Asian countries brace for second surge of coronavirus
As Europe and the United States reel from their first waves of the coronavirus pandemic, Asian countries who have flattened their infection curves brace for signs of a second surge.
The governments of Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are reportedly implementing new containment measures after seeing rises in the number of new cases after weeks of declines.
According to Ben Cowling, an epidemiologist at the University of Hong Kong, these countries had been able to contain the spread of the virus throughout February following reports of community infections brought by cases from China. However, the pandemic then went transnational, increasing the threat of imported infections as citizens and permanent residents return to their home countries.
“At the end of February and early March we started to get more imported cases from Europe. Hong Kong got a lot from Europe, the US, and other parts of the world, and Taiwan got a lot from the US,” Cowling told Wired.
He previously told CBS News that countries around the world might “get into a nasty cycle” of implementing repeated lockdowns every two or three months.
“Coronavirus is not going away. We’re not going to eliminate it. We’re going to have to face the prospect that it is always going to be around, but hopefully in small numbers until we can identify an effective treatment or vaccine.”
Dr Jerome Kim said cases of viral reactivation, where people who fully recovered from COVID-19 have since tested positive again, have been found in South Korea, China and other countries. However, he emphasised tests need to be carried out to evaluate testing sensitivities or confirm if the coronavirus found a way to evade detection.
“I am nervous,” Dr Kim told CBS News. “What I hope is that what we see instead are little blips, so it’s like putting out a fire. You know that there are going to be embers that are glowing or smoking. You want to stamp those out before the fire starts again.”