Page 61 - AEI Insights Vol. 7 2021

Jingyi et al, 2021

the main battleground was halted(SCIO, 2020). The restrictions for Wuhan City and Hubei
Province were lifted, and all Wuhan's hospitalized patients with COVID-19 were discharged.
The fifth stage is "ongoing prevention and control since 29 April 2020": domestic virus and
inbound cases are generally under control (SCIO, 2020). China has made arduous efforts to
resume work and reopen schools, and achieved a major strategic success in the nationwide
control efforts (SCIO, 2020).

As the end of the April, industrial enterprises (99%), small and medium-sized enterprises
(88.4%), and construction projects (95%) nationwide had resumed; while the resumption rate
of enterprises and the return to work rate had reached 98.2% and 92.1% respectively in Hubei
Province (SCIO, 2020). Thus, China’s economic operation is gradually returning to normal
(Chinadaily, 2020)..

COVID-19 Pandemic in ASEAN

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. The first COVID-19 case was reported
in Malaysia on 25 January 2020, prior to the upward swing of cases at the end of February
2020. (Tang 2020). The number of cases remained low and were confined to imported cases
until localised cluster began in March 2020.

Table 1: COVID-19 Cases in ASEAN as at 30 September 2020
Cases Deaths Tests Recovered Cases per
millions
World 33,417,386 1,002,676 - 23,193,238 4,284

China 90,509 4,739 - 85,415 63
USA 7,150,824 205,091 102,342,416 2,794,608 21,604

Indonesia 282,724 10,601 1,962,754 210,437 1,055
Philippines 309,303 5,448 3,680,659 252,930 2,949

Vietnam 1,094 35 261,004 1,007 11
Thailand 3,559 59 849,874 3,370 51

Myanmar 11,631 256 253,704 3,073 218

Malaysia 11,135 134 1,510,390 9,939 357
Cambodia 277 0 10,438 275 17

Lao PDR 23 0 51,882 22 3
Singapore 57,742 27 2,692,047 57,393 10,289

Brunei 146 3 29,841 142 341
Source: CSIS Southeast Asia Program, https://www.csis.org/programs/southeast-asia-program/southeast-asia-
COVID-19-tracker-0, accessed on 30 September 2020.

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