Ethical consideration:
The study was approved by the competent authority and the Institutional Research Ethics Committee (OIST/IRBhu/Feb/20/02).
Total confirmed cases per million of population (TCCM) and total deaths per million of population (TDM):
We investigate the total confirmed cases (TCC) and total deaths (TD) of COVID-19 as on the WHO Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Situation Report– 161 day [17]. According to WHO the “data as received by WHO from national authorities by 10:00 CEST, 29 June 2020” [17]. The total estimated population as on July 2020 of the respective countries/territories/areas was collected from Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Dynamics of United Nations [18]. The TCCM and TDM of population were calculated by the following equations.
TCCM: [(TCC of COVID-19 of a specific country/territory/area) / (Total estimated population of the same country/territory/area)] X 1 million.
TDM: [(TD of COVID-19 of a specific country/territory/area) / (Total estimated population of the same country/territory/area)] X 1 million.
Case fatality rate (CFR) of COVID-19:
CFR measures the risk of persons dying from a certain disease within a given time period. CFR was calculated as number of deaths from a specific disease during a specific time period divided by number of cases of the disease during the same time period, usually expressed as per 100 [19].
CFR= (Number of deaths from a specific disease during a specific time period / Number of cases of the disease during the same time period) X 100.
CFR was divided into five categories on the severity of the affected countries viz. <1.01, 1.01-3.00, 3.01-6.00, 6.01-9.00 and >9.00.
Income Economies
For the current 2020 fiscal year, low-income economies, lower middle-income economies, upper middle-income economies, high-income economies were determined based on GNI per capita which was calculated using World Bank Atlas method. The criteria of GNI for the income economies of the countries were given below [20].
Low-income economies: GNI per capita≤$1,025
Lower middle-income economies: GNI per capita = $1,026 – $3,995
Upper middle-income economies: GNI per capita = $3,996 – $12,375
High-income economies: GNI per capita≥$12,376
World Happiness:
Happiness score of the countries/territories/areas was collected from the World Happiness Report, which was annually published by United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. This score was prepared using the six variables (viz. GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption) [21].
Quality of life (QoL) in a country:
All together thirty different factors were included for calculating overall index of QoL of a country/territory/area, which were divided into seven subject area or sub-sectors such as stability (deals with economic and political stability), civil rights (deals with legal system and civil rights), health and medical services (includes different factors including average life expectancy and the number of doctors and hospital beds in relation to the number of inhabitants), security (deals with the security of life such as total number of incidents, the number of people killed, wounded and abducted also the terrorism statistics), climate (deals with the geographical environment, the optimum environment assumed as maximum daily temperature of 25°C at 55% humidity and nearly 8 rainy days per month), costs (deals with costs and expenses that includes national cost of living and average annual income) and popularity (includes general migration rate and number of foreign tourists visited in that area). The best achievable value in each division or subject area or sub-sectors was 100. The contribution of these earlier mentioned seven subject areas for the calculation of overall index of QoL were 14%, 16%, 16%, 16%, 14%, 16% and 8% respectively [22].
The Global Health Security (GHS) Index
The GHS Index was the first accountable parameter that is the comprehensive assessment and benchmarking of health security and related capabilities across the 195 countries. This resembles the indexing of the International Health Regulations. The GHS Index was an important proposal of the Nuclear Threat Initiative and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. It was developed by The Economist Intelligence Unit [23].
Anxiety disorders prevalence (ADP):
According to WHO “Anxiety disorders refer to a group of mental disorders characterized by feelings of anxiety and fear, including generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder, phobias, social anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)” [24]. We followed the latest report of WHO for the prevalence of anxiety disorders [24].
Depressive disorders prevalence (DDP):
According to WHO “Depressive disorders were characterized by sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, feelings of tiredness, and poor concentration. Depression can be long lasting or recurrent, substantially impairing an individual’s ability to function at work or school or cope with daily life. Depression can lead to suicide at its most severe condition [24]. We followed the latest report of WHO for the prevalence of depressive disorders [24].
Prevalence of tobacco smoking (TSP):
The age-standardized prevalence of tobacco smoking among persons aged 15 years and older in different countries/territories/areas were given in the latest report of World health statistics developed by WHO in 2019 was used in this study [25].
Suicide mortality rate (SMR):
SMR per 100,000 (SMRL) in different countries/territories/areas were given in the latest report of World health statistics developed by WHO in 2019 was used in this study [25].
Statistical Analysis:
Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software version 16.0. Data were presented as number (percentage) or mean±SD as appropriate. ANOVA was applied to study the mean difference of QoL, prevalence of Depressive disorders, prevalence of Anxiety disorders, GHS Index on the basis of severity of CFR. Pearson’s chi square test was used to determine significant differences between the different grades of CFR and categories of income economics of the countries. Pearson product moment correlation and linear regression analysis were performed. The p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.