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The Republic of Ireland has ranked ahead of both the UK and the US in the COVID-19 Regional Safety Assessment

The Republic of Ireland has been ranked the 38th safest country in the world for COVID-19 according to a report compiled by Deep Knowledge Group (DKG).

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The report from DKG was released on June 4, the day before the Irish government announced that it would be accelerating its Roadmap to reopen the economy and society after coronavirus shutdowns, and that Phase 2 could begin on June 8.

DKG, a consortium of companies and nonprofits, ranked 200 countries in order of safest to least safe during the COVID-19 pandemic based on 11,400 data points, 130 quantitative and qualitative parameters, and more than 500 data sources.

In their 250 page report entitled "COVID-19 Regional Safety Assessment: Big Data Analysis of 200 Countries and Regions COVID-19 Safety Ranking and Risk Assessment," DKG classifies, analyzes, and ranks the economic, societal and health stability of 200 regions, countries, and territories globally.

The framework for DKG’s research was divided into six top-level categories: Quarantine Efficiency, Government Efficiency of Risk Management, Monitoring and Detection, Health Readiness, Regional Resilience, and Emergency Preparedness.

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The Republic of Ireland received 551 points overall: 102 points for Quarantine Efficiency, 132 points for Government Efficiency of Risk Management, 86 points for Monitoring and Detection, 77 points for Healthcare Readiness, 85 points for Regional Resiliency, and 69 points for Emergency Preparedness.

Ireland was ranked in between Georgia (550 points) and Turkey (556 points). The United Kingdom, which includes Northern Ireland, came in 68th place with 513 points. 

USA came in 58th place with 530 points, Canada came in 12th place with 699 points, and Australia came in 8th place with 716 points.

The overall average score for Europe was 562 points, the highest of the eight regions that were analyzed.

Here are the top 10 safest countries for COVID-19 according to DKG:

  1. Switzerland (752 points)
  2. Germany (749 points)
  3. Isreal (748 points)
  4. Singapore (744 points)
  5. Japan (738 points)
  6. Austria (726 points)
  7. China (717 points)
  8. Australia (716 points)
  9. New Zealand (715 points)
  10. South Korea (712 points)

DKG says they hope their report can help "enable responsible governments to learn from the strengths and weaknesses of their neighbours, and derive action-based answers and insights to key questions relevant for the national strategic decision-making process to optimize outcomes in the wake of the current global COVID-19 pandemic and decrease the impact of future negative aftermath."

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