As of: May 29, 2021 2:42 p.m.
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Undertaker in continuous use in Malaysia – vaccination residue in Indonesia. Many countries in Southeast Asia are now fighting against the dramatic increase in the number of infections. In the past year, some of them were still considered model regions.
From Lena Bodewein,
ARD-Studio Singapore
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Myanmar reports record numbers: According to official information, there are 96 new infections, but the actual number is estimated to be much higher. At the same time, a large part of the medical profession is still on strike. After the military coup in February, many joined the civil disobedience movement in protest – in a country whose medical care was previously critical, the combination of coup and pandemic can be fatal.
In neighboring Thailand, the third wave is particularly evident in the prisons. They’re full, says the penitentiary’s general director, Aryut Sinthoppan. “The cells are old and overcrowded, we are overflowing with prisoners.” The government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has imprisoned many of its critics, mostly young demonstrators, in a tough campaign over the past few months. “During the first wave we hardly had any cases among inmates or law enforcement officers. During the second outbreak, it went into double digits, and now there are thousands,” says Sinthoppan, describing the consequences.
It looked like here on Kuta Beach for months on the holiday island of Bali. Tourists could not enter and there was no income.
Image: EPA
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Hardly any income from tourism
Thailand had imposed a strict lockdown last year, closed its borders in order to get through the pandemic unscathed – and thus also sacrificed its tourism. But now the country has a total of around 145,000 cases, of which 3759 new infections on Friday. In 1294 alone in the prisons, as the spokesman for the Thai government announced.
The new outbreak is also evident among migrant workers from Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. More than 10,000 of them have tested positive. The government now keeps them in their mass shelters or in their workplaces, away from the rest of society. But crammed together like this, the virus continues to spread among them. And similar to last year in Singapore, the unworthy treatment of migrant workers is seen as one of the reasons for the rapid spread of the third wave.
There is no government aid
“I stand here and ask for help, we hardly have anything to eat,” says a resident in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. Tourism has also ceased to be an important source of income in Cambodia, the economy is paralyzed, and here too the number of cases is rising rapidly after a mild year. From 560 cases in the entire previous year to 22,000 since February. Medical care was so critical even before Corona that patients should be treated at home – which further promotes infection. And here, too, the prisons are full, the infections there are spreading.
The government has imposed a strict lockdown on the affected districts of the capital and promised aid. But they don’t arrive. “I worked in construction, but because of Covid-19 I don’t have enough to eat. We don’t get any food. The whole neighborhood needs help.”
The vaccination campaign is making slow progress
Undertakers are in constant use in Malaysia. With the help of volunteers, they have to bury 30 times as many people as a year ago. In the country with a majority Muslim population, the dead actually have to be cleaned, wrapped and buried within a day. But since the number of infections has increased so sharply, this has not always succeeded – more than 8,000 cases daily, more than 60 deaths. Now the country is going into complete lockdown for two weeks, only important economic sectors should be allowed to continue working.
All of the affected countries in Southeast Asia, whether Vietnam, Indonesia or the Philippines, have one thing in common: the vaccination campaigns are not yet far advanced. Maybe one or two percent, at most five percent of the population are vaccinated. The exception is Singapore, where 28 percent of the residents already had the second vaccination. A comparatively harmless pandemic year may not have made the urgency clear enough. And all the governments of the former model region are now fighting to secure enough vaccine.
Showcase region in the grip of the pandemic_Covid 19 in Southeast Asia
Lena Bodewein, ARD Singapore, May 29, 2021 11:02 am
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