Covid-19. The Bloomberg list that ranks the 50 countries that...

As covid-19 extends over time, and countries face different phases of the pandemic, it will be possible to see differences in approach, conditions and… success. Bloomberg, an American communications group founded by millionaire Michael Bloomberg, analyzed the available data and chose ten criteria to create the Covid Resilience Ranking (Ranking Resilience to Covid), ordering 53 countries to deal with the disease. And put Portugal out of the first half.

From the table presented this week, there are some conclusions to be drawn, such as that highlighted by Bloomberg: the richest economies, or those with apparently better prepared health systems, are not always better off from a health crisis. In this one that the world is going through, the United States and the United Kingdom are behind countries like Vietnam, Thailand or the United Arab Emirates.

The good ranking of some of these countries, to which China joins, many led by authoritarian governments, may raise doubts about the capacity of a liberal democracy to be able to respond to a challenge like that of covid-19. But also for this question, Bloomberg wanted to have an answer: of the top 10 of resilient countries, eight are democracies. Only Vietnam (10th) and China (8th) can be placed outside that category.

Political and social issues are not indifferent in the table, since half of the evaluated criteria concern the quality of life of citizens, and not just the strictly health response. The strictness of the confinement, the mobility of the populations, the forecast of GDP growth in 2020, the universal coverage of health services and the human development index join the health criteria. They are the number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last month, the lethality rate, the total number of deaths per million inhabitants, the rate of positive tests and access to vaccines that are being prepared, on a scale of 1 to 5 .

Portugal appears just below the middle of the table, with a “score” of 59.2 on the Bloomberg scale, which goes up to 100. And if in some criteria the Portuguese line appears darker, it is certain that there is none in which the country has the worst possible classification (represented by colors, from orange to blue).

Below the complete table:

The country has an average score in infections per 100 thousand inhabitants – 1455 – and in the mobility of citizens, which has been limited – -21.6%, the table needs – and some points below the median in the severity of confinement – 63 out of 100 – and the forecast for GDP, which is in the order of 10% decrease.

The best data in the country are the coverage of the National Health Service – 84 out of 100 -, the human development index and the lethality rate, better than many countries above the table – 1.1% in the Bloomberg table. Also in blue, albeit clearer, deaths per million inhabitants (382) and the rate of positive results per person tested (14%). Portugal has a score of 3 out of 5 in terms of access to the vaccine.