Wednesday, May 19, 2021
These parts of Asia beat coronavirus early. Why they’re suddenly in lockdown
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Tribune News Service TAIPEI, Taiwan – While much of the world is moving beyond the pandemic, Taiwan, which for so long had kept the virus at bay, is unnerved by scenes countries have long forgotten: listless streets, shuttered shops, a run on toilet paper and untold empty seats on subways. The sudden reversal in Taiwan’s status mirrors setbacks unfolding across Asia. Nations that were lauded and often envied for the way they controlled COVID-19 — keeping death tolls low and allowing millions to work, attend schools and dine out — are now beset by new lockdowns, dwindling hospital beds and growing fatigue as the pandemic wears on. That feeling of defeat is most profound here. For the first time since COVID-19 emerged, Taiwan has imposed strict lockdown measures to stop a virus that’s killed more than 3.3 million people worldwide. The self-governing island reported several hundred infections in the last week after months without any. All public spaces such as cinemas, libraries and recreation centers were ordered shut, and public schools will remain closed until at least the end of the month. These actions come as the virus and its variants flare across the region. Cases are soaring in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos for the first time and returning in numbers that haven’t been seen in months in Singapore, Malaysia and Japan, which is under pressure from health care workers and business leaders to cancel the Summer Olympics set for July in Tokyo. Largely due to skyrocketing cases in India, which has become the epicenter of the latest surge, more than 60% of the 10 million
new cases recorded globally the first half of May were in Asia, according to the latest figures from the Our World in Data project at the University of Oxford. The new outbreaks of COVID-19 underscore the long road ahead for a global recovery, even
expert at the National University of Singapore. “Eventually borders will give way. It’s statistically inevitable.” Social restrictions and public health measures are being tested, particularly as more infectious variants of the coronavirus
as countries like the United States begin to reopen. They also point up the limitations of border controls, which have been deployed throughout Asia and relaxed in the U.S. and Europe. “It’s a pandemic,” said Dale Fisher, an infectious disease
emerge from major hotspots such as India. Fisher said the only way to stem the new threats — and reach herd immunity — is vaccinating populations: “The end game requires high levels of vaccination to manage what will be an endemic and possibly seasonal
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disease.” But the vast majority of vaccines have gone to wealthier countries including U.S. and those in Europe. Significantly fewer doses have been delivered to poorer nations such as Vietnam, Laos and the Philippines. Leaving millions unvaccinated in dense urban centers with weak health care systems provides ideal conditions for variants to mutate and prolong the pandemic, experts say. The spike in cases in Southeast and East Asia on the heels of massive outbreaks in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives underscores how quickly new variants are spreading, said Abhishek Rimal, the Asia Pacific emergency health coordinator at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. “The world needs to realize no one is safe until everyone is safe,” Rimal said from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital, which entered its third lockdown last month. “At this point the U.S. looks great, but if a variant mutates, it will eventually reach the U.S. This is the cycle in a pandemic. You have to ensure everyone is safe. That’s why we need a fair distribution of vaccines.” It’s not just poor countries in Asia that are struggling to get doses. Middle-income nations such as Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia have vaccination rates in the low single digits. Even a rich country like Japan, which is undergoing a fourth wave of infections, has failed to deliver shots at rates anywhere near other nations of similar economic standing. Less than 3% of Japan’s population of 126 million has been fully vaccinated in a program besieged by accusations of mismanagement, line-jumping and a poorly designed booking system. Hiroko Fukushima, a 79-year-old who lives on her own See Asia on pg.2