China was able to do it with a massive outbreak and the largest number of people. Clearly it has to do with social dynamics and a competent government with a lot of power. Rather than the specific size of the country
That's obviously disgusting and there's plenty of examples (Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan) who didn't do that. Korea never even fully locked down. Also, I'm extremely unhappy that my government let more than 200,000 people die at least 95% of which were easily avoidable.