What is the coronavirus mortality rate by country?

The new coronavirus epidemic (or koronavirus, as spelled in Finnish) is on its way to becoming a pandemic.

There is so little that is certainly known about the Covid-19 virus and one of them is the actual death rate. Although some experts speak in aggregate terms that mortality is 2%, the truth is that there are great differences among countries.

The figures grow every minute, but according to the data collected from Worldometer on Wednesday at 17:30, there is no specific pattern that describes the reason why more people die in some countries than in others.

Although there are analysts who link a higher death rate with a lower degree of economic development, the truth is that there are important exceptions to that rule. For example in the European Union, the death rates recorded so far in France (11.7%%) and in Italy (3.2%) refute that theory. 

The most affected countries

Among the countries most affected by the disease are of course China, where the first outbreak of the virus occurred, and South Korea. In China, where more than 78,000 cases have been registered so far, the death rate is 3.47%. 

In neighboring South Korea, which already records almost 1,300 cases, the death rate is 0.95%.

Another country that stands out is Iran, with more than 13% of deaths. Thailand is also an interesting case but in the opposite sense: with 40 cases diagnosed, it is the ninth country most hit by the disease, but it has not registered a single coronavirus death so far.

The situation suggests that the mortality ratio may be more related to the degree of prevention and preparation of the health system to deal with the epidemic.