Pakistan ranked among riskiest countries for coronavirus

HONG KONG: Pakistan has been ranked among the riskiest countries for coronavirus in a recent study on nations and safety against the pandemic.

The 250-page study of 200 countries around the world was conducted by Deep Knowledge Group, a consortium of commercial and non-profit organisations owned by Hong Kong-based investment firm founded in 2014.

Pakistan came at 148th position out of a total of 200 nations, with a safety score of 370 (the highest being 752). It is the third-riskist nation in Asia and Pacific group with only Afghanistan (score 310) and Solomon Islands (score 350) ranked behind.

Among Pakistan’s neighbouring countries, all but one were in the top 100. China come at the seventh position (717), India at the 56th (532), Iran at 73rd (505), and Afghanistan towards the end at the 196th position (310).

Switzerland was listed as the safest country in the world for coronavirus, while South Sudan was the ranked bottom most position with a score of 300. The United States ranks number 58, just behind Romania, and two places ahead of Russia.

The report is based on 130 quantitative and qualitative parameters and over 11,400 data points in categories like quarantine efficiency, monitoring and detection, health readiness, and government efficiency.

According to the report, there has been a significant change in the safety rankings through the months of the pandemic. Many countries that could react quickly to crises and had high levels of emergency preparedness ranked highest, but now countries with resilient economies are ranking higher.

Pakistan is among 100 countries placed in Tier 4 that scored least favourably during the first-phase analysis and suffer from high levels of data unavailability or unreliability.

The study said Switzerland and Germany achieve the top two positions in 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 highest-risk regions right now are Sub-Saharan Africa and South America, as well as some countries in the Middle East and Asia Pacific.