Southeast Asian countries need more help securing COVID-19 vaccines, as the region struggles to contain record infections and deaths driven by the Delta variant, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.
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 health care 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 percent of their people, and the United States more than 50 percent, Southeast Asian countries are well behind, according to a Reuters COVID-19 tracker.
By contrast, Indonesia and Philippines, the most populous countries in Southeast Asia, have only fully vaccinated around 10-12 percent of their people, while Vietnam sits at below 2 percent.
“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 percent.
Red Cross: Southeast Asia needs coronavirus vaccine access to curb record deaths
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Red Cross: Southeast Asia needs coronavirus vaccine access to curb record deaths
- ‘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’
US Treasury chief says retaliatory EU tariffs over Greenland ‘unwise’
- He said Trump wanted control of the autonomous Danish territory because he considers it a “strategic asset” and “we are not going to outsource our hemispheric security to anyone else.”
Davos: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned European nations on Monday against retaliatory tariffs over President Donald Trump’s threatened levies to obtain control of Greenland.
“I think it would be very unwise,” Bessent told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
He said Trump wanted control of the autonomous Danish territory because he considers it a “strategic asset” and “we are not going to outsource our hemispheric security to anyone else.”
Asked about Trump’s message to Norway’s prime minister, in which he appeared to link his Greenland push to not winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Bessent said: “I don’t know anything about the president’s letter to Norway.”
He added, however, that “I think it’s a complete canard that the president will be doing this because of the Nobel Prize.”
Trump said at the weekend that, from February 1, Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden would be subject to a 10-percent tariff on all goods sent to the United States until Denmark agrees to cede Greenland.
The announcement has drawn angry charges of “blackmail” from the US allies, and Germany’s vice chancellor Lars Klingbeil said Monday that Europe was preparing countermeasures.
Asked later Monday on the chances for a deal that would not involve acquiring Greenland, Bessent said “I would just take President Trump at his word for now.”
“How did the US get the Panama Canal? We bought it from the French,” he told a small group of journalists including AFP.
“How did the US get the US Virgin Islands? We bought it from the Danes.”
Bessent reiterated in particular the island’s strategic importance as a source of rare earth minerals that are critical for a range of cutting-edge technologies.
Referring to Denmark, he said: “What if one day they were worried about antagonizing the Chinese? They’ve already allowed Chinese mining in Greenland, right?“
