The country’s response against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has already “improved,” the Department of Health (DOH) said---- despite the Philippines' poor ranking in the COVID resilience report made by international news service Bloomberg.
“Sa ngayon kapag tinignan po natin, nakapag- improve naman na po tayo (So far, when we look at it, we have already improved). If you can see, our vaccination coverage has tremendously improved from the time that we started,” said DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Wednesday, Sept. 29.
“All countries in the world are experiencing this cycle kung saan tataas, bababa ang mga kaso, magkakaroon ng breakthrough infections, magkakaroon ng (where there will be an increase then a decrease in cases, there will be breakthrough infections, there will be a) peak in cases, then later on going down,” she added.
The DOH official also emphasized that the government has shifted its strategy from implementing strict community quarantine measures to the imposition of granular lockdowns “so that eventually, we can safely open up our economy.”
The Philippines ranked last among 53 countries in Bloomberg's COVID Resilience Ranking report released last Sept. 28.
Bloomberg said that the ranking is based on different indicators such as virus containment, quality of healthcare, vaccination coverage, overall mortality, progress on restarting travel and easing border curbs, among others.
Despite this dismal ranking, the DOH said it is open to such analysis or studies.
“Bukas po tayo lagi sa mga ganitong mga klaseng (We are always open to these kinds of) surveys or studies and analysis. Actually, this kind of analysis gives us more direction on how we do our response,” said Vergeire.
“We are trying to learn day by day because the situation is really evolving,” she added.