The Philippines fell to last place in Bloomberg’s COVID Resilience Ranking of the best and worst places to be amid the pandemic, capping a steady decline over the course of 2021.

The monthly snapshot — which measures where the virus is being handled the most effectively with the least social and economic upheaval — ranks 53 major economies on 12 datapoints related to virus containment, the economy and opening up. 

The Philippines’ drop to No. 53 reflects the challenges it’s facing from the onslaught of the delta variant, which has hit Southeast Asia particularly hard amid difficulties containing the more contagious strain and slow vaccination rollouts. The region, which recently had the worst outbreak in the world, makes up the bulk of the September Ranking’s lowest rungs, with Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam also in the bottom five. 

What pushed the Philippines to last place?

The Philippines faces a perfect storm in that it’s grappling with the more ferocious delta variant at the same time as it works with an inadequate testing regime and sees disruptions to its economy and people’s livelihoods as the pandemic continues to rage. 

The country scores low on all four of our metrics related to reopening, and with a vaccine coverage rate of 20% — among the lowest of those ranked — the Philippines is engaged in one of the most stringent lockdowns of the 53. Its Flight Capacity, which measures how far air travel has gotten back to normal, is 74% below 2019 levels and the Philippines’ borders remain sealed to visitors. 

Info taken from Bloomberg article
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-27/philippines-still-worst-place-in-covid-even-as-cases-ease-off