According to the data from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Philippines has the fastest rise of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the entire Western Pacific region.

In just two weeks, the data showed that the country has logged 8,143 new cases since June 16, the highest among 22 countries in the region.

In the region, the Philippines has the third most number of COVID-19 cases as of June 27, with 34,803 cases, following only China with 83,500 cases and Singapore with 43,246 cases.

The country is facing struggles in conducting mass testing since there’s no concrete plan for expanding the capacity, while China and Singapore have been aggressively testing its population for the virus.

In line with WHO data, the Department of Health said in a statement published on Rappler on June 28 that “the comparison made with Singapore and deeper understanding of population ratio versus the number of cases."

Singapore has a population of 5.9 million, with 43,246 coronavirus cases. The Philippines' population is 109 million with 34,803 cases.

DOH explained that Singapore's death per million is 4.4 deaths per million population while the Philippines has 11.34 deaths per million population.

"This is still low compared to the Global Case fatality rate (CFR) of 5.1%. As the national government strives to manage COVID-19 in the absence of a cure or vaccine, all agencies are tasked to closely monitor the rise in cases and strengthen our response through localized actions, especially in emerging hotspots," the DOH said.

The health department noted the Philippines and Singapore vastly differ in socioeconomic status which includes living conditions and health system capacity even before the pandemic.

“Let us not cherry-pick the countries we want to compare ourselves to," the DOH said.

Meanwhile, in a social media post by Dr. Tony Leachon, a health expert who recently resigned from the government coronavirus committee, described the recent spike in infections as "disturbing".

"The rapid rise in new cases is disturbing because this would cause the acceleration phase leading to more deaths and collapse of the healthcare system," he said.

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has topped the 10 million case mark today. Nearly 500,000 deaths have been reported.