Sri Lanka has been ranked second out of 108 countries in terms of COVID-19 prevention measures, economic recovery and international cooperation according to a survey report issued last week by a Chinese Research Institute.
The Chinese Embassy issuing a press release yesterday said the survey was conducted by ‘YICAI’ Research Institute, a Chinese financial think tank founded in 2003.
According to the analysis of the report, Sri Lanka has been ranked number three when it comes to ‘fighting against the pandemic’, number 12 when it comes to ‘economic recovery’ and number 33 in terms of ‘international cooperation’.
As per the overall score China has been ranked first, while the US has been ranked 98th. India has been placed in the 45th position.
“As the report revealed, nine out of the top 10 countries were in the Asia-Pacific region namely China, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Myanmar, Australia, Thailand, New Zealand, Vietnam and Cambodia. Ghana from Africa ranked in the third place. Denmark and Germany performed best among European countries, ranked 21st and 23rd. Brazil and the US, both countries with leaders who initially downplayed the problem and with lower levels of co-operation by the public, respectively ranked 89th and 98th. Sweden, which opted for the controversial policy of herd immunity, came in at number 90,” the release by the Embassy said.
“The Institute used the SEIR epidemiological model to predict the state of the pandemic in different nations, classing them as Susceptible, Exposed, Infectious or Removed, as well as its own self-developed ‘social network-based virus transmission model’. The evaluation system including 23 detailed indicators had made a quantitative evaluation of the performance of 108 countries in the war against COVID-19.
“Countries with strict epidemic prevention policies, such as China, Sri Lanka, South Korea and Italy, all had the pandemic under control in recent months, the models showed, which based their calculations on earlier disease trajectories and with the assumption that asymptomatic cases continued to be present.
“Until an effective vaccine is widely available, the novel coronavirus will co-exist with humans, the report concluded. Effective governance that responds quickly using technological means and which can depend on public support is an effective strategy to deal with the pandemic,” the release added.