia, NZ, Taiwan, Iceland, etc.). Islands have some fairly obvious advantages in fighting a pandemic, and it shows in the statistics. I believe Hawaii has also done much better than other US states. I'm not sure whether that's what the comment was referring to though.

None of Thailand, Vietnam and Mongolia are islands and their handling of covid is world class compared to parts of Europe and the US.

These countries are also far poorer and in the case of Thailand especially that has been a major contributing factor, as they've been less able to afford closing their country to tourism.

Both Thailand and Vietnam have been devastated economically, and even with various levels of lockdown both country is currently experiencing the highest number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic.

Also, the vaccinated population in either country is at low single digit percentage, so no end in sight for the harsh measures. Compare that to the US or Europe where 50% of population is (partially) vaccinated and, as the result, gradually reopen.

> even with various levels of lockdown both country is currently experiencing the highest number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic.

"highest number of cases" here meaning between 1 and 2 cases per million people per day.

For context, the United States is currently at its lowest daily case count since June last year, which is slightly above 100 cases per million people per day.

"Even with various levels of lockdown both countries have 1-2% of the case count of countries that didn't treat this seriously" isn't quite as dramatic of a statement though I guess.

(all figures using the typical 7 day rolling average and data available from Mackuba)

Yes, also South Korea is for all intents and purposes an island. It's surrounded by water, except on the North which is the most heavily militarized border in the world.