On September 22nd, YICAI Research Institute, a well-known Chinese financial think tank, released a comprehensive survey report in terms of Covid-19 pandemic prevention measures, economic recovery and international cooperation in 108 countries, with Sri Lanka ranked 2nd in the overall score. It is the highest international recognition so far for the island nation in fighting the coronavirus.
The score Sri Lanka received for fighting against the Pandemic was 70.8, they received a score of 49.1 for economic recovery, and the score received for International Cooperation was 20.0. With a total score of 59.2, the island nation came in 2nd place to China who obtained an overall score of 68.1
The current situation of the country as at today (27) is that a total of 3349 COVID -19 cases were confirmed out of which 3186 had already recovered. The current number of patients under medical care is 150 while unfortunately 13 deaths were reported. The nation’s frontline workers and the security forces are working tirelessly to completely eradicate the island from the pandemic.
YICAI Research Institute is part of China's largest financial media conglomerate Yicai Media Group based in Shanghai. It employs 1,000 journalists & professionals and runs over 10 overseas stations. In 2015, Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group took a 30% stake in Institute.
According to the YICAI Research Institute report, nine out of the top 10 countries were in the Asia-Pacific region, namely South Korea, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Australia and New Zealand, according to the report which was released on Sept. 22. Ghana was in third place.
Germany was the highest-scoring European country, coming in 23rd, with Austria, Greece and Switzerland also among the continent’s better performers.
The US and Brazil, both countries with leaders who initially downplayed the problem and with lower levels of co-operation by the public, ranked 98th and 89th respectively.
Sweden, which opted for the controversial policy of herd immunity, came in at number 90.
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.