Ireland ‘safer from Covid-19 than both the US and UK’

Ireland ranks higher than both the United States and the United Kingdom in protecting its citizens from Covid-19, according to a new worldwide study.

The research by the Deep Knowledge Group using a wide range of criteria to measure how they were coping with the coronavirus outbreak. These included protective measures such as lockdown and social distancing, together the strength of their economies and health services.

By collating and assessing all this data, the researchers were able to rank each country for safety.

Ireland was ranked at 38, with the US at 58 and the UK at 68. Switzerland came out top, with Germany, Israel, Singapore and Japan taking the next top four places in that order.

The list is updated regularly so the positions may change as each country amends its safety approach and tries to ease lockdown rules as they try to reboot their economies.

The report says that the best performing countries “show considerably high overall scores in terms of availability of medical, economic and technological resources to monitor, detect and neutralize the pathogenic agent causing COVID-19 within their own borders, as well as to establish programs that attempt to maintain economic and social security, and stability.”

There is also a note of caution for all countries as they start to get people back to work. “It should be highlighted that one of the greatest risks that the analysis identifies is the possibility that governments make their respective states of emergency and quarantine measures more flexible too soon, in an effort to re-initiate economic activity.

“The risk of successive COVID-19 outbreaks is a constant that remains immovable, and the scientific and health community has only just begun to understand the nature of this infectious agent and its population dynamics.

“It is a key security issue that the reopening process of national economies is carried out with caution, assessing the potential and intensity of future outbreaks, and continuing widespread and aggressive testing, monitoring and detection efforts, otherwise all the sacrifice and joint work of citizens, governments and organizations will have been meaningless.

“Despite this fact, many governments appear to be prioritizing economic concerns over healthcare priorities, easing partial lockdowns and reviving economies without giving sufficient signs of caution and without corresponding increases in testing. This is the most critical risk identified by the analysis.”

The top 100 on the list are:

1. Switzerland
2. Germany
3. Israel
4. Singapore
5. Japan
6. Austria
7. China
8. Australia
9. New Zealand
10. South Korea1
11. United Arab Emirates
12. Canada
13. Hong Kong
14. Norway
15. Denmark
16. Taiwan
17. Saudi Arabia
18. Hungary
19. Netherlands
20. Vietnam
21. Kuwait
22. Iceland
23. Bahrain
24. Finland
25. Luxembourg
26. Qatar
27. Liechtenstein
28. Poland
29. Lithuania
30. Malaysia
31. Latvia
32. Slovenia
33. Oman
34. Greece
35. Estonia
36. Croatia
37. Turkey
38. Ireland
39. Georgia
40. Cyprus
41. Chile
42. Montenegro
43. Czech Republic
44. Malta
45. Spain
46. Portugal
47. Thailand
48. Bulgaria
49. Greenland
50. Mexico
51. Uruguay
52. Vatican City
53. Italy
54. Serbia
55. Philippines
56. India
57. Romania
58. USA
59. Slovak Republic
60. France
61. Russia
62. Argentina
63. Belarus
64. Monaco
65. Sweden
66. Ukraine
67. Gibraltar
68. United Kingdom
69. South Africa
70. San Marino
71. Kazakhstan
72. Bosnia and Herzegovina
73. Iran
74. Ecuador
75. Azerbaijan
76. Mongolia
77. Lebanon
78. Belgium
79. Andorra
80. Cayman Islands
81. Armenia
82. Moldova
83. Myanmar
84. Bangladesh
85. Sri Lanka
86. Egypt
87. Tunisia
88. Albania
89. Jordan
90. Panama
91. Brazil
92. Morocco
93. Algeria
94. Honduras
95. Paraguay
96. Peru
97. Indonesia
98. Cambodia
99. Laos
100. Bahamas