structural:reformatting, linguistic:paraphrasing, quality:corruption
Other countries

The number of journalists imprisoned or detained increased worldwide; some detentions were related to the pandemic. The planned NATO " Defender 2020 " military exercise in Germany, Poland and the Baltic states, the largest NATO war exercise since the end of the Cold War, was held on a reduced scale.

The Iranian government was heavily affected by the virus, which infected some two dozen parliament members and political figures. Iran President Hassan Rouhani wrote a public letter to world leaders asking for help on 14 March 2020, due to a lack of access to international markets. Saudi Arabia, which had launched a military intervention in Yemen in March 2015, declared a ceasefire.

Diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea worsened. South Korea criticised Japan's "ambiguous and passive quarantine efforts" after Japan announced travellers from South Korea must quarantine for two weeks. South Korean society was initially polarised on President Moon Jae-in 's response to the crisis; many Koreans signed petitions calling for Moon's impeachment or praising his response.

Some countries passed emergency legislation. Some commentators expressed concern that it could allow governments to strengthen their grip on power. In Hungary, the parliament voted to allow Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to rule by decree indefinitely, suspend parliament and elections, and punish those deemed to have spread false information. In countries such as Egypt, Turkey, and Thailand, opposition activists and government critics were arrested for allegedly spreading fake news. In India, journalists criticising the government's response were arrested or issued warnings by police and authorities.