On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the People’s Republic of China a global health emergency. Southeast Asia was one of the first regions affected due to its close geographical proximity and business travel, tourism and supply chain links to China. As of 21 April, there were 2,470,436 cases worldwide and over 31,000 cases in Southeast Asia. The number of confirmed cases are rapidly rising in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand. Governments have announced measures to limit the spread of the virus, including the nationwide lockdowns (Malaysia, Thailand, Viet Nam and Singapore), enhanced community quarantine (Philippines) and travel restrictions for foreign visitors (Indonesia). Singapore and Viet Nam have implemented preventive and containment measures coping with the Covid-19 outbreak that include test, track and trace, which could provide guidance to other countries in the region and farther afield.
