SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA) – New Zealand, Vietnam and Taiwan rank the top three in a COVID Performance Index, which had almost 100 countries in the list, for their successful handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Britain and America were among the bottom.
The Lowy Institute said its index published on Thursday did not have China, where the first cases were identified in December 2019, as no publicly available data was available.
Other countries in the top 10 include Thailand, Cyprus, Rwanda, Iceland, Australia, Latvia and Sri Lanka. These countries were the ones which reported fewer cases and deaths both in aggregate and per capita terms.
In total, 98 countries were closely monitored in the 36 weeks, whicb had to witness their hundredth confirmed case of COVID-19, using data available to January 9, 2021.
The Lowy Institute said that Fourteen-day rolling averages of new daily figures were evaluated for confirmed cases, confirmed cases per million people, confirmed deaths, confirmed deaths per million people, confirmed cases as a proportion of tests, and tests per thousand people,
The report comes as world coronavirus cases exceed 100 million with the death toll exceeding 2 million.
The United States, with over 25 million confirmed cases, ranked 94 while India, with more than 11 million cases, was listed as 86th. Britain, with the highest number of the deaths in Europe, stood at the 66th spot.
The index showed countries in Asia-Pacific came out to be the most successful in curbing the pandemic as Europe and the United States were “quickly overwhelmed” by the quick spread of COVID-19.
The Sydney-based Lowy Institute said in its analysis, “Levels of economic development or differences in political systems between countries had less of an impact on outcomes than often assumed or publicised,”
“In general, countries with smaller populations, cohesive societies, and capable institutions have a comparative advantage in dealing with a global crisis such as a pandemic.”