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The Duterte administration has been "excellent" in handling the coronavirus pandemic, Malacanang said on Monday.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made the assessment almost one year since President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the imposition of quarantine measures, including lockdowns, in March last year.

"We were excellent. We were able to control the spread of the illness, especially if we are to be compared to other richer countries and those which have more and modern hosptials," he said in a televised press briefing.

"We're not in the top 5. We're not in the (top) 10. We're not in the top 15. We're not in the top 20. We're not in the top 25," he said.

Roque said the Philippines is at 30th place with high cases of COVID-19 worldwide.

"So, we did a very good job," Roque said, adding that this was despite lack of health facilities and funds for the health sector.

Roque, however, apparently became irritated when asked how the government could be excellent in addressing the pandemic when over 12,000 people have died of COVID-19 and the country has gone into recession, more people have lost their jobs and become hungry.

He said the reporter who asked the question was "making an issue about we were not excellent in handling the crisis."

Since Duterte declared an enhanced community quarantine in most parts of the country in March last year, various parts of the country have remained under different quarantine classifications, which carry with them certain restrictions in some sectors and industries.

The Philippines has not yet fully opened its economy for fear that COVID-19 will further spread.

During the past three days, the Philippines logged over 3,000 COVID-19 cases a day, prompting some health experts to warn that the number could continue to rise to 6,000 per day if the people would be laxed in following the health protocols.

But while the number of cases increases, Roque assured that health facilities could still accommodate those who would become severely ill.

"Should we panic? No. Why? Because when we declared a lockdown to improve our capability to cure those who have been seriously ill, we're able to improve our healthcare capacity," he said.

Right now, he said the hospitals have not been fully utilized.

"We have 60 percent available ICU (intensive care unit) beds; we have 65 percent available isolation beds; we have 75 percent available ward beds; and we have 77 percent available ventilators," he said.

While there could be new COVID-19 varriants, such as South African and UK strains, Roque said the trend of COVID-19 cases continues to be mostly mild and asymptomatic.

But he reiterated his call to the people to follow minimum health standards and for those who are included in the list to have themselves vaccinated against COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Duterte is set to have his weekly "Talk to the People" on Monday night in Davao City. Celerina Monte/DMS