Middle East and North Africa COVID-19 Policy Response Project

Content from the Brookings Doha Center is now archived. In September 2021, after 14 years of impactful partnership, Brookings and the Brookings Doha Center announced that they were ending their affiliation. The Brookings Doha Center is now the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, a separate public policy institution based in Qatar.

An analysis of policy and institutional responses of countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to the COVID-19 pandemic. This research seeks to understand how MENA countries have responded to the virus, and what the long-term implications are likely to be for the region’s governments and public sector.

Articles & Op-Eds

A South Korean soldier undergoes a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test at a coronavirus testing site which is temporarily set up at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, December 15, 2020. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

South Korea Policy and institutional responses to COVID-19: South Korea

Paul Dyer

June 15, 2021

Man receives vaccine in Morocco. Source: Reuters

International Affairs One year of COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa: The fate of the ‘best performers’

Yasmina Abouzzohour

March 22, 2021

A man walks by a social distancing sign on the first day of New Zealand's new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) safety measure that mandates wearing of a mask on public transport, in Auckland, New Zealand, August 31, 2020. REUTERS/Fiona Goodall

Middle East & North Africa Policy and institutional responses to COVID-19: New Zealand

Paul Dyer

January 24, 2021

People are seen talking to healthcare workers prior to receiving a covid19 test at a pop up facility at the MCG stadium in Melbourne, Wednesday, January 6, 2021. The MCG has been listed as a potential COVID-19 acquisition site after a man attended day two of the Boxing Day Test and later tested positive to coronavirus. (AAP Image/James Ross) NO ARCHIVINGNo Use Australia. No Use New Zealand.

International Affairs Policy and institutional responses to COVID-19: Australia

Tony Goldner, Andrew Letzkus

January 7, 2021

Rabat, Morocco.- In the photos, it shows the streets of Rabat during the coronavirus pandemic. Dr. David Nabarro, special adviser to the World Health Organization (WHO) urged governments not to use quarantine as the main strategy to control the spread of COVID-19 and warned of the increase in poverty as a result of the restrictions . "At the World Health Organization we do not advocate quarantines as the main means of controlling this virus," Nabarro said.

International Affairs Coping with COVID-19’s cost: The example of Morocco

Yasmina Abouzzohour

December 23, 2020

Employees collect protective face masks from the production line at a factory as Morocco starts to increase their production following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Casablanca, Morocco April 10, 2020. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal

International Affairs Policy and institutional responses to COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa: Morocco

Yasmina Abouzzohour

December 16, 2020

International Affairs Policy and institutional responses to COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa: Morocco

Yasmina Abouzzohour

December 16, 2020

People, some wearing protective masks, walk in downtown Amman, amid fears over rising numbers of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, Jordan November 4, 2020. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed

Jordan Policy and institutional responses to COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa: Jordan

Nejla Ben Mimoune

December 16, 2020

Shop agent mesure temperature of the client before entring during the first opning of the shops after the lockdown in Tunis, Tunisia on May 11, 2020. With the health ban in its first phase (from 4 to 24 May) entering its second week, the commercial movement in the capital resumed its activity in a significant and significant way by recovering the activity of selling ready-made clothes and shoes and the rest of the other commercial activities. Since the early hours of Monday morning, most shops selling ready-made clothes and shoes have opened their doors to the public amid strict precautions to prevent the spread of the new Coronavirus (COVID-19), despite Tunisia's relative control of this global pandemic. (Photo by Mohamed Krit/ Sipa USA)No Use UK. No Use Germany.

Tunisia Policy and institutional responses to COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa: Tunisia

Yasmina Abouzzohour, Nejla Ben Mimoune

December 15, 2020

People wait to cast their votes during parliamentary elections, amid fears over rising number of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, in Amman, Jordan November 10, 2020. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed

Gulf States The Middle East and North Africa and COVID-19: Gearing up for the long haul

Robert P. Beschel Jr., Tarik M. Yousef

December 13, 2020

Tunisia Tunisia may have beaten COVID-19, but challenges persist

Yasmina Abouzzohour

July 30, 2020

Infographics

A man receives a dose of the China's Sinopharm vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a mass immunization venue inside Cairo's International Exhibition Center in Cairo, Egypt June 5, 2021. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Middle East & North Africa Infographic: COVID-19 vaccination efforts in the Middle East and North Africa