The epicenter of Asia
In Asia, Indonesia announced a record of 56,757 daily infections on Thursday as the Delta variant is spreading in the world’s fourth most populous country, which is replacing India as the epicenter of Covid-19 in the region.
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, headquartered in China, said it is providing this Southeast Asian country with a loan of US$500 million to strengthen its response measures because Indonesia’s deadliest wave But dozens of hospitals are on the verge of bankruptcy.
Millions of vaccines, including Japan and the United States, are flowing into this hard-hit country, and Jakarta approved the emergency use of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Thursday. Indonesia said it is expected to receive about 50 million co-manufactured needles this year.
Also facing a chronic shortage of medical supplies is Myanmar. Residents of the largest city in the country affected by the coup defy the military curfew and desperately search for oxygen to keep their loved ones breathing from the new crown virus.
