The Philippines ranked 66th out of 91 countries in terms of suppressing the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a study done by The Lancet, an international medical journal, showed.
The Philippine ranked 66th, with a “moderate” transmission for its effective reproduction rates of 1.2 last month in the Lancet study, which was published on September 14.
The country conducted 8.2 tests per case in August, with 37.5 daily infections, and 0.5 daily new deaths per million.
The study said there were 19 countries which effectively suppressed COVID-19 during the period, 10 of which were in the Asia-Pacific region.
Among these were Taiwan, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Myanmar, Malaysia, New Zealand, Uganda, Togo, Pakistan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Uruguay, South Korea, Finland, Cuba, and Rwanda.
On the other hand, Maldives ranked the lowest—91th place—in the list of the countries for its “very high” transmission of COVID-19 last month.
Ten other countries such as Panama, Colombia, Bahrain, Brazil, Israel, Argentina, United States, Kuwait, Spain, and Bolivia also had the highest daily number of new cases in August.
The Department of Health (DOH), for its part, said that it will continue to improve the country's response against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
“We always receive naman itong mga ganitong komento, there are rankings and there are these specific comments. But ang sa amin magtatatrabaho lang kami ng tuloy tuloy ,” said Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire in an online forum.
Vergeire said that the other concerned government agencies are also working to improve the country’s response against COVID-19.
“Kami ay sama-samang nagtatrabaho . We are doing a whole of nation and a whole of society approach to this response that we have for COVID-19,” she said.
“Kung ano man po ang magiging komento, tayo ay patuloy pa rin na magtatrabaho para labanan ang sakit na ito at alagaan ang buong populasyon ,” she added.
Vice President Leni Robredo, in a Facebook post, cited a part of the study to back her claim that more can be done than just wait for a vaccine.
”Pinapakita sa table na to na possible naman ma-suppress kahit wala pang vaccine (This table shows it’s possible to be suppressed even if there is no vaccine yet). If 19 countries were able to do it, there's no reason why we can’t. Kaya natin ‘to (We can do it),” she said with an emoticon of a Philippine flag.
The Lancet COVID-19 Commission, launched in July by the Lancet medical journal, publicized the table as part of its statement on the occasion of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The commission seeks to help governments, UN institutions, and civil society in responding effectively to the pandemic.