Graphic:Liu Rui/GT

Bloomberg's latest COVID-19 resilience ranking, in which Norway topped the list, the US was 5th and China 9th, turns black into white, and is nothing but a laughing stock, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a press conference on Friday. 

Bloomberg released its latest ranking under the title of "The best and worst places to be as reopening, variants collide" on Wednesday. Norway replaced the US to be the new No 1 with "enough shots administered," "few new fatalities and its borders unsealed," according to Bloomberg.  

"A few days ago, Bloomberg placed the US at the top of its COVID-19 resilience ranking and I said that people around the world can take it as a joke in tea break conversation. Today, I was asked by people that with the largest number of infections and death toll, the US ranked as 5th on Bloomberg's latest ranking and what is the logic? Did Bloomberg wrongly print the ranking?" Zhao said. 

Zhao said that Bloomberg's latest ranking was made based on "COVID containment, quality of healthcare, vaccination coverage, overall mortality and - as of last month - progress toward restarting travel and easing border curbs." But given its performance on COVID-19 containment and overall mortality, the US should not be placed in the top five.

However, Bloomberg said that compared with the previous peak of infections, the US has seen less death and its social and commercial activities had been restored. Therefore it appropriately ranked in the top five. 

"The contradiction in the logic can be seen by elementary school students. Its ability to turn black into white and to patch up lies are amazing. We don't need to waste more time on the ranking. Just talk it after tea for laughing," Zhao said. 

Previously, Bloomberg put the US at the top in its COVID-19 resilience ranking under the title "The best and worst places to be as the world finally reopens" while China was eighth, a move that has been criticized and ridiculed by the international community. 

Data from worldometers.info shows as of Friday, there have been 35.5 million COVID-19 cases and over 628,000 deaths in the US, the largest number of deaths globally. 

"The intention of the ranking is evident to all that it is to serve political gains," Zeng Guang, a former chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Global Times. 

Global Times