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COVID-19 Trends and Stringency Index by Economic Ranking of Countries: A Longitudinal Study
22 Pages Posted: 26 Jan 2022
More...Abstract
Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has transitioned to a third phase and at present, there has been millions of lives loss as well as millions in economic loss. The future trend in COVID-19 loss is unclear. The morbidity and mortality for COVID19 varies by country. This study aimed to explore the case, test, vaccination, positivity rate and Stringency index of countries by economic ranking of countries.
Methods: We received open access data from Our World in Data. Data from 210 countries were available. Countries (n=100) without data related to testing, which is a key variable in the present study, were excluded. Consequently, data from 110 countries were used, and the analysis period was set between January 22, 2020 (when COVID-19 was first officially reported) and December 28, 2021. All analyses were stratified by year and the World Bank income group. To analyze the associations among the major variables, we used a longitudinal fixed-effects model.
Results: New case per million was similar in lower-middle income (LMI), upper-middle income (UMI) and higher income (HI) countries but lower in lower income (LI) countries. The number of new COVID-19 test were reduced in HI and LMI countries but similar in UMI and LI countries. Stringency Index was negligible in LI countries and similar in LMI, UMI and HI countries. New positivity rate increased in LMI and UMI countries. The daily incidence rate was positively correlated with the daily mortality rate in both 2020 and 2021. In 2020, Stringency Index was positively in LIC and HIC but a negative association in LMIC and in 2021 there was a positive association between UMI and HI countries. Vaccination coverage did not appear to change with mortality in 2021.
Conclusion: New COVID-19 cases, tests, vaccinations, positivity rates, and Stringency indices were low in LI countries and highest in UMI countries. Our findings suggest that the available resources of COVID-19 pandemic would be allocated by need of countries; LIC and UMIC.
Funding Information: Not available.
Declaration of Interests: We declare that there is no conflict of interest.
Ethics Approval Statement: This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and all the materials used in the article were publicly available data. Moreover, all those data are non-identifying data, and anyone can use it.
Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, mortality, reproductive ratio, stringency index, vaccine
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