Almost no country took it seriously enough. There is an exception, which we'll come to in a moment...
...
It's somewhat understandable that Italy didn't take it seriously after receiving cryptic reports from China. But WTF the rest of the world didn't take it seriously after Italy?
How stupid you must be to think that this shitty virus will need a visa for your country...
IMO, probably because of:
In order to keep the economy running, they were ready to let the virus spread by not locking down before. All they wanted was short-term temporary stability in their stock markets and economy. They never realized that if something so dangerous hits the country with a big force, and if they're unable to buy the ventilators for the people right now, the economy will itself be put on a ventilator. It has happened already with about ten countries and is now continuing to happen with others.