S’pore is the 2nd Safest Place to Live in the World from COVID-19

In June 2020, Singapore was ranked as the 4th safest place country in the world in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The results were compiled with “130 quantitative and qualitative parameters and over 11,400 data points like quarantine efficiency, monitoring and detection, health readiness, and government efficiency” and countries with a more resilient economy was ranked higher.

Well, fast forward 8 months later and yet another ranking of countries took place, this time by Bloomberg.

S’pore is the 2nd Safest Place to Live in the World from COVID-19

According to the latest Covid-19 Resilience Ranking by Bloomberg, Singapore has now ranked the second-safest place in the world to live in during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Scoring 71.3 on the Bloomberg scorecard, Singapore lost out to New Zealand with a difference of 5.5.

While most factors have improved, such as the number of cases, fatality and positive test rate, Singapore’s access to Covid-19 vaccines has worsened at 85%.

Our quality of life has also improved significantly, such as in areas of community mobility, lockdown severity and healthcare coverage.

Singapore is also the highest-ranked country in the world which has already started Covid-19 vaccinations.

New Zealand has been leading the pack for three months now with its close borders, four vaccine deals, and almost eliminating Covid-19 within their own country.

Vaccines Still Have To Be Studied

Currently, the world’s attention is on countries who are vaccinating their people.

What will the impact of the Covid-19 vaccines on the real world be like? And besides protecting people from Covid-19, will it curb transmissions as well?

Would infection and fatality rates really drop?

These are questions that researchers are desperately trying to find the answers to.

Just as PM Lee and so many others have said, the Covid-19 vaccines are not the “magic solution” that we’ve all been waiting for.

People will still have to take the necessary precautions and protect themselves (and their loved ones) from infections.

Democracies Vs Authoritarian States

The US and the UK are the biggest democracies in the world, and both of them didn’t really score well against Covid-19.

Meanwhile, China and Vietnam, both more authoritarian states, have done relatively better against Covid-19.

Does this mean that democracies aren’t cut out for a pandemic?

Apparently not, according to Bloomberg’s ranking system.

The Magic Formula

It was found that countries which have more trust and compliance from the people are likelier to do well.

Clear and transparent communication, such as New Zealand’s four-level alert system helps its people understand why the government has to act in a certain manner.

Systems set up to facilitate better contact tracing, testing and education also help.

Meanwhile, countries which treated Covid-19 as a joke, like Mexico, Brazil and the US under Donald Trump, worsened the Covid-19 pandemic for its people.

All-in-all, Bloomberg predicts that the ranking system for this year will be determined by the vaccine rollout in different countries.

You can read the full report here.

Featured Image: August Phunitiphat / Shutterstock.com