How Malaysia is handling Covid-19, compared with 183 other countries

A local management consulting firm has launched a free Covid-19 index capable of quantifying and ranking the responses of 184 countries to the pandemic.

Called the Global Covid-19 Index (GCI), it aims to assist governments in managing the pandemic by providing comparative data on which measures proved effective in containing the spread of the virus.

Sponsored by private university Sunway University, the index was developed by Pemandu Associates in collaboration with the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry.

According to Pemandu, the GCI will be updated daily with composite data from open-source databases like the Oxford University Coronavirus Government Response Tracker and the John Hopkins University’s Global Health Security Index.

During its online launch on video conferencing platform Zoom last night, Pemandu president and CEO Idris Jala said the index was able to guide policymakers on when to remove lockdowns.

“The GCI provides data analytics to all leaders in the world so they know how to manage this pandemic…

“The data will tell countries when they can reopen,” Idris (below) said.

The GCI rates and ranks countries in a “Recovery Index” to indicate its current progress in handling the pandemic from a health and safety perspective.

It analyses countries’ lockdown measures and provides recommendations, on which they can relax such measures in accordance with World Health Organization guidelines.

The GCI also rates and ranks nations in a “Severity Index” based on its percentage of Covid-19 infections and deaths as compared to its population size and healthcare system’s ability to cope with the outbreak.

Malaysia, for example, ranks 12 out of 184 countries in the recovery index and scores four out of five - which indicates it has made considerable progress in curtailing the spread of Covid-19 when compared with other nations.

Contribution to Covid-19 fight

Next, the firm will spend the next two years working on a “global pathfinder initiative” that compiles the best and worst practices employed by governments to contain Covid-19.

It also plans to build an index that would compare countries’ initiatives to address the economic downturn inflicted by the pandemic.

Speaking at the virtual launch, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin supported the GCI as the ministry agreed with its data-driven and open-source approach.

Khairy characterised the initiative as the country’s contribution to the global fight against Covid-19.

“Malaysia believes that scientific discovery that can benefit humanity in times of crisis should remain open and available as a global public good.

“The GCI is Malaysia’s contribution of data analytics and algorithmic application for everyone to benefit from in our collective fight against the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said. - Mkini