Coronavirus: UAE ranks high for Covid-19 response in global league table

UAE in top tier for level of safety amid pandemic

A woman wearing a face mask rests on a bench at a public park in Beijing amid easing of restrictions enforced to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. AP Photo

Visitors look at a giraffe at the national zoo in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Reuters

Pedestrians walk in a market in Kathmandu. AFP

A woman wearing a protective face mask waits to check her temperature in an Apple store in Shanghai, China. Reuters

People wearing face masks to protect against the spread of the new coronavirus walk in Yokohama, near Tokyo. AP Photo

A woman wearing a face mask to protect against the spread of the coronavirus walks down stone steps at the Ofuna Kannon Buddhist temple in Kamakura, near Tokyo. AP Photo

TV crew wear protective masks as they produce a programme about the coronavirus pandemic in Hanoi, Vietnam. Reuters

A man wearing a surgical mask walks along the Helix Bridge next to the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore. EPA

Students, wearing face masks amid the coronavirus pandemic, sit by a mural depicting the Indonesian flag at an Islamic junior high school in Banda Aceh. AFP

A worker checking on a finished motorcycle at an assembly unit of Royal Enfield motorcycle inside its factory in Oragadam, Tami Nadu. AFP

A municipal corporation worker fumigates a neighbourhood in Mumbai, Maharashtra state, India. AP Photo

A demonstrator wearing a clown mask and holding a sign that says 'Where is Queiroz?' takes part in a protest against Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in front of the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE), amid the coronavirus disease, in Brasilia, Brazil. Reuters

Health workers attend a rally in support of Colombian doctor Jose Buelvas Diaz outside the San Ignacio Hospital in Bogota, Colombia. Buelvas Diaz has reportedly received anonymous threats after one of his patients died with Covid-19 in Barranquilla, north of Colombia. EPA

Migrants, part of a group of 50 Guatemalans deported from the United States, wear face masks as a preventive measure against the coronavirus, as they get into a bus upon landing at the air force base in Guatemala City. AFP

A man in line at Christian City, an assisted living home, to cast their ballots after Democratic and Republican primaries were delayed due to coronavirus restrictions in Union City, Georgia. Reuters

Voters wait at Christian City, an assisted living home, to cast their ballots after Democratic and Republican primaries were delayed due to coronavirus restrictions in Union City, Georgia. Reuters

Clark County election workers talk behind a ballot box set up for primary election amid the coronavirus pandemic in North Las Vegas, Nevada. This is the first time ballots have been mailed to all registered active voters in Nevada's history as the state holds its first-ever election done almost entirely by mail because of the risk of spreading Covid-19. The Clark County registrar said unofficial results of the election will be reported tonight but, final results will not be available until after the last ballots are counted on June 16 or 17. Getty

People who are registering to vote or who need a ballot wait in line outside the Clark County election department, which is serving as both a primary election ballot drop-off point and an in-person voting centre amid the coronavirus pandemic in North Las Vegas, Nevada. This is the first time ballots have been mailed to all registered active voters in Nevada's history. Getty Images

The UAE is among the top countries in the world for its coronavirus response, a global ranking shows.

A survey by the Deep Knowledge Group, a consortium of technology companies and non-profit organisations, considered dozens of factors for each country to compile the list.

It placed Switzerland, Germany, Israel, Singapore and Japan in the top five.

Austria, China, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea made up the top 10, with the UAE 11th on the list.

Its presence in the world’s top 20 for coronavirus response places it in Tier 1, among countries that demonstrated a “high level of regional safety”.

Saudi Arabia is also included in Tier 1, in 17th place.

The US, which has suffered the world’s largest outbreak, appears in 58th place. The UK fared even worse, in 68th.

That placed both countries in Tier 3, among 60 countries and territories that scored “much less favourably during the first-phase analysis than would be expected" given their pre-pandemic efficiency in quarantine, government risk management, monitoring and detection, health systems, regional resilience and emergency preparedness".

The ranking includes four tiers.

Countries in the fourth level, many of which are in developing regions, suffer from “high levels of data unavailability or unreliability”.

The Deep Knowledge Group also ranked countries in regions, with Israel, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain in the top five for Mena.

Its report said many of the well-performing Mena countries gave high priority to funding universal health care systems.

“Many of these territories have also in recent years made substantial investments in medical modernisation and the development of cutting-edge healthcare technologies and facilities," the group said.

It said those countries have for several years been committed to developing sophisticated and advanced healthcare cities.

The UAE announced 479 new cases on Thursday, after 47,000 more tests, bringing the country's total to 40,986.

There have been 286 deaths across the Emirates, a small number compared to many other countries including the UK, which has 291,409 cases and more than 41,000 confirmed deaths.

The UAE's strategy of taking early steps to contain the virus, including rigorous testing and contact tracing of cases, has been praised internationally.

Officials have also stressed the importance of wearing face masks when outside and abiding by other safety measures such as physical distancing.