Philippines Worst Place To Be For COVID - Bloomberg

The Philippines once again ranks the worst place to be according to Bloomberg’s COVID Resilience Ranking. Tighter movement restrictions brought about by a spike in cases of the Omicron variant factored into this drop. The country was stuck in the same spot, 53 out of 53 total countries, from September to November last year. It improved its standing in December. High COVID positivity rates brought on by the Omicron variant placed the Philippines back at the bottom for the fourth time in five months.

Omicron overtakes Delta

Things looked like they were improving in the Philippines in December as vaccination rates were improving. At that point, the dominant strain in the country was still the Delta variant. Many businesses that had been closed for months began to open up. On the other hand, schools were floating the idea of resuming face-to-face classes.

January brought in new challenges as the highly contagious Omicron variant spread quickly. Those previously mentioned businesses were disrupted while hospitals filled up anew. The Philippines topped Southeast Asia in daily cases. Numbers reached an all-time single-day high with 39,004 recorded cases on January 15.

COVID Resilience Ranking

Bloomberg’s COVID Resilience Ranking captures how effectively the world’s biggest 53 economies are responding to the pandemic on a monthly basis. In November, the Philippines and Indonesia were among the 11 of 53 countries that had administered less than 100 vaccine shots per 100 people. Bloomberg described this as a “key barrier to improving their scores.”

Virus containment, quality of healthcare, vaccination coverage, overall mortality, and progress toward reopening borders to tourists are some of the indicators Bloomberg uses to assess countries. The privately held financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in Manhattan, New York has been releasing these rankings for a little over a year.

Bloomberg said that developing nations, including the Philippines, are struggling to administer COVID-19 vaccines due to logistical issues. The United Arab Emirates topped Bloomberg’s COVID-19 Resilience Ranking. Saudi Arabia, Finland, Turkey, and Singapore round out the top five.

COVID Philippine government response

Authorities tightened restrictions in Metro Manila and other provinces in recent weeks as the hyper-contagious Omicron variant drove a record surge in COVID-19 cases. Metro Manila itself was placed under Alert Level 3. A few provinces were placed under the stricter Alert Level 4. Omicron cases have reached a total of 1,153 in the country. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Monday that infections in the NCR and surrounding areas were decreasing. Other provinces in Luzon were supposedly showing signs of plateauing.

Since March 2021, only 58.1 million people have completed vaccination against COVID-19, while 60 million have received partial protection. More than 6.8 million individuals have received booster shots, still a paltry sum. The Philippines has recorded more than 3.4 million cases since the start of the pandemic. There have been more than 53,000 deaths.

Joining the Philippines at the bottom of the COVID-19 Resilience Ranking are Argentina at 49th and Russia at 50th place. Romania is ranked 51st, while Southeast Asian neighbor Vietnam is just one spot on top of the Philippines at number 52.

Key takeaways

The Philippines returned to the bottom of Bloomberg’s COVID-19 Resilience Ranking after one month out of that spot. These rankings reflect the best and worst places to live during the pandemic. Bloomberg has been releasing these rankings based on factors such as virus containment, quality of healthcare, vaccination coverage, overall mortality, and progress toward reopening borders to tourists.

The spike in Omicron cases contributed to the low ranking of the country. The government’s response to the spike was another factor.

The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Finland are at the top of the rankings as the best places to be while the pandemic is ongoing.

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