Singapore: The best place to be during the pandemic

Singapore has overtaken New Zealand to lead this month's Bloomberg Covid Resilience Ranking, which measures the best and worst places to be during the pandemic.

Singapore has topped the rankings by providing its citizens with a pre-pandemic quality of life. This small island-nation of 5.7 million people is the best place to be during this pandemic.

Here's why Singapore has topped Bloomberg's Covid-19 resilience rankings:

According to Bloomberg, 20% of Singapore's population has been vaccinated and community transmission has become non-existent.

A total of 61,000 cases have been recorded to date and only 30 people have died due to the virus. All workplaces have reopened, all movie theatres are functional, even fitting rooms in stores remain open.

How did Singapore achieve this?

Singapore achieved this milestone by not showing complacency. In March 2020, the island nation swiftly sealed its borders and suspended international travel.

The govt imposed a strict two-month lockdown. After the transmissions decreased, Singapore's small and compliant population embraced vaccines without any hesitancy.

Next to Singapore is New Zealand, with just 2,609 cases and 26 deaths in a population of 5 million.

It's the second-best place to be during the pandemic. Today nearly 2% of New Zealand's population has been vaccinated and all restrictions have been loosened.

The Jacinda Ardern government opened up the economy faster than any other country and even won re-election in October 2020 as proof of its pandemic success.

Australia is on the third sport of Covid-19 resilience ranking, with just 29,700 cases and 910 deaths in a population of 26 million.

Nearly 15 million COVID-19 tests have been conducted and 3.7% of the country's population has been vaccinated.

Besides these, threecountries featuring in the top ten list are:

Israel is on the fourth spot, Taiwan on the fifth spot, South Korea on sixth, Japan on seventh, UAE on eighth, Finland at nineth and Hong Kong on 10th.

India, which is currently grappling with a second wave, has been ranked 30th out of the 53 countries assessed while Brazil plummeted to the last position.

(With inputs from agencies)