Philippines ranks last among 121 nations in Nikkei Asia’s September COVID-19 recovery report

The Philippines dipped to last place in Nikkei Asia's latest COVID-19 Recovery Index, which evaluates more than 120 countries worldwide on infection management, vaccine rollouts and social mobility.

In a report on Wednesday, the Tokyo-based news magazine said that as of September 30, the Philippines was at the bottom of its index—in 121st place with a score of 30.5. The country's previous rankings on the index were 108th in July and 106th in August.

According to Nikkei Asia's article, the member states of Association of Southeast Asian Nations were among the lowest ranked. But some improved their placing due to their vaccination efforts and a decrease in COVID-19 cases: Malaysia's ranking increased from 115th to 102nd and Indonesia went up from 92nd to 54th.

The site noted that while new cases have dropped below 10,000 in recent days in the Philippines, the country still has a low vaccination rate and limited mobility.

Less than 30% of the Philippines' population are also fully inoculated, Nikkei Asia also indicated. At least 24.5 million Filipinos have been vaccinated against COVID-19 so far, according to government figures. 

The index measures the following factors, with each subcategory worth 10 points for a total of 90:

• Infection management:
  • Confirmed cases of COVID-19 versus peak case count;
  • Confirmed cases per capita;
  • Tests per case.
• Vaccine rollouts:
  • Total vaccine doses given per capita;
  • New vaccine doses given per capita;
  • Share of people who have been fully vaccinated.
• Mobility:
  • Community mobility;
  • Oxford stringency index;
  • Flight activities.

The Philippines' 30.5 ranking includes a dismal 1 point for "tests per case"; 2 points for "confirmed cases per capita"; and 3 points for policy stringency on mobility.

The ranking comes after the Philippines also took last place in Bloomberg's COVID-19 resilience rankings for September, with the international site calling the country the "worst place to be in" during the pandemic.

The government has defended the Philippines' last place in the earlier report, with presidential spokesperson Harry Roque saying that Bloomberg had studied "only" 53 countries.

Nikkei Asia sourced its figures from Our World in Data; Google COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports; Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker by Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford; and Cirium, an aviation data and analytics company. — BM, GMA News