COVID updates: National Cabinet agrees to include vaccine status in registration applications

Analysis shows Australia has second lowest cumulative COVID death rate among OECD countries

Report by Stéphanie Dalzell

Federal government analysis shows Australia has the second-lowest cumulative death rate from COVID-19 compared to other developed countries.

The data covered the 38 OECD countries.

It shows that Australia recorded just 0.75 deaths per 100,000 people between January and the first half of September this year.

In contrast, the United States recorded 93.15 deaths per 100,000 population, while the United Kingdom had almost 90 per 100,000.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said those countries along with Sweden, Italy and Greece had between 50 and 90 times Australia’s per capita loss in 2021.

“Like I said, every life matters, but the fact that we have achieved this result through borders, testing, tracing, distancing and vaccination is just a tribute to all of our professionals in health and the nation as a whole, ”he said.

“To put it in a comparative perspective, Canada, Switzerland, Israel, very good countries that have done absolutely everything they can, they’ve had between 25 and 50 times Australia’s per capita loss.

“So we have not been spared the pain and sorrow, but we have been fortunately spared, through our collective actions as a nation, from the degree and nature and magnitude of the losses in 2021 as well. that’s what we all know about the differences in 2020. So I think that’s an important point of view. “