The burden of coronavirus: How does Covid-19 mortality rate differ across countries

According to data, the list of countries with highest Covid-19 fatality ratios - most deaths proportionally to their Covid-19 cases or population - has Belgium on top with 15% Covid-19 death rate.

With over a million Covid-19 patients and more than 60,000 deaths, the United States continues to bear the brunt of the coronavirus outbreak. Europe is the worst-hit continent accounting for more than 1 million cases. An analysis of the Covid-19 mortality rate among European nations suggests that Germany has considerably low numbers Covid-19 fatalities as compared to other countries in the continent like France, Italy, the UK, and Spain.

Covid-19 fatality ratio is most deaths proportionally to their Covid-19 cases or population. (AP)

While the UK, Spain, Italy and France have reported more than 25,000 coronavirus fatalities, for Germany the figure rounds up at over 6000 deaths.

According to the latest data, Spain has reported 216,582 Covid-19 cases, Italy is at 209,328, followed by the United Kingdom (183,500), France (168,518) and Germany with 164,967 coronavirus cases.

Johns Hopkins University suggests Covid-19 countries across the globe have reported very different coronavirus “case fatality ratios”. It is the number of deaths divided by the number of confirmed cases.

The University states that the number of fatalities can differ across regions owing to the following factors:

- Differences in the number of people tested: With more testing, more people with milder cases are identified. This lowers the case-fatality ratio.

- Demographics: For example, mortality tends to be higher in older populations.

- Characteristics of the healthcare system: For example, mortality may rise as hospitals become overwhelmed and have fewer resources, among other factors.

Going by ‘case fatality ratios’, the university data suggest the US to have 5.9% Covid-19 fatality ratio (over 65,000 deaths on more than one million cases) while Germany stands at 4.1%. India is projected to have over 3% Covid-19 mortality ratio with more than 1300 deaths of total 39,980 Covid-19 cases.

Johns Hopkins ‘case fatality ratios’ exhibits the ‘burden’ of Covid-19 across various countries. “Countries at the top of the figure have the most deaths proportionally to their Covid-19 cases or population, not necessarily the most deaths overall,” it says.

According to the data, the list of countries with highest Covid-19 fatality ratios - most deaths proportionally to their Covid-19 cases or population - has Belgium on top with 15% Covid-19 death rate. The country has around 50,000 coronavirus patients and nearly 8,000 fatalities.

The United Kingdom comes second with over 15% fatality ratio followed by France (14.7%), Italy (13.6%) and the Netherlands (12.3%)

(Inputs from Johns Hopkins University)