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A man wearing a face mask to curb the spread of coronavirus walks past a health campaign poster in an underpass in London, on Jan. 27, 2022. (AP) A man wearing a face mask to curb the spread of coronavirus walks past a health campaign poster in an underpass in London, on Jan. 27, 2022. (AP)

A man wearing a face mask to curb the spread of coronavirus walks past a health campaign poster in an underpass in London, on Jan. 27, 2022. (AP)

Monique Curet
By Monique Curet February 7, 2022

These 10 countries have not canceled COVID-19 safety protocols

If Your Time is short

Turkey, Brazil, Britain, Sweden, Spain, Czech Republic, Mexico, El Salvador, Japan and Singapore each continue to have quarantine and COVID-19 testing protocols.

• None of the countries ever had compulsory COVID-19 vaccination for their entire adult population. Some require COVID-19 vaccination for certain workers.

Some European leaders have said COVID-19 should be treated as endemic, similar to influenza, but the World Health Organization says that’s premature. COVID-19 appears to have a higher infection fatality rate than influenza.

Some countries are lifting pandemic restrictions on activities such as indoor dining and sporting events, but that doesn’t mean all COVID-19 precautions have come to a screeching halt, as a social media post suggests.

A Feb. 2 post on Facebook says that Turkey, Brazil, Britain, Sweden, Spain, Czech Republic, Mexico, El Salvador, Japan and Singapore canceled all quarantine procedures, COVID-19 tests and compulsory vaccination and are considering COVID-19 "just a seasonal flu."

The post is a screenshot of information shared by Christiane Northrup, a Maine gynecologist with hundreds of thousands of social media followers. In 2020, NewsGuard named her a "super-spreader" of misinformation about COVID-19 vaccine development. NewsGuard is a firm that tracks online misinformation.

The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

Each of the 10 countries continues to have quarantine and COVID-19 testing protocols. The post also gives the misleading impression that the countries rescinded vaccine mandates, but none ever had compulsory COVID-19 vaccination for their entire adult population.

Quarantine

All of the 10 countries have at least one form of quarantine requirements, including: 

  • After testing positive for the virus (Brazil, Czech Republic, Spain, Sweden, Turkey);

  • Upon arrival for non-vaccinated travelers (Britain);

  • Upon arrival for all travelers, regardless of nationality or vaccination status (Japan);

  • Upon arrival, for most travelers (Singapore);

  • Health screening that could result in quarantine, upon arrival in the country (Mexico);

  • Special quarantine for entire municipalities based on case counts (El Salvador).

Testing

Our World In Data categorizes countries’ COVID-19 testing policies in four ways: 

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  • No testing; 

  • Testing only for those who have symptoms and meet certain criteria, such as specific professions or contact with known cases;

  • Testing of anyone showing symptoms; and 

  • Open public testing available to anyone, including asymptomatic people. 

Only one country in the world falls into the "no testing" category, and that’s Afghanistan.

Turkey and Mexico limit testing to those who have symptoms and meet key criteria; Britain and Sweden test those who show symptoms; and Brazil, Spain, Czech Republic, El Salvador, Japan and Singapore all have open public testing available to anyone.

Vaccinations

Only a handful of countries in the world have made COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for all adults, and none of the 10 listed in the post are among that group.

The 10 countries have varying vaccine mandates for certain workers. For example, in the Czech Republic, police officers and soldiers are required to be vaccinated, and in Britain, it’s mandatory for home-care workers.

Not "just a seasonal flu"

There has been discussion in Europe and elsewhere about treating COVID-19 as endemic — but that is not equivalent to calling COVID-19 a seasonal flu. An endemic disease circulates steadily in a specific region or population.

Reaching the endemic stage of the COVID-19 pandemic will require reducing the spread of the virus; lowering death and hospitalization rates; and keeping hospitals from being overburdened, PolitiFact has reported. And the World Health Organization has cautioned that it’s too soon to treat COVID-19 as endemic.

COVID-19 appears to have a higher infection fatality rate than influenza; estimates for COVID-19 range from 0.15% to 0.66%, while the rate for seasonal flu is around 0.1%.

Our ruling

A Facebook post says Turkey, Brazil, Britain, Sweden, Spain, Czech Republic, Mexico, El Salvador, Japan and Singapore canceled all COVID-19 quarantine procedures, testing and compulsory vaccination and are considering COVID-19 "just a seasonal flu."

Each of the 10 countries continues to have quarantine and testing protocols. None ever had compulsory COVID-19 vaccination for their entire adult population. Some have COVID-19 vaccine mandates for specific groups of workers.

Some European leaders have said COVID-19 should be treated as endemic — but that is not equivalent to calling the virus a seasonal flu. COVID-19 appears to have a higher infection fatality rate than influenza.

We rate this claim False.

Our Sources

CNBC, "Should we treat Covid like the flu? Europe is slowly starting to think so," Jan. 12, 2022

CNN, "Travel to the UK during Covid-19: What you need to know before you go," Feb. 3, 2022

Czech Republic Ministry of Health, "COVID portal: Isolation," accessed Feb. 7, 2022

Daily Sabah, "Turkey eases coronavirus quarantine, test rules," Jan. 13, 2022

El Pais, "Coronavirus cases will only have to isolate for seven days in Spain, as government seeks to adapt strategy to changing nature of pandemic," Dec. 30, 2022

Facebook post, Feb. 2, 2022

Fact Crescendo, "Ten countries have removed all Covid19 precautions? Germany found gargling with hot water eradicates Covid19? Find out the truth!!," Feb. 1, 2022

France24, "Spain leads calls for Covid-19 to be treated like flu," Jan. 20, 2022

New York Times, "Sweden says it will end Covid restrictions, joining other European nations," Feb. 3, 2022

Our World in Data, "Testing Policy," Feb. 6, 2022

PolitiFact, "False vaccine claims persist on Facebook, despite a ban. Here’s why," March 30, 2021

PolitiFact, "No, WHO has not said COVID-19 no worse than the flu," Jan. 19, 2022

PolitiFact, "The COVID-19 pandemic is not over. How will we know when it is?" Jan. 13, 2022

Public Health Agency of Sweden, "How long should I stay home?" accessed Feb. 7, 2022

Reuters, "Factbox: Countries making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory," Dec. 31, 2021

U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Mexico, "Entry and exit requirements," accessed Feb. 7, 2022

U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Brazil, "COVID-19 information," updated Feb. 1, 2022

U.S. Embassy in El Salvador, "COVID-19 information," updated Jan. 31, 2022

U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Japan, "COVID-19 information," Feb. 7, 2022

U.S. Embassy in Singapore, "COVID-19 information," Dec. 6, 2021

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These 10 countries have not canceled COVID-19 safety protocols

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