Covid-19: which countries managed the crisis best in 2020?

A mysterious virus appeared on the other side of the world before spreading throughout the world… Five years ago, at the end of 2019, the planet was preparing to discover Covid-19 (new window) and its dramatic consequences. But not all countries fared in the same way. In 2023, scientists from 13 Western European countries met in Paris to take stock of the public action of several European nations. They will publish the results this Monday, December 9 in the BMC Global and Public Health (new window).

According to the authors, two main lessons must be learned from this pandemic. The first? The quicker a country's response, the lower the number of deaths. To reach this conclusion, the researchers “compared the excess mortality standardized on age and sex by country between January 27, 2020 and July 3, 2022”writes the Pasteur Institute (new window). That is to say the number of additional deaths compared to that expected outside of the pandemic.

France average, Italy poor student

THE Scandinavian countries get the best results. During this period, they recorded an excess mortality of between 0.5 and 1 death per 1000 inhabitants. It's much better thanItalywhich is in last place, with 2.7 deaths per 1000 inhabitants. There France is in the middle, at 1.5 additional deaths per 1000 inhabitants, at the same level as our neighbors like the Suisse or theGermany. “The countries which took measures early, when hospitals were not yet under pressure, are those which had the lowest excess mortality”summarizes the Pasteur Institute. “They have also been the most resilient economically.”

The second lesson to learn from this pandemic concerns the identification of the circulation of the virus. “It is important to have a surveillance system capable of quickly identifying the community circulation of a virus and its hospital impact”insists the Pasteur Institute. Including the arrival of variants, the dangerousness of which is not the same for everyone. Their rapid identification allows “to calibrate the response so as to keep it proportionate to the health threat”.

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This work also highlights the importance of vaccines in the strategy to combat a virus. “They have had a huge impact on the pandemic by reducing the risk of severe illness and death”confirm the scientists. The countries “have benefited from the rapid development of safe and effective vaccines, the deployment of which has alleviated the need for the strictest containment measures”. Researchers still hope that future progress will make it possible to “further reduce the time between the start of a pandemic and the vaccination of the population”.