Switzerland safest and South Sudan riskiest country for coronavirus infections

Pakistan ranked 148th in the list of 200 countries

infections. According to the Deep Knowledge Group study, Switzerland is the safest country in the world against coronavirus. The report has declared South Sudan as the riskiest country in the world.  Pakistan has been ranked 148^th in the list of 200 countries. Pakistan has scored 370 points in the study. South Sudan has scored 300 points in the study. Switzerland has scored highest points of 752.

The states and regions were grouped into four distinct tiers, of which Pakistan falls in the fourth one. "Tier 4 consists of territories in which significant data unavailability and reliability prevented a fully comprehensive analysis from being conducted," the study said.

The study ranked 200 countries into four tiers of coronavirus safety. There were 20 countries in the first tier, coming from Asia, Europe, Oceania, the Middle East and North America. 

The United States and the United Kingdom ranked in the third tier along with hard-hit European nations like Spain and Italy. 

South Sudan is officially the most dangerous country in the world for coronavirus infections.

Japan is top ranked country in Asia and 5^th in the world while China ranked seventh (7^th) in the world. Another Asian country South Korea also made into top 10 list of safest countries. Our South Asian neighbour India is at the 56^th position with 532 points while Iran at 73^rd position with 505 points.  Our other neighbour Afghanistan has ranked 4^th riskiest country at 196th position with 310 points. Interestingly, the United States (530) was left behind by Romania (531) at number 58 but managed to beat Russia, which came in at 61.

According to the Deep Knowledge Group study, the "analysis utilises a subset of 20 parameters from the full pool of 130 qualitative and quantitative parameters". The study monitored and evaluated factors such as quarantine efficiency, monitoring and detection, health readiness, and government efficiency.

• The report ranked the countries on the basis of their economies and public health systems. The best ranked countries are those who have the most resilient economies and strongest public health systems.  The study is not based on the performance of the countries against COVID-19 pandemic. That is why China and South Korea has appeared in the top 10   countries that responded swiftly to the coronavirus pandemic that were listed highest but those that had the most resilient economies, with strong healthcare systems.

"Switzerland and Germany achieve the #1 and #2 positions in this new special case study specifically because of their economy’s resilience, and due to the careful ways in which they are attempting to relax lockdown and economic freezing mandates in a fact and science-based manner, without sacrificing public health and safety,” the study said.

The study considered 4 factors to determine the safety or risk of a country.

Infection spread risk:

number of cases and deaths, number of highly condensed areas, density of transportation, availability of protective equipment, number of seasonal staff and illegal immigrations, and level of tourist flow;

Government management:

emergency measure mobilization capabilities, efficiency of structure, level of corruption and level of government technology development;

Healthcare efficiency:

 level of technological advancement, level of medical doctors’ expertise, efficiency of diagnostic technology, development of epidemiology system, and number of hospital beds;

Regional specific risks:

 population size, number of elderly people, reliability of statistics, level of modern sanitization methods, and culture specifics and societal discipline.

The top 10 safest countries

 1. Switzerland
2. Germany
3. Israel
4. Singapore
5. Japan
6. Austria
7. China
8. Australia
9. New Zealand

10. South Korea

                                                                        Rukhsana Manzoor deputy Editor