Search is on for safe havens

Well-prepared: The Petronas Twin Towers are in the background of the Suria KLCC shopping centre in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia is among markets that are better vaccinated and have timely social distancing curbs to recover faster from the Omicron threat.

SINGAPORE: The threat of the Omicron variant is becoming real for many of Asia’s biggest countries just as it looks set to subside in some Western nations, and that’s complicating investors’ search for winning share bets in the region.

The problem is that Asian governments are carrying out widely diverging coronavirus policies, with strategies ranging from China’s pursuit of Covid Zero to Australia’s move to live with the virus, and almost everything in between. The speed of vaccinations and the strength of health-care systems also vary greatly in the region.