Singapore passes NZ in resilience rankings
New Zealand is no longer considered the best place to be during the Covid-19 pandemic.
While there are no community cases, slower vaccination rates have seen the country drop in
Covid Resilience Ranking by 0.1 points.
Singapore, which was previously ranked second, is now the most resilient country during the pandemic, according to the global media company.
The global rankings pull together case data, fatality rates, positive test rates, and vaccination data to calculate the final score. Singapore scored 79.7, New Zealand 79.6.
‘‘Singapore has already administered vaccines equivalent to cover a fifth of its population, an aspect of pandemic control that other virus eliminators like New Zealand, Australia and Taiwan are lagging on,’’ reported.
In Singapore, 19.4 per cent of the population is covered by the vaccine, while New Zealand has one of the lowest vaccination rates with just 1.9 per cent of the population covered.
In the three months since New Zealand began its vaccination campaign, 183,000 doses have been administered. Group two, which includes aged care residents, have started to receive their doses, while mass vaccinations of the general population in Aotearoa aren’t expected to start until July.
New Zealand’s successes were still praised. Bloomberg noted the success of the country’s Covid-19 response – as well as that of Australia’s – has provided a ‘‘prepandemic quality of life’’.
‘‘Now No 2 after a five-month run at the top, New Zealand emphasised communication from the start, with a four-level alert system that gives people a clear picture of how and why the Government acts as the outbreak evolves. Like China, Singapore and Australia, it also shut its borders, which has proven a key metric for containment success,’’ the report read.
Australia, Israel and Taiwan were ranked second, third and fourth, respectively, while Argentina, Poland and Brazil were ranked the three worst countries.