The GCI Recovery Index now applies derived Active Cases formula for Netherlands and United Kingdom

We are pleased to update that we have included a method to derive the Active Cases and by extension Recoveries for both Netherlands and United Kingdom. Both these datasets currently are not recorded by Johns Hopkins University and many other data aggregators.

For the Netherlands, the information that has been used as a proxy for Active Cases is the “Estimated Number of Infectious People in Netherlands” (Geschat aantal besmettelijke mensen in Nederland) which is published by the Government of the Netherlands on their COVID19 dashboard. This data will be manually updated in our database as and when it becomes available. By virtue of its inclusion, the GCI will also now derive the estimated recoveries nett from confirmed cases and COVID19 deaths.

For the United Kingdom, we have recognised that the UK Government keeps regular track of the number of individuals currently still hospitalised due to COVID19. We have also made reference to the World Health Organisation Report (Report of the WHO-China Joint Mission on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)) dated February 2020, which indicates that “…the median time from onset to clinical recovery for mild cases is approximately 2 weeks and is 3-6 weeks for patients with severe or critical disease.” For the purpose of the GCI recovery index calculations, we have taken the sum of 3 weeks of new cases and the latest reported total of hospitalised COVID19 patients (the latter as a representative of severe cases).

This new calculation method will be applied from 27th July onwards to the GCI Recovery Index scores but will not be retrospectively updated.

We hope that with this methodology update, the data for both the Netherlands and United Kingdom will better represent the efforts the respective Governments are currently undertaking in their efforts to battle this pandemic.

Sources:
• Netherlands Data: https://coronadashboard.rijksoverheid.nl/
• United Kingdom Data: https://coronavirus-staging.data.gov.uk/healthcare
• WHO Report: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-china-joint-mission-on-covid-19-final-report.pdf