When looking at the countries across the globe that have been worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, we tend to focus on the number of confirmed cases in a country. While using this unit of measurement provides a good indication of the severity of a country’s crisis, it does not paint a complete picture.

If we look at the fatality rate for example, the number of fatalities divided by the total number of confirmed cases, a list different from the ‘usual COVID-19 hotspots’ can be seen. 

Although the fatality rate of some of these countries is skewed by the low number of total confirmed cases, it is a good reminder that multiple ways exist to measure the impact of the coronavirus on countries across the globe.