Cyprus ranks fifth in pandemic management study

Cyprus ranked fifth in a Covid Performance Index published Thursday by the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, which ranked almost 100 countries for their successful handling of the coronavirus pandemic, with Britain and America near the bottom of the pile.

The Lowy Institute said its index excludes China, where the first cases were identified in December 2019, due to lack of publicly available data.

New Zealand, Vietnam and Taiwan ranked top three while Cyprus, Australia, Thailand, Rwanda, Iceland, Latvia and Sri Lanka completed the top 10, which included countries with fewer reported cases and deaths both in aggregate and per capita terms.

In total, 98 countries were evaluated in the 36 weeks that followed their hundredth confirmed case of COVID-19, using data available to January 9, 2021.

Fourteen-day rolling averages of new daily figures were calculated 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 Lowy Institute said.

The report comes as world coronavirus cases surpass 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 86th. Britain, with the highest number of the deaths in Europe, stood at the 66th spot.

The index showed countries in Asia-Pacific proved the most successful in containing the pandemic as Europe and the United States were “quickly overwhelmed” by the rapid spread of COVID-19.

“Levels of economic development or differences in political systems between countries had less of an impact on outcomes than often assumed or publicised,” the Sydney-based Lowy Institute said in its analysis.

“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.”