Singapore has overtaken New Zealand as being the best place to live during the pandemic thanks to a rapid vaccine roll-out, according to new analysis.
Brazil, which has one of the highest per capita death rates in the world and a glacial vaccine programme, was ranked the lowest in Bloomberg’s Covid Resilience table.
The United Kingdom, which has a worse per capita death toll than Brazil, was ranked 18th in the list, behind the US in 17th.
Like Israel (4th), Britain and the US, which gained seven and four places respectively last month, have benefited from successful vaccine roll-outs.
Singapore’s status as the best country to live in has been cemented by a rocketing vaccine drive after it curbed the spread with tough border restrictions and a test and trace system which ensures cases remain isolated.
Scroll down for full rankings.
SINGAPORE: People walk along a bridge next to the financial business district in Singapore on the weekend. Those living in the city state are able to go about normal life again, with concerts and even cruises permitted.
NEW ZEALAND: A crowd without masks attends a Crusaders v Blues match in Christchurch on Sunday
BRAZIL: Aerial view of graves of COVID-19 victims at the Nossa Senhora Aparecida cemetery in Manaus, Amazon state, on April 15
INDIA: Bodies of Covid victims are burned in funeral pyres at a cremation ground in Mumbai last week
Singapore, New Zealand and Australia, the top three ranked countries, are given high scores as their populations are able to enjoy pre-pandemic quality of life, save for the ability to travel.
New Zealand and Australia lost out to Singapore because of their slow vaccine roll-outs.
Nearly 40 per cent of Singaporeans have now been inoculated, whereas just 3.8 per cent of Kiwis and 7.6 per cent of Aussies have had a first dose.
European countries like Germany (26th) and France (42nd), have also struggled to get their vaccine programmes going amid the EU’s vaccine row with AstraZeneca, which has been hit by supply woes and crippled by scaremongering over blood clots.
India was ranked 30th, one of many poorer countries which does not have enough vaccine doses, and which is also battling a new variant which some medics say is more infectious and more deadly.
Bloomberg’s analysis uses ten scores to decide the countries’ ranks, including where there is the least social and economic disruption, the infection and death rates, as well as access to vaccines.
It scores countries with economies of more than $200 billion every month.
Their most recent analysis showed that the vaccines which were becoming widespread throughout much of the world were not a silver bullet.
Countries like France and Chile (36th), which have good access to vaccines, slipped back in the rankings due to new variants ripping through their populations.
The Brazilian variant has wreaked havoc in Chile, while the British variant in France has spread through a population which is broadly unwilling to take the AstraZeneca jab which Emmanuel Macron claimed was ‘quasi-effective.’
BRITAIN: The United Kingdom has started a gradual reopening of outdoor hospitality venues amid one of the most successful vaccine programmes in the world, with half the population vaccinated
Poland which has administered enough jabs for 13 per cent of its population starting unlocking too soon and the British variant has since taken hold, accounting for 90 per cent of new cases and driving a surge in deaths.
Experts fear that as long as the world is unable to get vaccines to developing countries, where many of the new variants are appearing, then lockdowns and social-distancing will have to continue.
‘This is not over by any means,’ Ali Mokdad, Chief Strategy Officer for Population Health at the University of Washington, told Bloomberg.
‘The longer this drags on, the more likely it is that we will see new variants. Then there is a need for a new vaccine or a booster vaccine, and we start all over again.’
