MANILA – The surge in Covid-19 cases among countries as a result of the development of the Delta variant did not occur at a specific time, a health official stated on Thursday.
“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 (When the rise in cases happened in Indonesia; I think that was sometime in July; it started as early as June in some countries),” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said during 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 (Here in our country, we started with the peak of cases in September which is the time period of analysis of the two surveys),” she added.
Vergeire was referring to the latest Covid-19 recovery index ranking from Nikkei Asia, which classified the Philippines lowest out of 121 countries.
The index assesses a country’s infection management, vaccination distribution, and mobility.
The survey’s primary indicators and methodologies were examined by the Department of Health.
The survey used a seven-day period in September to evaluate and compare indicators across the countries, according to the report.
Since infections surged statewide in September, Vergeire stated that the country is anticipated to perform poorly in the survey because the other countries had already passed their case surges in the previous 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 (Secondly, the vaccination program was affected by this increase in the number of cases here in our country. That’s why our measure there is erratic), not just the supplies but also the access because of this widespread infection during this outbreak that we had or case increase,” she said.
She went on to say that the government is doing a good job of managing the country’s Covid-19 situation because the national death rate is still lower than the global death rate due to the disease and cases are decreasing.
“But of course, at the end of the day, atin pa rin pong pinag-iigting ang pagbabakuna, atin na pong shinift ang ating policy para mas makapagbukas po tayo ng ating ekonomiya (we’re still strengthening our vaccination efforts as we shift our policies so we can open our economy),” Vergeire said.
