Why do Australia and New Zealand perform much better than other Western countries in the Coronavirus pandemic?

Is it because these two countries are essentially islands which are far away from continent in the north?

No. It is just down to good common sense governance, something that eludes this current Liberal government. Let me show you a recent example.

Some time ago, it was announced that a security guard who was patrolling a quarantine hotel has been diagnosed with COVID. The highly contagious UK variant. He was the first person in 10 months in Western Australia to contract the virus.

Based on this news, the premier immediately locked down the majority of the state. EVERY THING was shut down, a mask mandate was instructed, and testing facilities heavily staffed with increased opening hours. Record numbers of people turned up to testing stations, and everybody was wearing a mask in public. Hours were spent tracking, tracing, and isolating close contacts - some of which are put in hotel quarantine as a precaution. Hundreds of close contacts were found and tested. This was possible due to the mandatory “check in" register that has been in place (via the Covid19 app). Close contacts can be traced very quickly.

After a 5 day hard lockdown, there were no new cases. Brilliant management and now the state is out of lockdown again. No more restrictions, everything fully open.

So from this extract, we can deduce the following as to WHY Australia and New Zealand do very well with the corona virus management:

• All incoming travellers are quarantined in guarded hotels and tested twice before release. This has been the policy since April 2020. The Liberal government of Canada started this in Feburary 2020, and that too in a rather haphazard and inefficient manner.
• Testing is available to all, at any time. Again, the policy since April 2020. In Canada, the provinces were left on their own. Ontario, for example, only tested if you have severe symptoms, early on during the epidemic, allowing it to spread.
• Contact registers are in place to be able to contact trace, isolate and test very quickly and efficiently. In Canada, it depends again from city to city. Toronto has essentially given up on contact tracing.
• Both Australia and New Zealand have very proactive leaders who will take very firm and sharp action with no notice. In Canada, we have Justin Trudeau, who relies on Dr Tam. Nothing more to be said.
• Both Australia and New Zealand have a very compliant population who will follow advice and instruction for their own benefit. In Canada, we HAD that. From March 2020 to July 2020, we had a very compliant population, but the politicians wasted that goodwill.
• Their leaders are willing to spend whatever amount of money it needs to contain this virus. They know that it will be repaid many fold as businesses etc. can remain open if the virus is eliminated. In Canada, we are also prepared to spend money. But most of it is wasted since we are not planning to eliminate the virus, just "manage" it.

What Canada doesn't understand, and what New Zealand and Australia understand very well, is that there is no difference between 1 case and 1000 cases. 1 can lead to 1000 in hours. This is something Canada never accepted. We are happy with being mediocre.