PH still at bottom of COVID-19 economic resilience ranking
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is still ranked last among 53 countries in the latest international COVID-19 report that measures the resilience of economies to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is the second consecutive month the Philippines has ranked the lowest in Bloomberg’s COVID Resilience Ranking with a score of 40.5 — though slightly higher than the 40.2 it got in September.
The indicators used in the report include vaccination coverage, virus containment, the severity of lockdowns, quality of healthcare, progress toward restarting travel, and the overall mortality throughout the pandemic.
The report revealed that Southeast Asian countries remain at the low end of the list — with Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines landing in the bottom six.
“While the region’s outbreak may have peaked and vaccination has progressed, especially in Malaysia, many of these export-reliant economies are still reeling from delta’s hit,” the report said.
“That’s spurring these nations to chart clearer paths to reopening, though it’ll take time for them to catch up to Europe and the US,” it added.
The report also showed that the Philippines had one of the lowest scores in vaccine coverage, with just 26 percent of the population covered, the lowest among Southeast Asian countries in the list.
Meanwhile, at the top of the list is Ireland, Spain, United Arab Emirates, Denmark, and Finland.
The United States ranks 26th, and China ranks 28th.
Singapore dropped 20 places to the 39th spot amid the reimposition and extension of some domestic curbs after record daily cases and deaths.
As of Oct. 27, the Philippines has 2,768,849 confirmed COVID-19 infections, including 2,676,349 recoveries and 42,348 deaths.
Earlier this month, the Philippines was also listed last among 151 countries worldwide in Nikkei Asia’s COVID-19 Recovery Index on Oct. 6.
By Zacarian Sarao