The Philippines is now second to last in a global ranking that measures the success of the world’s 53 biggest economies at containing the COVID-19 pandemic with least amount of disruption to the society and the economy.
Under the COVID Resilience Ranking published by Bloomberg, the Philippines was ranked 52nd in June with a score of 45.3, only ahead of Argentina with 37.
Indicators used in the ranking include people covered by vaccines; lockdown severity; flight capacity; vaccinated travel routes; one-month cases per 100,000; one-month fatality rate; total deaths per million; positive test rate; community mobility; 2021 GDP growth forecast; universal healthcare coverage; and human development index.
Also among the ten worst countries in the latest ranking are Malaysia with a resilience of 46.6, India with 47.7, Indonesia with 48.2, Colombia with 48.6, Pakistan with 50.7, Bangladesh with 51.3, Peru with 51.4, and Taiwan with 52.1.
“India, the Philippines, and some Latin America countries rank lowest amid a perfect storm of variant-driven outbreaks, slow vaccination, and global isolation,” Bloomberg said in its writeup.
The United States topped the list with a resilience score of 76, followed by New Zealand with 73.7, Switzerland with 72.9, Israel with 72.9, and France with 72.8.
Rounding up the top 10 are Spain with 72, Australia with 70.1, Mainland China with 69.9, the United Kingdom with 68.7, and South Korea with 68.6.
Bloomberg in the latest list introduced a new element to its COVID Resilience Ranking, Reopening Progress, which captures the easing of moving and out, and the recovery of air travel.
“This pivot has ushered in dramatic changes to the ranks. The US is now No. 1, with its fast and expansive vaccine rollout, dominated by the highly effective Messenger RNA shots, stemming what was once the world’s worst outbreak,” Bloomberg said.
Locally, the Philippines has received over 17.455 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines so far as of June 28, of which over 10 million have been administered, versus the estimated population of 109 million.