The rapid spread of the new coronavirus or COVID-19 is sparking a global alarm as more than 3,100 people have died, most of them in China, and over 90,000 have been infected by the virus so far. As nations across the world are reviewing their health emergency preparedness, Global Health Security Index released its ranking of global health security across 195 countries. Assessed on the basis of whether countries have proper tools to deal with serious disease outbreaks, it is scored on a scale of 0 to 100, where 100 is the highest level of preparation. As the world is grappling with the coronavirus outbreak, here is the index score of a few countries which are mostly, more and least prepared for epidemics. (Image: PTI)
Rank 1| Most prepared| The United States | Index score: 83.5 (Image: Reuters)
Rank 2| Most prepared| The United Kingdom | Index score: 77.9 (Image: Reuters)
Rank 3| Most prepared| The Netherlands | Index score: 75.6 (Image: Reuters)
Rank 4| Most prepared| Australia | Index score: 75.5 (Image: Reuters)
Rank 51| More prepared| China | Index score: 48.2 (Image: Reuters)
Rank 57| More prepared| India | Index score: 46.5 (Image: Reuters)
Rank 192| Least prepared| Sao Tome and Principe | Index score: 17.7 (Image: Reuters)
Rank 193| Least prepared | North Korea | Index score: 17.5 (Image: Reuters)
Rank 194| Least prepared | Somalia | Index score: 16.6 (Image: Reuters)
Rank 195| Least prepared | Equatorial Guinea | Index score: 16.2 (Image: Reuters)