By Ma. Teresa Montemayor / Philippine News Agency
A health official on Thursday (Oct. 7) said the increase of COVID-19 cases among countries due to the emergence of the Delta variant did not happen at a specific time.
“Ang Indonesia po, noong nangyari sa kanila ‘yung pagtaas ng mga kaso, I think that was sometime in July. Sa ibang bansa naman po nag-umpisa na ng Hunyo pa lang,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a televised public briefing.
“Dito po sa ating bansa, September po tayo nag-umpisa talagang nag-peak ang ating mga kaso at dito po ‘yung time period ng analysis po nitong dalawang surveys na ito,” she added.
Vergeire was reacting to Nikkei Asia’s COVID-19 recovery index latest ranking which placed the Philippines at the last spot out of 121 countries.
The index measures the country’s infection management, vaccine rollouts, and mobility.
The Department of Health has analyzed the major indicators and the processes used for the survey.
It noted the survey used a seven-day time period in September to analyze and compare the metrics across the countries.
Since infections peaked nationwide in September, Vergeire said the country is expected to fare poorly in the survey as the other countries have gone past their case surges in the earlier months.
“Pangalawa, ang bakunahan din po was affected by this increase in the number of cases here in our country. That’s why iyon pong ating measure diyan ay medyo erratic po kasi ang atin ano, not just the supplies but also the access because of this widespread infection during this outbreak that we had our case increase,” she said.
The government, she added, is managing the country’s COVID-19 situation well, as the national death average is still below the global average of deaths due to the disease and cases continue to decrease.
“But of course, at the end of the day, atin pa rin pong pinagiigting ang pagbabakuna, atin na pong shinift ang ating policy para mas makapagbukas po tayo ng ating ekonomiya,” Vergeire said. (PNA) – jlo
