Mongolia: After successful containment, challenges remain

Krusekopf, C.; Jargalsaikhan, M.

This chapter focuses on Mongolia’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Mongolia was highly successful in containing Covid-19 and preventing community outbreaks. It worked closely and successfully with neighbouring countries and international organizations such as the World Health Organization to develop and implement public health measures and testing. Moreover, Mongolia was one of the first countries to close its borders;quick and successful actions by the government to shut schools and businesses, restrict social gatherings, and ban international arrivals allowed the country to self-isolate and avoid a larger outbreak. This self-isolation, however, presents challenges in maintaining economic functioning as the country is highly dependent on imports of many consumer products and exports of natural resources. In May of 2020, the country started to move ahead with plans to reopen some businesses;trade with China started to resume to allow the export of key commodities such as coal and copper, but longer-term challenges remained due to high internal and external debt levels, continued international travel and trade restrictions, and the global economic slowdown. © the several contributors 2021.