IRELAND HAS BEEN named the best country to be in for how it dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic and the rise of the Delta variant, according to the Bloomberg Covid resilience ranking.

The State peaked at the top of the monthly report after climbing three places from August, unseating Norway from the top spot. 

Bloomberg’s Covid resilience ranking is a “monthly snapshot” of where the virus is being handled the most effectively with the least social and economic upheaval

Taking in the 53 biggest economies in the world, it is calculated using 12 data indicators that span virus containment, the quality of healthcare, vaccination coverage, overall mortality and progress toward restarting travel and easing border curbs

The news agency praised Ireland’s “startling turnaround” from the beginning of the year, when it had experienced the worst outbreak in the world. 

“Even as the peak summer travel season unfolded alongside delta’s spread, Ireland and places like Spain, the Netherlands and Finland held down serious illness and deaths through pioneering moves to largely limit quarantine-free entry to immunized people,” the report said.

“Bestowing more domestic freedoms on the inoculated helped boost vaccination levels to some of the highest in the world—over 90% of Ireland’s adult population has received two shots—while allowing social activity to resume safely.”

Taoiseach Micheál Martin responded to the report by tweeting that the result was down to the hard work of the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Irish people. 

Ireland ranked the most resilient country in the world in dealing with the #COVID19 pandemic.

Testament to the hard work of the HSE and the Irish people.

Bloomberg’s latest Covid Resilience Ranking. https://t.co/HbfKrMvIxP via @bbgvisualdata

— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) September 28, 2021

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly also thanked the Irish public on Twitter for complying with Covid restrictions and for coming forward to receive a vaccine.

“As we move into the autumn and continue to open-up society, that same resilience shown will keep us safe and on the path to recovery,” he said. 

HSE chief Paul Reid praised the nation’s response to the pandemic during what have been “really tough times for everyone”. 

The top five ranked countries in the report are Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Finland and Denmark.

Southeast Asian economies continue to fare the worst in the ranking, with Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines in the bottom five positions.

The report also mentioned how the Asia-Pacific region, the former “gold standard” for virus containmen had faltered in the era of vaccination.

“Not only are their strict measures less effective in the face of delta, former top rankers in the region are also grappling with how to reopen after such a long period of isolationist border curbs,” it said. 

Today, public health officials confirmed a further 1,499 cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.

As of 8am today, 300 Covid-19 patients are in hospital with the virus, of whom 63 are in ICU.