More than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, Southeast Asian countries are battling one of the worst outbreaks in the world driven by the highly-transmissible Delta variant.of the variant was also confirmed. Thailand and Vietnam – which were both praised for successfully containing the virus for much of the pandemic – were not spared from a new surge brought by the Delta variant.
Though Thailand started three months after the Philippines, it overtook the Philippines in terms of the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people, according toDayrit, however, said that Thailand and Vietnam cannot be blamed for complacency because of the"dynamic of [their] political system and health system." He added that the two countries decided to wait for the availability of other vaccines to use on their population.
"The story of our epidemic is that it's just propagating and more people are getting infected. And after a surge, you just have so many cases in that population that it’s harder for to bring down to pre-peak levels," he said. Along with Metro Manila – which has remained the epicenter of the pandemic since the health crisis broke out in 2020 – Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal, Laguna, Pampanga, Batangas, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao make up areas part of"NCR Plus 8."
Aren’t they both in record surges now though? Not being complacent should be what everyone learns about this endemic.