We will use Worldometer data and, with some of its indicators and others that we have built, make a comparison between Portugal and Europe, in the fight against Covid-19. Trying to better understand the differences in the fight against Covid 19 in Portugal and in European countries, is the objective.
Thus, we present the pandemic situation comparing several European countries, at the present time, 23 November 2020.
Index
- The indicators for the Portugal Europe comparison
- Tests per million inhabitants
- Positive cases per million inhabitants
- Recovered and Assets
- Number of positive cases per thousand tests
- Critical per million inhabitants and for every thousand positive cases
- Deaths per million inhabitants and for every hundred positive cases
- Comparison with the strategy to combat Covid-19 in Sweden
- Combating Finland's Covid-19
Previously, in the first pandemic wave, we had compared the evolution between two dates. Now we are going to compare the current situation, in full second wave, between the same countries that we had chosen.
The indicators for the Portugal Europe comparison
Although each country has its own structures to fight Covid-19, its strengths and weaknesses, we think that we can only compare indicators that are not absolute values.
For example, the number of tests performed can be very high in Poland, with 5.971.590 compared to Portugal, which has 4.067.735. However, the population in Poland is much higher than in Portugal and, therefore, the testing strategy that could be thought to be higher in Poland, in fact is not.
In the fight against Covid 19 in Portugal, as will be seen, the number of tests performed per million inhabitants is much higher than in Poland.
So let's look at the indicators.
Tests per million inhabitants
With 399.390 tests per million inhabitants, Portugal ranks 6th, among the countries with the most tests, after Spain, Belgium, United Kingdom, Denmark and Luxembourg.
Luxembourg, with about 630 thousand inhabitants, did 2 million and 65 thousand tests!
Poland has 157.853 tests per million inhabitants, 39,5% less than what Portugal did.
Positive cases per million inhabitants
With the mentioned testing capacity, let's see what happens in Portugal in relation to the active cases detected per million inhabitants.
Portugal, presents 26.000 positive cases per million, in 11th place. The UK with the most tests per million inhabitants, 591.914, has only 22.227 positive cases per million inhabitants.
Finland leads this list, with 328.061 tests per million inhabitants and only presents 3.957 positive cases per million.
Recovered and Assets
Regarding statistics on recovered and still active cases, we will not make comparisons given that Sweden, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Spain do not present these indicators.
Number of positive cases per thousand tests
Another indicator that we can analyze for this comparison Portugal Europe, is the number of positive cases that are detected for every thousand tests performed.
Portugal needs to do 1000 tests to detect 65,1 cases, placing us in 9th place. Denmark, 1st on this list, detects 10,4 positives for every thousand tests, a very well controlled situation.
Among others, they are better than Portugal, the UK and Germany and worse than Italy, Sweden, Spain, Austria, Belgium and France.
Critical per million inhabitants and for every thousand positive cases
The greater the spread of the virus, the greater the likelihood that critically ill patients will appear. Let's look at the results of the strategies to combat Covid-19, with the analysis of critical situations.
Per million inhabitants Portugal has 49 critical positive cases, placing us in 9th place.
In addition, for every 1000 positive cases, 1,9 become critical, the 10th country in this ranking.
In this indicator, critics for 1000 positive cases, Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Spain and Italy are worse off than Portugal.
Ireland, Denmark and Finland lead the ranking.
Deaths per million inhabitants and for every hundred positive cases
In the fight against Covid 19 in Portugal, 390 deaths per million inhabitants are placed in 8th place and, with 1,5 deaths for every 100 positive cases, Portugal is in 6th position.
Luxembourg and Norway with 0,9 deaths per 100 positives lead the ranking and Austria, Denmark and Switzerland with an index below the Portuguese.
Germany with 1,5, Poland with 1,6 and Finland with 1,8 follow us in the ranking.
Sweden, United Kingdom, Italy in the last places of the ranking, with more than 3 deaths per 100 positive cases.
Comparison with the strategy to combat Covid-19 in Sweden
Sweden has almost the same population as Portugal.
A completely different strategy was followed, guided by an epidemiologist who did not adhere to the idea of confinement or protection.
The Swedish Public Health Agency epidemiologist strategist Anders Tegnell, although recognizing in May that they could have done better, thought that in this second wave he would have “a high level of immunity and the number of cases would probably be lower".
On August 3, the number of cases per million was 8.017 and the number of tests per million was 80.194, 58% (5.059) more and 90% (159.208) less than Portugal, respectively.
As of the date of this article, Sweden has 20.574 cases per million and has performed 287.835 tests per million. Portugal, with 26.000 and 399.390 respectively. We have more cases per million (26%) but we also do more tests per million (39%).
Sweden on 3 August had a death rate for every 7 cases of 3,1% and is now 3%. Comparatively, Portugal had 3% on 1,5 August and now the ratio is XNUMX%.
As for the number of positive cases per 1000 tests, Sweden went from 100 on 3 August and now has 71,5 cases discovered per 1000 tests. Portugal had 31,8, on the same date, and now has 65,1 positive cases / 1000 tests.
It does not seem that this Swedish result is indicative of a good result in the fight against Covid-19.
Combating Finland's Covid-19
As Ricardo Costa says in the Jornal Expresso of 20 November 2020, “history and neighbors are not chosen” and the independence of Russia, won with blood, sweat and tears in 1917, leads the population to have a great confidence in the leaders . A factor that may have made a difference, as Ricardo Costa says in the same article, may have been the App, similar to ours, which helped to track cases, as well as the human resources allocated to this operation.
Finland only does not place in the top places, in the number of deaths for every 100 positive cases, 1,8 and in 9th place in the ranking, slightly higher than Portugal which has 1,5 and therefore in 6th in the ranking.
Each country is different in the way it behaves socially and this makes it difficult to find fully effective strategies to combat Covid-19.
In the form of an interactive table, we present the coronavirus data in Europe with the indicators we have built.
You can sort the information, by any of the columns, to get a better view of the position of each country in relation to its pandemic situation.
| Countries | Nr Cases | Nr Deaths | Criticism | Tests | Population | Cases / 1M | Critics / 1M | Test / 1M | Deaths / 1M | Cases / 1000 Tests | Deaths / 100 Cases | Critics / 1000 Cases |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finland | 21 936 | 384 | 15 | 1 818 817 | 5 544 136 | 3 957 | 3 | 328 061 | 69 | 12,1 | 1,8% | 0,7 |
| Luxembourg | 31 111 | 273 | 47 | 1 300 901 | 629 960 | 49 386 | 75 | 2 065 053 | 433 | 23,9 | 0,9% | 1,5 |
| Norway | 32 942 | 311 | 35 | 2 164 720 | 5 437 963 | 6 058 | 6 | 398 076 | 57 | 15,2 | 0,9% | 1,1 |
| Ireland | 70 461 | 2 023 | 33 | 1 869 645 | 4 959 469 | 14 207 | 7 | 376 985 | 408 | 37,7 | 2,9% | 0,5 |
| Denmark | 71 654 | 789 | 41 | 6 894 484 | 5 800 283 | 12 354 | 7 | 1 188 646 | 136 | 10,4 | 1,1% | 0,6 |
| Greece | 91 619 | 1 630 | 540 | 2 235 923 | 10 402 724 | 8 807 | 52 | 214 936 | 157 | 41,0 | 1,8% | 5,9 |
| Sweden | 208 295 | 6 406 | 182 | 2 914 088 | 10 124 145 | 20 574 | 18 | 287 835 | 633 | 71,5 | 3,1% | 0,9 |
| Austria | 250 333 | 2 459 | 685 | 2 901 857 | 9 026 712 | 27 732 | 76 | 321 474 | 272 | 86,3 | 1,0% | 2,7 |
| Portugal | 264 802 | 3 971 | 498 | 4 067 735 | 10 184 858 | 26 000 | 49 | 399 390 | 390 | 65,1 | 1,5% | 1,9 |
| Switzerland | 300 352 | 4 124 | 526 | 2 572 156 | 8 679 601 | 34 604 | 61 | 296 345 | 475 | 116,8 | 1,4% | 1,8 |
| The Netherlands | 489 818 | 8 945 | 555 | 3 893 908 | 17 149 911 | 28 561 | 32 | 227 051 | 522 | 125,8 | 1,8% | 1,1 |
| Belgium | 558 779 | 15 618 | 1 194 | 5 687 407 | 11 609 588 | 48 131 | 103 | 489 889 | 1 345 | 98,2 | 2,8% | 2,1 |
| Poland | 876 333 | 13 774 | 2 149 | 5 971 590 | 37 830 117 | 23 165 | 57 | 157 853 | 364 | 146,8 | 1,6% | 2,5 |
| Germany | 938 626 | 14 406 | 3 709 | 26 456 866 | 83 890 107 | 11 189 | 44 | 315 375 | 172 | 35,5 | 1,5% | 4,0 |
| Italy | 1 431 795 | 50 453 | 3 810 | 20 537 521 | 60 426 437 | 23 695 | 63 | 339 876 | 835 | 69,7 | 3,5% | 2,7 |
| United Kingdom | 1 512 045 | 55 024 | 1 421 | 40 266 183 | 68 027 042 | 22 227 | 21 | 591 914 | 809 | 37,6 | 3,6% | 0,9 |
| Spain | 1 589 219 | 42 619 | 3 054 | 20 742 051 | 46 761 974 | 33 985 | 65 | 443 567 | 911 | 76,6 | 2,7% | 1,9 |
| France | 2 140 208 | 48 732 | 4 582 | 19 898 736 | 63 330 803 | 33 794 | 72 | 314 203 | 769 | 107,6 | 2,3% | 2,1 |
We hope it is useful and easy to read.
To all, the desire for health, serenity and confidence in these days we live.
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