The United States is one of the three worst countries in the entire developed world for Covid-19 deaths in August.
More than seventy countries worldwide now have the Covid-19 pandemic well-controlled, with many recording no deaths at all for the month of August, just ended.
Worldwide, August was worse than July, as a second wave has hit several countries, including Australia, Japan and Spain. Deaths in all countries were 172,624 in August, up from 162,780 in July. (Data is from Worldometers.) This confirms that countries which have put in place strict control regimes are reaping the benefits in reduced mortality. But many countries haven’t. Hence the global picture remains grim.
Disparity among developed nations
Several nations which recorded zero deaths in August may not be reporting the data accurately. These include large African nations Burundi, Niger and Tanzania, where health services, including testing and reporting, remain basic. And China. With a population of 1.44 billion, it seems pretty unlikely there were no coronavirus deaths anywhere in August.
Hence it is safest to compare outcomes between those 54 nations ranked by the UN Development Program as ‘very highly developed’. We know these have advanced health facilities and can assume they collect accurate data – although that is an assumption.
Winners and losers
Four of these recorded no deaths in August: New Zealand, Iceland, Singapore and Thailand. Five others kept deaths below one per million inhabitants: Malaysia, South Korea, Slovakia, Estonia and Cyprus.
Another twelve kept deaths between one and three. Not bad. Ten of these were in Europe: Latvia, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Ireland and Switzerland. The other two were Japan and Uruguay.
Ten advanced countries have clearly failed disastrously to reduce the death rate, recording more than 25 deaths per million inhabitants. Four are in the Middle East – Bahrain (25.1 deaths per million), Saudi Arabia (29.5), Israel (46.4) and Oman (51.5). Three are in the Americas – the United States (92.4), Chile (95.7) and Argentina (109.5). These were the three worst among the highly developed nations. The other three are Bulgaria (33.1), Kazakhstan (38.8) and Romania (66.5).
The Americas losing badly
Just three countries in the Americas accounted for more than half the world’s active cases at the end of August. These are the United States (2.6 million), Brazil (691,652) and Peru (160,764). This is despite having just 7.4 per cent of the world’s population.
The 29 countries in North, Central and South America – with just 12.9 per cent of the world’s population – accounted for 65.1 per cent of all August deaths.
Europe gaining control
Europe has recovered remarkably well since the pandemic devastated Lombardy, Italy, in March and April and spread rapidly to surrounding countries.
Cyprus, Estonia, Iceland and Slovakia all recorded fewer than one death per million in August. Altogether, 14 European states recorded fewer than three deaths per million.
One extraordinary success is Germany whose fatality rate has plummeted in the last few months. From 5,848 in April, deaths fell to 1,982 in May, eased further to 447 in June, then to 172 in July and just 147 in August.
Government actions matter
It is now clear that administrative decisions do impact infection and fatality rates. Outcomes are not a matter of blind chance. The challenge for the countries yet to get death rates below three per million inhabitants per month is to assess what they have not yet done which the successful countries have done.
It appears to be a matter of following the science and redoubling efforts when setbacks occur – which August has shown are highly likely.
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This content was first published here at crikey.com.au on 1 September 2020.
