Pandemic Reactions: How the World Treats Covid-19 Patients

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Let’s face it, Covid-19 is here and is now affecting the whole world as mentioned previously. Each affected country has its own reactions and adaptations to somehow reduce the effect of the virus or even eliminate it totally. The previous study showed the current state of key countries and its vulnerabilities of hitting with a second wave of an outbreak of positive cases. With that being said, we will be tackling what kind of vulnerabilities a Covid-19 patient would have in a particular country.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

But before looking on that further, let’s look at the current number first. According to worldofmeters.info, the world’s Coronavirus cases is almost 2.5 million as of this writing and is on pace to reach 3 million mark soon based on its current pace.

THE RELATIVE AND KEY NUMBERS

The cases have kept on increasing and affected more and more in each country.

As of this writing, United States is at number 1 with almost 500,000 cases followed by European Countries (which is now regarded as the center of pandemic) Spain, Italy, France, and Germany. China, which is regarded as the origin country of Covid-19, has gone up and now sits at number 8 in the ranking all over the world.

The global recovery rate is at 27% while the death rate is at 4%, but it is not directly translating to each country.

China still has the highest recovery rate of around 93% with a slightly higher death rate compared to previous rate (now at 5%). Recovery rates for South Korea are still consistent with their rates while Malaysia has greatly improved and Singapore worsened compared to last time. The UK recovery rate wasn’t officially published or disclosed as of yet.

The number of tests conducted by each country is vital to know how many are really affected and react accordingly to contain them.

Large populations such as China, India and the US still has a low rate of tests conducted considering their total population as well as the rate of human movements. In fairness, other countries also have a low rate of tests conducted against their total population, which could impose similar risks.

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HOW ARE THE COUNTRIES TREATING THEIR COVID-19 PATIENTS

If you are a Covid-19 patient, which countries would you rather be in if you want to survive the virus? Let’s check out the numbers:

China

World Ranking for total cases: #8 (Up 2 spots from #6)

Ranking within continent: #1 (Asia, No change)

Treatment of patients:

The immediate construction of dedicated hospitals has also provided a remarkable feat in attempt to treat as much patients as they can. Other treatment strategies were also explored and was proven efficient.

Mortality Risk:

Medium

In reference to the global average of death rate % of 4.61, China has a death rate of 5.6, which is a little bit higher, so this imposes a high risk of death for Covid-19 patients in China.

Recovery Expectancy:

Very high

While there is a high risk of Covid-19 deaths in China, the recovery rate is at a very high rate which could translate to the fact that they treat the patients well and focus on their speedy recovery.

United States

World Ranking for total cases: #1 (No change)

Ranking within continent: #1 (North America, No change)

Treatment of patients:

There is no proven and actual way of treatment for Covid-19, but the FDA in the US have encouraged plasma donation from those who have recovered. The blood of Covid-19 patients who have recovered is believed to have produced anti-bodies that have proven it won against the Coronavirus. Apart from this, hard decisions are being made in the US hospitals due to a growing large number of cases.

Mortality Risk:

Medium

Similar to China’s numbers, US is hovering a little bit higher against the global average, so this impose a higher risk of mortality rate when you get contracted with Covid-19 in the US.

Recovery Expectancy:

Low

The global average of recovery is 27%, the US has merely around 9%. This may translate to lower priorities of treatments as the US is still in the middle of mitigation and putting more focus on controlling the spread, but the citizens beg to differ.

Italy

World Ranking for total cases: #3 (No change)

Ranking within continent: #2 (Europe, no change)

Treatment of patients

With the overwhelming number of Covid-19 patients overcrowding Italy’s hospitals, their healthcare professionals resorted to some workarounds such as home treatments and even some experimental treatments.

Mortality Risk:

Very High

Italy currently has 13% death rate, which is still a very high rate compared to the global average. However, this has gone down since its complete surge and we are now seeing good improvements.

Recovery Expectancy:

Medium

Italy’s recovery rate is hovering within the global average of 27% – a fairly good percentage considering they currently have almost 200,000 Covid-19 patients.

Spain

World Ranking for total cases: #2 (No change)

Ranking within continent: #1 (Europe, no change)

Treatment of patients

With the global shortage of PPEs, Spain is not spared of that situation as well. And due to overwhelming number of cases, they have now resorted to some workarounds as well.

Mortality Risk:

Very High

Similar to Italy, Spain also has a very high death rate, but good and positive signs are coming along recently.

Recovery Expectancy:

High

At 38% recovery rate, you will feel very relieved with this very good sign of hope.

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Germany

World Ranking for total cases: #5 (Up 1 spot from #4)

Ranking within continent: #4 (Europe, No change)

Treatment of patients:

Cooperation and teamwork is what Germany is doing, and that includes their medical students, who have stepped up to help out with their efforts to fight Covid-19.

Mortality Risk:

Low

Despite having almost 150,000 cases as of this writing, Germany managed to lower down its death rates against the global average with just 3.19%.

Recovery Expectancy:

Very High

With 60% recovery rate against their total cases, it is actually somewhat surprising specifically on its neighboring countries.

Australia

World Ranking for total cases: #36 (Up 14 spots from #22)

Ranking within continent: #1 (Australia and Oceania, no change)

Treatment of patients:

With a sustained increase of new cases, Australia has dramatically flattened the curve all thanks to their continued efforts.

Mortality Risk:

Low

1.07% is a very low death rate considering Australia was on the verge of outbreak predictions a few weeks back.

Recovery Expectancy:

Very High

With a low death rate, it is expected to have high recovery rate and it indeed came out on the numbers with Australia having 63.97%, almost tripled more than the global average.

France

World Ranking for total cases: #4 (No Change)

Ranking within continent: #3 (Europe, No Change)

Treatment of patients:

Aside from some rumors spreading, France is slowly but surely managing its cases and will soon flatten the curve – quite a good development from the past weeks.

Mortality Risk:

High

France still has a high death rate % which is almost triple of the global average at 12.9%. We hope it will lessen or maintain as it goes along.

Recovery expectancy:

Medium

France is within the global average of recovery at 23% and we are expecting to increase due to the positive developments we are seeing.

United Kingdom

World Ranking for total cases: #6 (Down 2 spots from #8)

Ranking within continent: #5 (Europe, no change)

Treatment of patients:

UK is now joining the rest of the countries all over the world to try out blood donations from Covid-19 survivors in the hopes of helping out the currently affected patients.

Mortality Risk:

High

UK’s Covid-19’s cases is starting to be managed and its high death rate could have reached its peak as well. The 13% is a little bit too high against the global average of just about 5%.

Recovery Expectancy:

N/A

Public records have shown 135 people have recovered, but that remained as it is for so long so it is not really a good statistic to rely upon. We do hope it would increase as it goes along.

Canada

World Ranking for total cases: #13 (No Change)

Ranking within continent: #2 (North america, No Change)

Treatment of patients:

Aside from trying out plasma transfusions, Canadian hospitals are also trying out different mixes of drugs with the aim to cure Covid-19 patients.

Mortality Risk:

Low

Canada’s death rate due to Covid-19 is a bit lower from the global average, and it looks to sustain and will not increase drastically.

Recovery Expectancy:

High

The recovery rate of Covid-19 in Canada is above the global average with more than 33% of Covid-19 patients are recovering.

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South Korea

World Ranking for total cases: #24 (Up 7 spots from #17)

Ranking within continent: #6 (Asia, Up 3 spots from #3)

Treatment of patients:

Considerably one of the best models of containing the virus, South Korea has also resorted to plasma therapy which yielded remarkable results so far.

Mortality Risk:

Low

South Korea’s Covid-19 death rate is way below the global average rate which shows a sign of better things coming ahead.

Recovery Expectancy:

Very High

South Korea’s Covid-19 recovery rate is at a staggering 75%, a strong showing of the patients’ resilience along with the country’s abrupt response to the outbreak.

Iran

World Ranking for total cases: #9 (Up 2 spots from #7)

Ranking within continent: #2 (Asia, No Change)

Treatment of patients:

With concerted efforts from fellow citizens, Iran has also resorted to plasma therapy to treat their Covid-19 patients.

Mortality Risk:

Medium

Death rate of Covid-19 in Iran is at 6%, a little bit higher than the global average, but it is expected to sustain or lessen due to Iran’s management of the curve.

Recovery Expectancy:

High

Contrary to a high death rate, Iran has a very good Covid 19 recovery rate with almost 70% rate. This goes to show that their plasma therapy among other treatment measures are effective.

Philippines

World Ranking for total cases: #40 (Up 6 spots from #34)

Ranking within continent: #12 (Asia, Up 3 spots from #9)

Treatment of patients:

While positive cases with Covid-19 continue to increase consistently, it seems that the country is handling the situation closely and looks to be effective. Treatment of Covid-19 patients such as plasma therapy and some experimental drugs are up to speed with the hopes of positive outcomes.

Mortality Risk:

Medium

Death rate of Covid-19 in the Philippines is around 1% higher than the global average. It does not look to increase based on the current rate and should sustain or lessen in the coming weeks.

Recovery expectancy:

Low

With just around 9% of Covid-19 recovery rate, Philippines has a long way to go to reach the global average of 27%.

Japan

World Ranking for total cases: #23 (Down 7 spots from #30)

Ranking within continent: #5 (Asia, down 1 spot from #5)

Treatment of patients:

Currently experiencing a big spike of Covid-19 cases, Japan is racing to test experimental drugs, among other combination of drugs with the aim to treat Covid-19 patients abruptly.

Mortality Risk:

Low

On a lighter note, the death rate of Covid 19 in Japan is relatively lower than the global average, even if their median age is at 48.4 years old.

Recovery expectancy:

Low

The tests on experimental drugs may probably be expedited as Japan currently has around 10% of recovery rate of Covid 19 patients.

Malaysia

World Ranking for total cases: #43 (Up 10 spots from #33)

Ranking within continent: #14 (Asia, up 6 spots from #8)

Treatment of patients:

Malaysia also has resorted to experimental drug testing and they also has a strict rule of restricting treatment of Covid-19 patients exclusively on hospitals. If there is one award for managing the 2nd wave of Covid-19 cases per country, it would be to Malaysia.

Mortality Risk:

Low

With remarkable management of Covid-19 cases, Malaysia’s death rate of Covid-19 is indeed lower than the global average with just 1% rate.

Recovery Expectancy:

High

Consequently, the recovery rate of Covid-19 in Malaysia is also very high that could be attributed to their current counter-measures yielding positive results.

Netherlands

World Ranking for total cases: #14 (Up 2 spots from #12)

Ranking within continent: #9 (Europe, No Change)

Treatment of patients:

The robustness of treatment of Covid-19 patients transcends down to the mildest symptoms.

Mortality Risk:

High

Netherlands is currently on a tight fix with increased cases on a consistent basis, and its Covid 19 death rate is heavily affected by it with 11%.

Recovery Expectancy:

Very low

Despite the robustness of treatments, it seems most of them are not working on the Netherlands’ cases. Their Covid-19 recovery rate is currently just at 0.77%, which is by far the lowest rate recorded.

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Israel

World Ranking for total cases: #22 (Up 4 spots from #18)

Ranking within continent: #4 (Asia, no change)

Treatment of patients:

Like most of the various-hit countries, Israel is also venturing on plasma therapy, in which they are having positive results on Covid-19 patients.

Mortality Risk:

Low

Despite more than 10,000 cases, Israel manages to have a lower death rate against the global average.

Recovery expectancy:

Medium

Israel’s Covid 19 recovery rate is well within the global average, and it is considered very high when compared to other countries.

India

World Ranking for total cases: #17 (Down 7 spots from #24)

Ranking within continent: #3 (Asia, down 2 spots from #5)

Treatment of patients:

India is working on prophylactic treatments to fight off the virus from its patients apart from conducting plasma therapy to its patients.

Mortality Risk:

Medium

While India’s death rate of Covid-19 is lower against the global average with just 3.17%, the cases are steadily increasing so there is still a possibility of increased rate as well.

Recovery expectancy:

Low

Though it is lower than the global average, India’s Covid-19 recovery rate of 16% is relatively high enough when compared to some key countries mentioned.

Singapore

World Ranking for total cases: #37 (Down 15 spots from #52)

Ranking within continent: #10 (Asia, Down 5 spots from #5)

Treatment of patients:

As with almost every virus-hit country, Singapore is considering plasma therapy to treat their patients along with their drive to develop actual treatment in the future.

Mortality Risk:

Very Low

A Covid-19 patient in Singapore has the highest chance of avoiding death among other key countries with just around 0.17% Covid-19 death rate.

Recovery expectancy:

Low

While Covid-19 patients in Singapore are avoiding death, they couldn’t avoid being confined in a hospital as their recovery rate is currently sitting at 11% only.

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There are a number of reasons why each country has a different number of deaths and recoveries against the Covid-19 cases. Age demographics, availability of treatment facilities, the total number of cases, or even just plainly the willingness to live of the patient can still contribute to these numbers. One thing is for sure for now – there is no definite cure for the disease, and prevention is STILL better than cure.

How will you relate the current Covid-19 situation on these numbers in your country?

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