President Hasan Çakar has released a formal statement assessing the Hasanistani response to the coronavirus pandemic and making recommendations for the next stages of the pandemic. He has praised the measures that Hasanistan proposed (which included ending international travel and prohibiting public gatherings), saying that they worked when applied in other countries, and urged all citizens to get vaccinated. He also confirmed that there were two suspected cases of coronavirus among Hasanistani citizens, but they both recovered.
The full statement reads as follows:
"The official data regarding coronavirus affecting Hasanistani citizens is that there were two suspected cases, with both recovering quickly following the arrival of their suspected symptoms. Fortunately, no citizen has died as of yet and the chances of this happening are lowering as many citizens take the vaccine. It should be noted that as all of Hasanistani citizens are expatriates, their countries of residence were responsibility for their safety. However, Hasanistan urged its citizens to follow the measures it proposed in their own interest.
Initially, there was some naivety from me in that I thought most of the world would follow what happened with the 2016 African Ebola outbreak and implement common sense measures such as closing travel to affected countries to deal with the virus rather than not do nothing which caused mass public upheaval. I later became alarmed myself when they began not to and instead let the virus spread.
The Hasanistani response began in March 2020 with the passage of the Coronavirus Prevention, Mitigation and Containment Act. Although the first version of CPMC the act was not approved due to some disagreements of the extent of the Prime Minister's powers and inclusion of the death penalty, the proposed counter-coronavirus measures were approved quickly after the controversial political aspects were modified.
Despite the fact that the measures in the CPMC act were not tested within Hasanistan as its citizens live in other countries, the measures within the act have shown to have been successful when they were applied in other countries. The CPMC called for harsh measures such as the end of all non-essential travel, social isolation of symptomatic people, deportation or isolation of those from infected countries and total ending of public gatherings such as the lockdowns. Countries that applied similar measures, such as New Zealand, Vietnam, Chinese Taipei or some African states managed to achieve low death rates. This was proposed while many other countries were still arguing for the foolish and inhumane herd immunity and laissez-faire measures, which proved disastrous when applied in countries like Sweden or America.
Eventually, Hasanistan lifted the CPMC measures. This was largely for political reasons in terms of the complications that the act had regarding the governing situation of the time, rather than in interest of ending the measures. Ending the CPMC measures in total was seen as quicker than redefining the rules. The government stated that citizens should follow their local measures but also keep in mind the recommendations of Hasanistan's response. It also expressed that limited re-opening should be attempted when cases declined to help certain industries, but that social distancing and limitations on crowds would need to still be strictly followed. The fast re-opening which happened around the summer of 2020 in many countries ended up creating new waves.
I and the Hasanistani government always warned about irrational alarmism (which I meant as severe public upheaval regarding it) over the virus, which contributed to issues such as hoarding which led to supply shortages and reactionary responses from certain members of the population which promoted conspiracy theories and anti-lockdown disinformation. It was predicted by us from the start that this alarmism by the mostly decadent global population would cause problems later on. The spread of TikTok spyware software was an especially big part of this, which later led to it being banned in Hasanistan. I especially criticised some in the micronational community as alarmists, because they were spreading disinformation about its symptoms such as the idea it caused "zombie-like" effects. The Hasanistani government is currently concerned about the conspiracy theories regarding vaccines and reckless protests by anti-lockdown libertines.
Finally, in terms of how to proceed from the current point. Hasanistan recommends that all citizens take one of the official vaccines, which have been confirmed as safe following thorough medical review (although they should also take into consideration any potential side-effects stated by official government bodies). This will build immunity so that the pandemic in countries can end. There should be a carefully-planned path of re-opening in local areas for those who are vaccinated, but those who are not vaccinated should still be prevented from significant public activity. International travel should not be permitted until both the home nation and almost an entirety of another country's population are immune, to prevent the spread of new variants. Once the pandemic is finished, there should also be annual vaccines to protect people against new variants. Making vaccine patents publicly available would support this by allowing countries to develop it themselves rather than ordering it.
Hasanistan also wishes to express its condolences to those whose family members have lost lives."