How are "Arab countries" coping with the COVID-19 crisis? The Ofek Project, a joint project of The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and The Forum for Regional Thinking, has published a current review of press reports from the Arab world on this subject.

The latest review raises troubling testimonies: it appears that experts in Egypt are concerned by the “catastrophic consequences” of the crisis; in Morocco many people have been unable to sustain the full closure and thousands have been arrested for lockdown violation; the Sudanese government has no real plan to cope with the crisis; the closure imposed by the Iraqi government hurt 10 million workers who have no social insurance; and more.

The reports from throughout the Middle East indicate distress as well as attempts to deal with it in the different countries. But the review also criticizes the very comparison between countries within the Arab world, considering the vast differences between them in indexes of economic growth, education, health, quality of life and more.

For an in-depth look at the developments in the Middle East in recent times we recommend entering the website Ofek – Horizon for the Arabic Media and reading the diverse articles appearing there almost daily.