|
 The region escaped the worst when the pandemic erupted last year,
but in recent weeks has seen the highest deaths globally, as soaring
infections push fragile healthcare systems to the brink and expose
sluggish vaccination rollouts.
"This COVID-19 surge driven by the Delta variant is claiming a
tragic toll on families across Southeast Asia and it's far from
over," Alexander Matheou, Asia Pacific Director, International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said in a
statement.
It noted that most Southeast Asian countries including Vietnam,
Thailand and Indonesia have been posting record COVID-19 infections
or fatalities.
Malaysia on Wednesday reported 22,242 coronavirus cases, a daily
record, while Thailand announced 312 deaths, a record increase for a
second day in a row.
Indonesia reported 1,128 fatalities, down from its worst levels
above 2,000 late last month, but still the highest daily death toll
for any country in the world.
Yet while countries like Canada, Spain and Britain have fully
vaccinated more than 60% of their people, and the United States more
than 50%, Southeast Asian countries are well behind, according to a
Reuters COVID-19 tracker
https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps.
[to top of second column] |
By contrast, Indonesia and Philippines, the most populous countries
in Southeast Asia, have only fully vaccinated around 10-12% of their
people, while Vietnam sits at below 2%.
"In the short-term, we need much greater efforts by richer countries
to urgently share their millions of excess vaccine doses with
countries in Southeast Asia, said Matheou, adding that vaccine
companies and governments also needed to share technology and boost
production.
"These coming weeks are critical for scaling up treatment, testing
and vaccinations, in every corner of all countries in Southeast
Asia," he said, adding that there must be a target for vaccination
rates of 70-80%.
(Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Martin Petty)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content |
