The Perplexing New World Order of Severe COVID-19 Infection

Abstract

We derived the global distribution of vulnerable populations based on the prevalent risk factors for severe
coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by using the Global Burden of Disease database. Three groups of
countries were identified among 195 countries as those with low risk, moderate risk, or high risk for a
severe COVID-19 infection. Countries with some of the best healthcare systems will most likely face the
highest brunt of COVID-19 infection due to the largest proportions of people at risk for severe disease. A
new perspective of the disease burden expected in the world can be perceived by using this methodology.