Background: The spread of the novel COVID-19 virus has raised many questions on the performance of the national and global healthcare systems. Methods In this paper, we present the results of a study on how the decision-making speed at the national and city levels on dealing with the spread of the Corona virus has impacted the rate of mortality by means of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Bubble chart. Results We considered variables such as the level of infrastructures in health, Information Technology, and human development in China and 5 other countries as all these factors could affect the rate of mortality in those countries as well. For each country, the data has been collected and analyzed starting with the time when the first patient was detected as a positive case up to three weeks later. For the time of decision-making, the data which could be used to illustrate the delay or promptitude of decisions included date of first death, date of quarantine, and the date of aviation suspension. Conclusion Our findings support the hypothesis that the timing of a government’s decision, either proactive or preemptive, along with its level of sophistication in urban and social infrastructures, can impact the mortality rate of contagious diseases such as COVID-19.
A study on the speed of governments’ healthcare response to COVID-19;cases: China, Hong Kong, Korea, Italy, the US, and Iran