Thousands of miles from President Trump’s combative news briefings, a conservative leader in Australia and a progressive Prime Minister in New Zealand are steadily guiding their countries toward a rapid suppression of the coronavirus outbreak.

Both nations are now reporting just a handful of new infections each day, down from hundreds in March, and they are converging towards an extraordinary goal: completely eliminating the virus from their island nations.

Whether they get to zero or not, what Australia and New Zealand have already accomplished is a remarkable cause for hope. Scott Morrison of Australia, a conservative Christian, and Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s darling of the left, are both succeeding with throwback democracy — in which partisanship recedes, experts lead, and quiet coordination matters more than firing up the base.

“This is certainly distinct from the United States,” said Dr Peter Collignon, a physician and professor of microbiology at the Australian National University who has worked for the World Health Organisation. “Here it’s not a time for politics. This is a time for looking at the data and saying let’s do what makes the most sense.”

The dreamy prospect of near normalcy, with the virus defeated, crowds gathering in pubs and every child back in school, is hard to imagine for much of the US, where testing shortages and a delayed response by Trump have led to surges of contagion and death.

And it may end up being a mirage or temporary triumph in Australia and New Zealand.

Elimination means reducing infections to zero in a geographic area with continued measures to control any new outbreak, and that may require extended travel bans.