Australia is ranked number four in the world for its readiness to tackle a pandemic, while China is listed at 51st place in an index covering 195 countries.

One of the authors of the Global Health Security Index, US epidemiologist Dr Jennifer Nuzzo, says even though a number of countries, such as Australia, show a level of readiness for a pandemic, they are still vulnerable to COVID-19.

“I am utterly convinced that no country is fully prepared,” Dr Nuzzo, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland, told New Scientist.

Efforts to cope with the illness should focus instead on preparing communities to cope with the virus rather than trying to halt its spread, she said.