Among 53 countries, PH falls at bottom in COVID-19 resilience report

FILE PHOTO: A health worker prepares a dose of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine against the coronavirus disease. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun/File Photo

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has ranked last among 53 countries in a study that measures economies’ resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a Bloomberg’s COVID Resilience Ranking report published Tuesday, the Philippines is at the bottom of the list with a score of 40.2.

This is one rank lower in the previous report published in June 2021 where the Philippines ranked 52 out of 53 countries.

Other Southeast Asian countries joined the Philippines at the bottom of the list — Indonesia with a score of 52.4, Thailand with 47.6, Malaysia with 44.1, and Vietnam with 43.7.

“Southeast Asian economies continue to populate the Ranking’s bottom rungs in September, with Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines the last five. While the region’s outbreak may have peaked, their export-reliant economies are still struggling from the hit,” Bloomberg said.

Indicators used in the report include vaccination coverage, severity of lockdowns and restrictions, progress on restarting travel and easing border curbs, case fatality rate, and the overall mortality throughout the pandemic.

European countries topped the list with Ireland getting a resilience score of 79.4, Spain with 78.2, Netherlands with 76.4, Finland with 76.1, and Denmark with 75.3.

The report noted lessons that can be learned from the COVID-19 situation.

“A constant of the consistently high-ranked economies has been a widespread degree of government trust and societal compliance,” Bloomberg said.

It also stressed the importance of investment in public health infrastructure.

“Undervalued in many places before 2020, systems for contact tracing, effective testing and health education bolstered the countries that have performed consistently well in the Ranking, helping socialize hand-washing and the wearing of face masks. This was key to avoiding economically crippling lockdowns in the first year, before vaccines were available,” it said.

INQUIRER.net tried to get Malacañang and the Department of Health’s comments on the matter, but has yet to receive a response as of posting time.

The Philippines has so far recorded a total of 2,522,965 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic hit the country in 2020. Of this figure, 132,139 remain to be active cases.

In terms of vaccination, the country already fully vaccinated more than 20 million persons against COVID-19.

JPV