The response to the COVID-19 pandemic has varied wildly across the world. While some nations have handled the crisis with aplomb and largely escaped the ravages of the disease, others have bungled their management of the virus and been hit hard. Starting with the best, click or scroll through to see how 31 major countries have fared, including the UK, US, Canada and Australia, based on the Lowy Institute's COVID Performance Index, which uses six indicators, from confirmed cases and deaths to tests per 1,000 people, to rank the pandemic response of 98 nations.

Coronavirus case and death numbers provided by Johns Hopkins University, and are accurate as of 5 February. China was not ranked by the Lowy Institute due to lack of accurate testing data.