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FILE PHOTO: A healthcare worker performs a swab test on a vendor at Pritil’s public market amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Tondo, Manila, Philippines, on October 8, 2020. REUTERS / Eloisa Lopez
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines was ranked 79th out of 98 countries rated for its performance in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, a study by an Australian think tank showed.
According to the Lowy Institute’s COVID Performance Index released Thursday, the Philippines finished with an average score of 30.6, just behind Spain, which scored 31.2, and Italy, which ranked 59th with a score of 40.4, two of the most affected. European countries.
By comparison, the top-performing countries, New Zealand, Vietnam, and Taiwan, scored 94.4, 90.8, and 86.4, respectively.
The Lowy Institute said the scores were based on how countries handled the life-altering pandemic, racking up figures that include confirmed cases, deaths, cases and deaths per million, confirmed cases in proportion to testing, and testing by the thousands, which they entered 36 weeks before January 9.
“A lower number of reported cases and deaths, both in aggregate and per capita terms, point to a better response to the virus. More tests performed on a per capita basis reveal a more accurate picture of the scope of the pandemic at the national level. Meanwhile, lower rates of positive tests indicate a greater degree of control over COVID-19 transmission, ”said Lowy Institute.
“The coronavirus continues to spread around the world with more than 90 million confirmed cases in 190 countries and two million deaths in mid-January 2021. For nearly a year, governments and societies have turned inward to fight an invisible enemy, exposing competitive structures, vulnerabilities, and political priorities, ”the institute said.
“These indicators were then averaged for individual countries in each period and normalized to produce a score from 0 (worst performance) to 100 (best performance). Together, these indicators point to how well or poorly countries have handled the pandemic in the 36 weeks after their 100th confirmed case of COVID-19, “he added.
Within the Southeast Asia region, the Philippines only surpassed Indonesia, which ranked 85th, with a score of 24.7. However, the country was below Myanmar (24th, 62.3), Malaysia (16th, 71.0), Singapore (13th, 74.9), Thailand (4th, 84.2) and Vietnam (2nd, 90 , 8).
When measuring the effectiveness of the countries’ management of the COVID-19 pandemic, several criteria were relevant indicators.
“A lower number of reported cases and deaths, both in aggregate and per capita terms, point to a better response to the virus. More tests performed on a per capita basis reveal a more accurate picture of the scope of the pandemic at the national level. Meanwhile, lower positive test rates indicate a greater degree of control over COVID-19 transmission, ”said Lowy Institute.
Together, these indicators point to how well or badly countries have handled the pandemic. An average of the rankings on the six indicators for each country was normalized to produce a score between 0 (worst performance) and 100 (best performance) on any given day in the 36 weeks following their 100th confirmed case of COVID-19. ” added.
Earlier, the Philippine Statistics Authority announced that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted, declining by a negative 9.5 percent on an annual basis. This was the worst figure recorded since 1946, or after the end of World War II.
The contraction is attributed to the strict lockdown measures put in place to prevent new transfers, though it left businesses paralyzed and workers, especially those who depend on daily earnings, without a solid source of income.
The Health Department also said in its daily update Thursday that the country now has a total of 518,407 confirmed COVID-19 cases, of which 32,384 are patients with active cases, while 475,542 have recovered and 10,481 have died.
This is not the first time the Philippines has finished in the bottom half of countries surveyed and ranked according to their response to the pandemic. In September 2020, The Lancet, an international medical journal, said the Philippines ranks 66 out of 91 countries in terms of how well governments responded to the health crisis.
Lowy Institute clarified that they are a “non-partisan group of international policy experts”, aiming to provide an explanation for various global trends such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
EDV
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