The Global Recovery Index (GRI) and Global Severity Index (GSI) have ranked Thailand in 1^st place, out of 184 countries, for its success in reducing the severity of and recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Global COVID-19 Index (GCI) report published on Tuesday.

The GCI gave Thailand a score of 82.06 points, out of 100, for making the most progress in stemming the pandemic and as an example of best practices in the fight against the virus.

The other best performers include South Korea (81.09), Latvia (80.81), Malaysia (79.37), Taiwan (78.94), New Zealand (78.55) and Australia (77.18).

The GCI bases 70% of its calculation on big data and daily analysis, assessing how well the 184 countries are coping with the pandemic.

The remaining 30% is derived from the Global Health Security Index (GHS), as assessed by Johns Hopkins University in terms of the ability to screen and report the infection, ability to respond to the outbreak of the disease, the readiness of the health infrastructure to treat the infected and the ability to protect medical personnel.

Thailand was given a score of 10.70 points for having the lowest rate of infection and fatalities relative to its population.