COVID-19: How to make between-country comparisons.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Different countries have adopted different containment and testing strategies for SARS-CoV-2. The difference in testing makes it difficult to compare the effect of different containment strategies. This study proposes methods to allow a direct comparison and presents the results.

Design

Publicly available data on the numbers of reported COVID-19-related deaths between 01 January and 17 April 2020 were compared between countries.

Results

The numbers of cases or deaths per 100,000 inhabitants gave severely biased comparisons between countries. Only the number of deaths expressed as a percentage of the number of deaths on day 25 after the first reported COVID-19-related death allowed a direct comparison between countries. From this comparison clear differences

SUBMITTER: Middelburg RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7250090 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature