Pakistan placed among top 3 countries for handling COVID-19

Taking to Twitter, PM ImranKhan shared a screenshot of the index and tweeted: "Congratulations to NCOC members, Ehsaas team & State Bank of Pakistan for effective response to Covid-19 pandemic; and above all thanks to the mercy of Almighty Allah."

کوروناء (COVID-19) جیسی عالمی وباء سے نمٹنے کی مؤثر حکمت عملی پر میں این سی او سی اراکین، احساس ٹیم اور سٹیٹ بنک آف پاکستان کو مبارکباد پیش کرتا ہوں اور سب سے بڑھ کر قادرِ مطلق اللہ کی رحمت و احسان کا شکرگزار ہوں۔pic.twitter.com/C8vQP4D9ku

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) July 7, 2021

According to the index, the top-ranked country is Hong Kong, with a score of 96.3, followed by New Zealand with a score of 87.8 following Pakistan with a score of 84.4 and is ranked third.

Among other countries, China is ranked 19th with a score of 72.9 and India — which has been struggling in face of the pandemic after a disastrous outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant — is ranked 48 with a score of 46.5.

South Korea and Colombia are at the bottom, each having an overall score of zero.

The Economist's normalcy index tracks the progress of 50 countries' return to pre-pandemic life based on eight indicators classified into three categories.

Each country is scored out of 100 — the benchmark score for the pre-pandemic level of activity — on the index while the tracker is updated every week.