COVID-19

Southeast Asia is struggling to contain the spread of COVID-19 amid a resurgence driven by the Delta variant, leaving national governments with no capacity to spare on neighbouring countries. At the same time, ASEAN faces a trust problem due to the intangible nature of regional cooperation, and capacity issues associated with the prolonged deadlock over the selection of a special envoy to deal with the political crisis in Myanmar. Nevertheless, the potential for future regional cooperation after the health crisis subsides is within view.

Women are among the hardest hit by the intersecting and overlapping impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through community mobilization and solidarity, women are also finding solutions.

Economists have called COVID-19 an economic SHE-cession because millions of women have exited the workforce to adopt the role of family caregiver. In the Philippines, the COVID-19 induced SHE-cession which is a compounded crisis of health, economy, and governance that has exposed the uneven vulnerabilities of women across different sectors.

The hard-hit tourism industry in Southeast Asia looks for ways out of the pandemic. From promoting domestic tourism to ‘travel bubbles’ to Thailand’s Phuket Sandbox scheme to bring back international travelers, all ASEAN countries are facing novel challenges of the ‘novel’ coronavirus. What are countries doing to counter the disastrous effects on tourism? And what can countries learn from each other?

The Sea Warriors’ Market, a local initiative which strengthens fishermen incomes, has been severely interrupted by coronavirus, and people have little choice but to be resilient and creative in adjusting to their challenging circumstances.  

During the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, Lao PDR managed to contain the pandemic quite successfully. More than one year later, the virus remains a challenge: in communicating with people via social media, integrating workers returning from neighboring countries, and vaccinating the population.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has been devastating for Timor-Leste. It has overwhelmed the already weak health system, deepened poverty and pre-existing inequalities, exposing vulnerabilities in social, political and economic systems for women and girls in Timor-Leste.

With a population of under half a million located on a total land area of 5,765 sq. km, Brunei is uniquely positioned to use its small-nation status for its management of the pandemic. Small in size and number, it has been able to leverage on transparency and an openness of information from health authorities to address public concerns. Besides the health sector, other ministries have taken the cue to increase engagement, communications and accountability to the public.   

Given the global dimension of the Covid-19 pandemic and the fact that the number of mutations is increasing worldwide, we must overcome our selfish national and economic interests. Successful pandemic response requires coordinated global action based on coordinated decision-making, fair and transparent vaccine delivery processes and know-how sharing.