The Pandemic Resilience Index ranked 40 countries on vaccination drives, critical care bed capacity and mass testing

The UAE has been listed as the second-most pandemic resilient country globally in a new report.

The Pandemic Resilience Index ranked 40 countries on factors including vaccination approval dates, vaccination drives, critical care bed capacity and mass testing.

The study – conducted by advocacy group Consumer Choice Centre (CCC) – aims to provide an overview of global health system preparedness for the Covid crisis.

Israel topped the list, followed by the UAE, the US, UK and Bahrain, respectively. Ukraine rolled in last at number 41.

The report factored in the number of Covid vaccines doses administered per 100 people as per March 31. Israel led the charge with 115.98 percent, followed by the UAE (81.1 percent) and the UK (52.53).

As of May 13, The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention announced that the total number of doses provided stands at 11,422,565 with a rate of vaccine distribution of 115.49 doses per 100 people.

The index also factored in the number of daily tests per country. The UAE topped the league for daily Covid testing, averaging 8.29 per 1,000 people daily.

“The UAE is a country that managed to quickly kick off its vaccination campaign, vaccinated over 50 percent of its population [by March 31] and has carried out extensive testing – which is why it performed so well in the index,” said Fred Roeder, managing director, CCC.

The UAE commenced its vaccination rollout around 10 days earlier than most of the European Union but its performance has been “significantly” better, he said.

The UAE has one of the lowest numbers of hospital ICUs per capita, but with an average of over eight daily new Covid tests per thousand people, the country stands out on testing and is markedly ahead of countries such as Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, France, Lithuania and Italy.

“The pandemic has put global health systems to an emergency test and exposed both their strengths and weaknesses,” said Roeder. “In particular, this concerns hospital capacity, planning abilities, and the existence of a regulatory system that is able to act fast and efficiently when it comes to testing and vaccination, among other things.”

The UAE maintains excellent collaborative links between its private and public health sectors, which allowed for fast execution amid a pandemic, said Roeder.

“The UAE has demonstrated that it has a smart government. Both Israel and the UAE have proved themselves to be agile countries that were quick to respond and planned the pandemic to the end,” he said, adding that the UAE offered a “role model” to European countries.

“The UAE is a forward looking country. Policy makers across the world would do well to look at the UAE’s success in tackling the Covid pandemic,” he said.

Originally published here.