Current situation and outlook of COVID-19 in Southeast Asia

According to the Center for Strategic & International Studies, the COVID-19 death rate has been skyrocketing in multiple Southeast Asian countries since July 2021, with record high case numbers over the past month. And with the recent emergence of the Delta variant, which may have increased transmissibility, the number of new COVID-19 cases has increased. This has led to a reimplementation of lockdown measures. On August 9, Indonesia had a COVID-19 death rate of 392 per million, one of the highest in the region. Malaysia and the Philippines had similarly high rates, of 334 and 262 per million, respectively. Meanwhile, Malaysia’s parliament is currently in a 2-week lockdown due to four cases of Delta variant infection among its staff. In the public sphere, tensions are growing, as lawmakers criticize the lockdown, saying that it is part of an attempt by the government to avoid taking responsibility for their handling of the pandemic response. And...