July 2021 saw the Delta variant spread at an accelerated speed through the region. It now dominates every aspect of economics, social and health policy and daily discourse.
On the monthly review show, Gary and Hannah unravel this month’s worrying statistics from across South East Asia, plus China, Japan and South Korea.
We also analyse what the worsening COVID-19 situation combined with variable speeds of vaccine rollout will mean for proposed tourism reopenings in Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
And what about Singapore, where the government has signalled that quarantine-free travel could commence for vaccinated travellers from September… Where will Singaporeans be able to go, and who will be able to visit the city state?
Finally, we look at how the pandemic is dislocating entire parts of the travel industry chain, with deepening impacts for other sectors of the economy, ranging from catering to coffee to meat and livestock.