98 countries in the world have been closely monitored by Sydney’s Lowy Institute in order to find those that handled the coronavirus pandemic best. Which do you think are the bad and good pupils?
At the top of the ranking sits New-Zealand, and this is no surprise. When deciding to close borders from March 2020, the country managed to control the epidemic on its territory. To date, New-Zealand (5 million inhabitants) only reports 2,290 Covid-19 cases and 25 deaths. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also decided to keep the borders shut. “Given the risks that exist in the world, and the uncertainty with the introduction of vaccines, we can expect that this will affect our borders for most of the year” she stated.
According to the Australian institute, other countries also managed to adopt the right strategy faced with the pandemic. Behind New-Zealand sit Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, Cyprus, Rwanda, Iceland, Australia, Latvia and Sri Lanka.
On the contrary, which countries rank the worst? At the very bottom, there is Brazil reporting so far 220,000 deaths. The country is closely followed by Mexico, Colombia, Iran, and the United-States of America.
What about France? According to Sydney’s Lowy Institute the country ranks 73rd.
As for China, officially reporting 88,804 Covid-19 cases, and 4,635 deaths since the crisis broke out, it has not been included in the ranking as the Institute says they lack data.
But then, what does the institute relies on to draw up this ranking? Six criteria have been taken into account including confirmed Covid cases, deaths and even testing processes.
But as the Lowy Institute explains: “Some countries have managed the pandemic better than others – but most countries outcompeted each other only by degrees of underperformance. […] 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” the report reads.
