Covid-19 updates from Southeast and South Asia

Around Southeast and South Asia, Covid-19 infections are on the rise, with Thailand’s third wave still raging on and Vietnam experiencing a new outbreak with a newly found hybrid variant just identified. Today, Thailand recorded another 4,528 Covid-19 infections and 24 Covid-19 related fatalities. Vietnam has increased lockdown measures after topping 6,700 total infections, most of which have occurred in the last month.

In Malaysia, a new record was set yesterday as Thailand’s Southeast Asia neighbour saw the highest daily total since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The prime minister announced Friday that the country will go into a total lockdown beginning Tuesday, with only essential services allowed to open and all other social and economic sectors completely closed. 9,020 new infections were reported yesterday, marking the 5th day in a row with record-setting totals. Malaysia’s total number of infections has reached over half a million, with 558,534 Covid-19 infections.

To Thailand’s west, Myanmar has been struggling with a double disaster, with the military coup plunging the nation into a humanitarian crisis, on top of a still-growing Covid-19 outbreak. The country has had more than 143,000 infections, but a disproportionate 3,200 deaths. The country saw a swell in cases this weekend, prompting the closure of domestic flights from Yangon to at least 5 cities, according to the Ministry of Health and Sports. 168 new Covid-19 infections were diagnosed in the past 48 hours, with the Health Minister warning of a Burmese third wave of the Coronavirus. He worries about Covid-19 around Asia affecting the troubled nation, mentioned a surge in cases in Thailand. Myanmar banned all entries from India and Bangladesh for the last month.

Taiwan also reported record numbers in the last few days, with 320 new domestic infections and 21 deaths yesterday. Health officials had tried to curb the climbing death tolls with soft lockdown restrictions, but so far they have not been completely effective.

In South Asia, India has seen a bit of a decline in Covid-19 infections and deaths lately. New infections are lower now than they have been for the last 6 weeks, while the struggling country has kept deaths below 4,000 for the 3rd consecutive day. Yesterday saw 173,790 new infections for the large country that has had a total of 27.73 million infections and 322,512 deaths.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post