Doha
As the global death toll from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic exceeds 250,000, Qatar and Singapore stand out with the lowest fatality rates among countries that are experiencing major outbreaks, according to a Bloomberg report.
In Qatar and Singapore, the death toll is less than 0.1 percent of reported infections. In Singapore, where total cases have surged to one of the highest in Asia as it grapples with outbreaks in foreign-worker dormitories, a 102-year-old woman recovered from the virus and was discharged from hospital over the weekend, the report said.
Patient demographics and the ability of the healthcare system to cope are key to keeping the survival rate high in this pandemic, Bloomberg quoted health experts as saying.
“While some countries with small outbreaks like Vietnam have not suffered a single death, those dealing with major spread -- defined as more than 10,000 cases -- often start to see their healthcare infrastructure come under pressure.”
“Among economies with major outbreaks, Qatar’s case fatality ratio is the lowest at 0.07% -- 12 deaths out of more than 16,000 cases. Singapore’s ratio is 0.093% of more than 19,000 infections. Both countries have also kept mortality from the virus low as a proportion of their populations: less than 0.5 per 100,000 people.”
The two nations are also among some of the wealthiest in the world, which means they can better afford the test kits and hospital beds they need, it added.
Low case fatality ratios boil down to three things: testing, age of the population and intensive care unit capacity, the report said quoting Raina MacIntyre, professor of global biosecurity at the University of New South Wales, as saying.
“Countries that test more and detect more mild cases will have an apparently lower fatality rate,” she said.
Older populations and countries that exceed their intensive care unit and ventilator capacity will also have higher death rates,” she said.

SOURCE: QATARTRIBUNE