SE Asia tightens measures in virus surge

BANGKOK－Several countries around Asia and the Pacific experiencing their first major surges of the coronavirus rushed to impose tough restrictions, a year and a half into a pandemic that many initially weathered well.

Faced with rapidly rising numbers of infections in recent months, authorities in countries such as Thailand announced or imposed measures recently in the hope of slowing down the spread before healthcare systems become overwhelmed.

Thailand reported a new daily record of 91 deaths on Saturday, taking the overall COVID-19 deaths to 2,625, as the country grappled with its worst ever wave.

The Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration, or CCSA, the country's COVID-19 task force, reported 9,326 cases, the second highest daily tally, raising the total number of infections to 326,832.

More than one-third of Saturday's new infections, 3,191 cases, were detected in the capital, Bangkok, the center of a monthslong surge in infections.

Daily new infections have been above 5,000 for 10 consecutive days, as the highly contagious Delta variant spreads fast in the country, where people remain largely unvaccinated.

As of Friday, the CCSA said less than 5 percent of the country's nearly 70 million people had been fully inoculated.

New curbs imposed

In an effort to curtail the spread of the virus, the government on Friday announced new curbs in hard-hit regions, including Bangkok and five nearby provinces.

The measures, including a curfew, ban on gatherings of more than five people and nonessential travel, as well as closure of malls, will take effect from Monday and last for at least 14 days.

The government has also asked public transport companies to reduce their services in order to discourage interprovincial travel, especially from regions with high figures.

Across the Asia-Pacific region immunization rates have lagged for a variety of reasons, including production and distribution issues as well as the initial wait-and-see approach of many countries early on when numbers were low and there was less of a sense of urgency.

Indonesia has also been hard hit by the virus. The seven-day rolling averages of daily cases and deaths both more than doubled over the past two weeks.

Health experts said a partial lockdown imposed on July 3 was too little too late and warned that the current wave, which is mostly in the islands of Java and Bali, and a few cities in the island of Sumatra, will soon start to spread across the vast archipelago. The country's healthcare system is already buckling under the pressure.

In Myanmar, the Health Ministry on Saturday reported a record 4,377 new cases for a total of 188,752, as well as a record 71 deaths, bringing the toll to 3,756. The number of tested people found to be infected is hovering around 25 percent, and equally alarming is how quickly the numbers have been rising.

Despite a strict national lockdown in Malaysia since June 1, new cases continue to shoot up, with a record 9,180 cases reported on Friday. Malaysians have been confined to their homes, with only one person per household allowed out to buy groceries. The death toll has more than doubled to 5,903 since June 1.

Agencies - Xinhua