Metro Manila skyline by night (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / JILSON SECKLER TIU)
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines remains listed as the worst place to be in during the COVID-19 pandemic in the latest international report that measures the resilience of economies to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the November report of Bloomberg’s COVID Resilience Ranking dubbed “The Best and Worst Places to Be as Winter Meets Omicron,” the Philippines was placed at the bottom of a list of 53 countries.
This is the third consecutive month it ranked the lowest with a resilience score of 43.1 — though it’s still a bit higher than its score of 40.5 last October.
READ: PH still at bottom of COVID-19 economic resilience ranking
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.
Southeast Asian nations continue to fill the bottom of the list with Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines landing in the bottom four.
“The lowest two places on the Ranking have given out less than 100 Covid shots per 100 people, a key barrier to improving their scores,” said Bloomberg in the report.
Bloomberg showed that the Philippines has only given out 73.2 doses per 100 people, while Indonesia gave 87.3.
“The perverse consequences of global vaccine inequality has only been underscored by omicron’s emergence, something that scientists and the World Health Organization warned would happen — and will keep happening — until the developing world is able to more efficiently access and administer shots,” it added.
However, due to a recent surge in cases, the biggest drops were recorded in European nations with Austria dropping 31 points to 48th place and Poland plummeting to 49th.
Other notable drops in European countries include Switzerland, dropping 16 spots at 25; the Netherlands at 30, 20 spots below last month; and Germany and the Czech Republic now at 32 and 46 after dropping 19 and 26 spots, respectively.
Meanwhile, at the top of the list is the United Arab Emirates, Chile, Finland, Ireland, and Spain.
Bloomberg noted that the UAE “has basically normalized back to pre-pandemic life.”
This report came amid the emergence of the new Omicron variant, with the WHO itself immediately warning that it will likely spread internationally, posing a “vert high global risk.”
READ: Omicron poses ‘very high’ global risk, countries must prepare–WHO
Bloomberg noted that its arrival will test how effective each country is in responding to the pandemic, which it will closely monitor in the December rankings.
“Will Omicron turn the clock back on the pandemic, or does the advent of Covid pills and booster shots light a permanent exit path?” Bloomberg said.
In the past few days, the Philippines has recorded fewer cases, with Nov. 30 marking its lowest daily count since July 2, 2020. It is also the seventh consecutive week the country recorded cases fewer than 1,000.
READ: PH logs 425 new COVID-19 cases amid low testing; active infections now below 16k-mark
But local health experts have already warned about the dangers of the new Omicron variant, warning the public to get ready.
READ: Omicron variant entry to PH only ‘a matter of when,’ says Duque
The national government is also conducting a vaccination campaign nationwide that started on Nov. 29 and will run until Dec. 1. It aims to inoculate nine million people.
In preparation for the Omicron variant, border controls have been strengthened in some countries with confirmed cases of the variant, except in Hong Kong and Australia where there is a large concentration of Filipinos.
READ: IATF tightens border control, suspends entry of fully vaxxed travelers from ‘green’ countries
INQUIRER.net has already contacted Malacañang for comment on the latest rankings but has not received a reply as of this writing.
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