Other countries scheduled to hold elections are Egypt, Guinea, Seychelles and Tanzania.

For countries that do hold elections, there may be special voting arrangements that can allow polls to go ahead but reduce the risk of spreading the virus.

In South Korea's elections in mid-April, the electoral commission encouraged people to vote before election day at any of the 3,500 polling stations throughout the country.

This not only decongested polling stations on election day but contributed to the highest turnout in the country for nearly 30 years.

This means that countries planning to hold elections in 2020 or early-2021 need to start discussing these arrangements - across party lines and among multiple relevant agencies - as soon as possible.