Galvez defends pandemic response after Philippines ranked last in Nikkei report

National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. on Friday said the Nikkei COVID-19 Recovery Index does not reflect the actual pandemic recovery of the country.

Based on the report, Philippines ranked last among 121 countries.

In a statement, Galvez said the index should have taken into consideration the varying pandemic experiences of each country.

“The data used by Nikkei only covered the month of September wherein the Philippines was at the height of its fight against the highly-transmissible Delta variant, while cases in other countries were going down,” he said.

According to him, the countries were measured in terms of infection management, vaccination, and mobility.

He pointed out that the Philippines has significantly improved its testing capacity since last year, adding that it tested more compared to Indonesia and Myanmar in September based on Our World in Data.

For Galvez, the improved testing capacity as well as the Delta variant increased the number of positive cases.

“But this does not diminish the fact the Philippines was able to manage and delay the entry of the Delta variant because of our effective pandemic response strategy,” he said.

“That’s why you cannot compare countries because each has a unique epidemic curve,” he added.

Interviewed on ANC, Galvez said the Nikkei report was business-oriented, but the national government focuses more on saving lives.

He pointed out that in pandemic response, the parameters should be deaths, recoveries, active cases, new infections, and economic recovery.

“Yung tatlong parameters, wala doon. Doon tayo malakas. Ang ano ng president natin ay to save lives (The three parameters are not there. We’re good at these. The concern of our president is to save lives),” he said. — Joviland Rita/RSJ, GMA News