The Latest on Covid-19 in Southeast Asia: May 20, 2020
May 20, 2020
Some Southeast Asian countries are easing Covid-19 lockdown measures and the rest of the region is debating the timing and speed for doing the same. Vietnam was the first to begin opening on April 25—a result of having had one of the more effective global responses to the pandemic with zero reported deaths. Thailand, which has managed to keep its Covid-19 mortality rate relatively low and steady, followed suit in early May. The Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia are beginning to ease some aspects of their lockdowns despite a spike in deaths over the past month. And Singapore, which is struggling to flatten the curve of new infections after a devastating outbreak among its migrant worker population, plans to end the “circuit breaker” phase of its response on June 1.
Possible Dangers
The Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh reported the first case of Covid-19 among Rohingya refugees on May 14. The camps are extremely densely populated, which makes physical distancing virtually impossible. Their healthcare and sanitization systems were already strained before the pandemic. Local and international volunteers have been preparing new facilities to isolate and treat potential Covid-19 cases, but a major outbreak among the refugees could quickly get out of hand.
There is reason to fear that the rate of newly reported cases could rise as countries ease lockdown measures and reopen some sectors of their economies. Vietnam, for instance, reported 36 new cases from May 11 to May 18 compared to just 1-3 new cases reported each week in April. Whether this is just a temporary spike will bear watching, as will new infections in other regional states that are moving toward opening back up.
- For more details on recent developments, visit our Tracker online.
Worth Reading
- Bill Hayton, “Vietnam’s Coronavirus Success is Build on Repression,” Foreign Policy, May 12, 2020, https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/05/12/vietnam-coronavirus-pandemic-success-repression/.
- Zachary Abuza, “Weapons, Viruses, and the New Defense Reality in Southeast Asia,” War on the Rocks, May 8, 2020. https://warontherocks.com/2020/05/weapons-viruses-and-the-new-defense-reality-in-southeast-asia/
- Sana Jaffrey, “Coronavirus Blunders in Indonesia Turn Crisis Into Catastrophe,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, April 29, 2020, https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/04/29/coronavirus-blunders-in-indonesia-turn-crisis-into-catastrophe-pub-81684.
