The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has diagnosed
another case of coronavirus in the United States, bringing the number of
confirmed cases to five. The latest confirmed case is based in Arizona but all
five cases of coronavirus detected in the USA involve the individuals traveling
to Wuhan at some point in recent times.
According to Johns Hopkins University, around 3,000
cases of coronavirus have been detected – with a majority of them in China. However,
the health epidemic is rapidly spreading to other countries of the world
including Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, and South Korea.
The inability of globally-based health authorities to
control the epidemic raises the big question: How prepared are the countries to
maintain such large outbreaks? From the 195 countries around the world, which
country is the most and the least prepared to contain an epidemic of such
intensity?
Last year, the Global Health Security Index was released where they analyzed the levels of
preparation by countries around the world. The countries were measured on a
scale of 0 to 100 with 100 being the highest.
As anticipated, the United States scored 83.5 and came out
as the most prepared country in the world. The United Kingdom came second with
77.9 score while the Netherlands was placed on the third with 75.6. The epicenter
of coronavirus – China came on the 51st position with 48.2 points.
When it came to the countries that are the least prepared
for health outbreaks, Africa was termed as the most vulnerable with Equatorial
Guinea and Somalia as the weakest country. Both the countries scored a little
above 16 points and ranked in 194 and 195.
Infographic by: www.statista.com
