PH ranks 66th out of 91 countries in COVID-19 suppression

The Philippines ranked 66th out of 91 countries in The Lancet's assessment of COVID-19 suppression.

The study, published on September 14, evaluated countries based on incidence rates, mortality rates, testing volumes, and effective reproduction rates (ERR).

In August, the Philippines had a moderate transmission rate with 37.5 new infections and 0.5 new deaths per million population daily, conducting 8.2 tests per case and an ERR of 1.2.

The Lancet defined COVID-19 suppression as achieving five or fewer new cases per million population per day during August.

Nineteen countries, ten of which are in the Asia-Pacific region, successfully suppressed the virus, including Taiwan, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Myanmar, Malaysia, New Zealand, and South Korea.

Maldives ranked lowest at 91st place due to "very high" transmission, while Panama, Colombia, Bahrain, Brazil, Israel, Argentina, United States, Kuwait, Spain, and Bolivia also had high daily new case numbers in August.

The Department of Health stated it will continue to improve the country's response against COVID-19.