Yeah I was taken aback when I read this yesterday. Good but grim summary.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-54482905
I think the aspect of (mis)fortune is downplayed way too much when talking about the "winners and losers" in this thing. With 80% not transmitting the virus while a small proportion of super spreaders drive most of it, all you need is a couple of incidents in short succession and things start to take off. There are obviously exceptional examples in Southeast and East Asia which warrant some deeper analysis of cultural and behavioural norms in dealing with crises going forward, but I don't think there's a while lot separating the rest.
The governments who look embarrassing are the ones who have to deal with the most serious outbreaks and get overwhelmed. I think we've made too big an assumption about what causes the other a lot of the time. The Czech government were praised for being proactive, then criticised for being too authoritarian and overreaching, now they're being criticised for being buffoons. Theoretically they could all be true in different contexts but it seems unlikely.