Covid 19 coronavirus: Four countries faring worse than US on outbreak

The United States is the hardest hit country for Covid-19, with more infections and deaths than any other nation.

There are currently over 4.37 million coronavirus cases and 150,000 deaths in the US.

On a per capita basis, the US – which has a population of 328.2 million – is still one of the worst-hit countries in the world, with just four countries ahead of it.

Oman, Bahrain, Panama and South Africa are the top four worst-hit countries on a per capita basis, according to a New York Times analysis that measures new daily cases per million residents.

Countries that initially saw bad early outbreaks, such as South Korea, Italy and Spain, are now seeing relatively low infection rates, with schools and businesses reopening.

But the surge in the United States is so extreme that, once adjusted for population, there are 10 states now recording more new cases than any country in the world – led overwhelmingly by Florida.

OMAN

Oman reported 1053 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, raising the total number in the country to 77,058 infections.

To put this into perspective, Oman has a population of just over five million people.

The ministry also reported nine new fatalities from the virus, bringing the death toll to 393.

Cases first appeared in the country in February, after two Omani women returned from virus-ravaged Iran. A month later, the total number of cases surged to 100, and by April the country was recording deaths.

On June 1, the total number of cases crossed 12,000, which the country's health minister Dr Ahmed Al Saidi attributed to various Ramadan and Eid gatherings.

"If you look at the figures, the cases began to increase during the second half of Ramadan and then it just shot up during Eid because people are flouting the social distancing rules and they are still gathering. This is a serious concern. The numbers have increased over the last few days because of this," Al Saidi said.

BAHRAIN

Bahrain currently has a total of 39,131 cases, with a relatively low fatality rate of 0.34 per cent.

A recent study found that the number of asymptomatic people was at 68 per cent.

These results reflect both the wider problems faced by Gulf Arab countries reliant on cheap foreign labour and their relative success in tracking their Covid-19 outbreaks, given their oil wealth and authoritarian governments.

The country relies heavily on foreign workers – a trait which appears to have contributed to the spread of the virus there.

Of the more than 6000 contact trace cases that Bahrain published, more than 2600 involved Indian nationals, while 1310 were Bahrainis and 1260 were Bangladeshis. More than 400 came from Pakistan, with a similar number from Nepal.

PANAMA

On March 10, Panama became the second country in virus-ravaged Latin America to confirm a coronavirus-related death.

The country, which is the second-least populated in Latin America, has reported over 60,000 cases and almost 1300 deaths.

Panama has been testing at high rates but does not have the health resources to tackle rising numbers.

SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa has recorded 445,433 infections of Covid-19, with 6769 deaths, according to JSU. It now ranks fifth for global infections behind the US, Brazil, India and Russia – all of which have much higher populations.

There is a desperate shortage of critical care beds in major cities, and not enough staff to run the wards. Personal protective equipment is difficult to source and there are massive testing queues, according to Sky News.

The virus first hit the country on March 1, after a man with the virus returned from Italy with nine others, around the time the virus was at its peak there.

On March 15, President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national state of disaster, prohibiting gatherings of more than 100 people. The nation went into a 21-day national lockdown the following week, but the virus continued to spread into April and May.

– with AP