Thailand ranked world’s safest tourist destination amid Covid-19

BANGKOK, Aug 17, 2020, The Nation. Thailand was ranked the safest destination in the world to visit during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Jakarta Post reported.

The country topped the list because of its high International Health Regulations score of 85 per cent, moderate population density and very low number of COVID-19 cases.

Malaysia’s Malay Mail news agency recently reported that a Berlin-based travel startup, Tourlane, had carried out a study on August 10 to determine safe holiday destinations amid the outbreak. The company assembled data and analysed various metrics, including hours of sunshine per day for outdoor activities as well as the national 14-day notification rates of new COVID-19 cases published by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Also taken into account for the list were each country’s population density and its IHR score, which evaluates a country’s ability to respond to public health risks and emergencies of national and international concern.

The top-10 safest destinations across the world are: Thailand, Jordan, French Polynesia, Greece, Uruguay, Italy, Cambodia, Japan, Ireland, and Botswana.

As of Aug. 16, the total number of confirmed cases in Thailand stood at 3,377 (440 in state quarantine) — 125 are under treatment, 3,194 have recovered and been discharged, and there have been 58 deaths. There have been no domestic cases of COVID-19 for 83 days.