All through 2020 and the early part of this year, South-East Asia remained relatively unscathed. But no longer
AS NEWS CIRCULATED of a worrying new virus spreading in the Chinese city of Wuhan in the early days of 2020, experts worried that infections would quickly reach South-East Asia and overwhelm the region’s health-care systems. Thailand was one of the top destinations for Chinese tourists; the first case outside China was reported there on January 13th 2020. The first known death from covid-19 outside China occurred in the Philippines.
The short answer to the first question is that the highly infectious Delta variant happened. When it arrived in the region this year, it encountered a population that lacked any immunity, was complacent after a covid-free year and was defended by public-health measures designed for the milder, original form of the virus. The outbreak in Cambodia, which was virtually covid-free until April, was set off by just two people.
At the same time, governments have shifted focus from elimination to vaccination. This has been slow to get going but is gathering pace. By June 1st only Singapore and Cambodia had given more than 10% of over-11s one dose or more: now all but Myanmar have crossed 20%. In Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore, more than 60% of over-11s are fully vaccinated.
Other factors may have helped too, such as having relatively few imported cases, partly as a result of the swift shutting of borders and imposition of quarantines, and high levels of mask-wearing. The region also has a lower proportion of old people than the badly hit rich countries of the West. And the prevalence of comorbidities such as obesity, which heighten the risk of death from covid, is also lower.
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