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Covid: Baltic states among best in managing the pandemic

"Hybrid regimes like Ukraine" least able to meet the challenge

01 February, 14:42
(ANSA) - BELGRADE, FEB 1 - Baltic countries were among the best performers globally in managing the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study produced by a leading Australian think tank, the Lowy Institute.

The 'Covid Performance' index is based on six indicators to evaluate which countries better managed the epidemic. Latvia, ninth in the general ranking that includes 98 countries achieved the best results among countries in Central- and Eastern Europe, with 77.5 points out of 100, followed by Estonia (11th with 76.4 points) and Lithuania (19th with 69.7 points). Slovakia ranked 22th (64.5 points), Greece 32th (58.4), Slovenia 33th (58.1), Austria 42th (52.8), Serbia 51th (46.8), Hungary 52th (46.3), Croatia 54th (45.9), Germany 55th (45.8), Poland 65th (38.4), Bulgaria 67th (37.4). At the bottom of the ranking, Romania (81th, 25.4 points) and Ukraine (90th, 20.7), among the countries most severely hit by the pandemic.

Italy ranked only 59th, with 40.4 points out of 100, while the best-performing countries according to the report are New Zealand (94.4 points), Vietnam (90.8), Taiwan (84.2) and Cyprus (83.3). At the other end of the scale, the United States (17.3), Iran (15.9), Colombia (7.7), Mexico (6.5) and Brazil (4.3), countries that failed in managing the pandemic, the study claims.

The researchers used several indicators for the ranking, in particular the number of confirmed cases, confirmed deaths, confirmed cases per million people, confirmed deaths per million people, confirmed cases as a proportion of tests, and tests per thousand people. The Institute also sorted the countries examined into categories, by regions, political systems, population size, and economic development, "to determine whether significant variations exist between different types of states in the handling of the pandemic." "No single type of country emerged the unanimous winner in the period examined," the 36 weeks that followed their hundredth confirmed case of COVID-19, the Lowy Institute said. However, "certain structural factors appear to be more closely associated with positive outcomes." For example, the report reads, "smaller countries proved more agile than the majority of their larger counterparts in handling the health emergency for most of 2020." Moreover, data from the report confirmed the arguments of the American political scientist Francis Fukuyama. Fukuyama stated that "countries with smaller populations, cohesive societies, and capable institutions have a comparative advantage in dealing with a global crisis such as a pandemic." The study also revealed that "countries with authoritarian models had no prolonged advantage in suppressing the virus," and that "democracies found marginally more success than other forms of government in their handling of the pandemic." "Many hybrid regimes, such as Ukraine and Bolivia, appeared least able to meet the challenge," the report said. (ANSA).

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