Will South-east Asia be swamped by Covid-19, like in South Asia?

Largely spared the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic for most of 2020, South-east Asia is now in the grip of a new wave of infections that is putting unprecedented pressure on health systems of countries in the region and threatening to bring their economies to the ground.

In Thailand, hospital beds are quickly filling up after infections, first seeded in some exclusive entertainment outlets in Bangkok, resulted in the country’s highest-ever number of daily cases in early April. The number spiked again after Songkran, the Thai new year.

Since then, the caseload has crept upwards and has more than quadrupled to nearly 135,000 as authorities struggled to contain outbreaks in overcrowded prisons, markets and camps housing construction workers.

In full: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/will-south-east-asia-be-swamped-by-covid-19-like-in-south-asia

Related Stories

Latest News