According to CNN, the ranking was based on the number of new coronavirus cases per million population per day, averaged over the 31 days of August, of countries with “sufficient data,” The Lancet COVID-19 Commission said in a report published on September 14. It explained that the newly confirmed infections are “the most straightforward measure of the rate of transmission of the virus.” The Commission said a country was able to curb the spread of the virus in August if it only had five or fewer cases per million population a day, provided that it conducted “at least 20 tests per new case,” which is considered “ample” testing.
According to the report, Uganda under the stewardship of President Yoweri Museveni ranked the 10th best country in suppressing the spread of coronavirus. As of September 23, Uganda had 6,879 cumulative confirmed cases of COVID-19 with only 69 deaths since the virus was first reported in the country in March this year. Nearly 3,000 Ugandans have recovered from the virus which has killed close to a million people in the globe.
“There is evidence that what is being geared towards the aspect of minimising the pandemic is working. We did not only look at the aspect of Covid-19 alone but also the social aspect,” Dr Olaro said yesterday.
The data reports were based on four indicators of the pandemic which include number of newly confirmed cases per million population per day averaged over the 31 days of August, the mortality rate measured as the deaths per million per day averaged over the same period, the number of Covid-19 tests done in August relative to the number of new cases in August, which functions as a proxy measure for the scale of testing and the average effective reproduction rate, which is the effective reproduction number averaged over the month, indicating whether the epidemic was rising or falling.
The Lancet Covid-19 Commission in a statement during the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, said 19 countries achieved suppression in August.
“We note that 10 of the 19 are in the Asia–Pacific region, the highest performing region globally. 11 countries incurred very high transmission. We note that six of the 11 countries are in the Americas,” the statement reads.
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