The COVID-19 pandemic in Greece, Iceland, New Zealand, and Singapore: Health policies and lessons learned

•The four countries responded to the COVID-19 pandemic at an early stage and managed to mitigate the shock and protect their health systems.•Several key lessons can be learned from the COVID-19 management of the four countries; lessons could be useful to other countries and also in the event of a second wave.•The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is ostensible; the economic mitigation policies should be assessed in the long-term.