MANILA – It is “unfair” to say that the World Health Organization (WHO) had concluded that the Philippines is leading the rise in coronavirus cases in the Western Pacific region, its country representative said Monday following comments from government officials.
“The World Health Organization does not compare countries or makes such assessments,” WHO Philippine representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe clarified during the Laging Handa virtual press conference on Tuesday.
“The World Health Organization never made such a comment or an assessment,” he added.
Abeyasinghe made the remark after broadsheet Philippine Daily Inquirer published an analysis report, which states that the Philippines has the most number of new cases from June 17 to 23, and has the fastest seven-day moving average.
Both Malacañang and the Department of Health have since reacted to the report, defending the country’s response to the virus outbreak.
“We beg to disagree,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a virtual press conference. “If you look at the WHO, I think we checked this and in the data of the WHO they are classified as Western Pacific countries (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh).”
“We are in control of the situation,” he added. “We’re confident that we have done [the] correct steps and again I’m saying we’re not perfect but I think we did the best that we can do under the circumstance.”
From June 16 to 28, WHO said the total number of new cases in the Philippines was recorded at 9,655. The cases by date of report within the last 30 days in the country has stood out on WHO’s data.
Also, based on the data showing the total confirmed cases of countries plotted against their doubling rate, the trend in the Philippines is actively rising near Singapore./PN
