A virtual Asean Summit on theCovid-19 pandemic was held in Hanoi in 2020. — AFP
ALTHOUGH South-East Asia suffered badly, the region was largely spared from bearing the brunt of the global Covid-19 pandemic for most of last year. However, the region is now in the grip of a new level of infections that is placing unprecedented pressure on healthcare systems and threatening to undo the progress of economies emerging only fitfully from last year’s sudden epidemiological assault.
The fresh wave of Covid-19 that has hit South Asia is instructive for its neighbouring region. The phenomenon of overwhelmed national healthcare systems by an exponential rise in daily cases is one of the warning signs from South Asia that South-East Asian nations need to take seriously.
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