Lessons for Asia from the West's mistakes 2
The May 27 congressional testimony by Dominic Cummings, former advisor to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, revealed mistakes in Britain’s initial anti-epidemic approach.
According to James Crabtree, executive director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies IISS, Mr. Cummings’s assessment is correct in many aspects.
Police in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on June 1.
The first and most obvious lesson is the important role of a government that must have enough resources to fight a crisis like Covid-19.
Lesson two: Strategies that are successful in a certain period are not necessarily effective in the next period.
The above challenges partly stem from delays in purchasing vaccines or are related to unfocused health systems in countries like Malaysia and Thailand.
Finally, there is the lesson of constant adaptation.
According to Mr. Crabtree, this group is now facing a difficult, complicated situation that he once called `the winner’s curse.`
In contrast, many Asian countries will enter a more complex transition process.
Singapore Health Minister Gan Kim Yong received the Covid-19 vaccine in January. Photo: Straits Times.
Signs of a shift in pandemic response strategies have appeared in Asia.
In a speech on May 31, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong talked about the `new normal` when people must accept more frequent Covid-19 tests and vaccinations.
`In the new normal, we will have to learn to live with the virus. Our goal is to keep the entire community healthy, while accepting that there will be people infected – just like we did with the disease
