Analysis & Opinion
Studies show that infection transmission can vary widely depending on the primary setting. An understanding of the different risks involved would help policymakers maintain control even as containment measures are relaxed.
The appetite for multilateral problem-solving is much weaker now than in 2008 when the global financial crisis hit, with US-China friction setting the tone for global relations. A change in US leadership could turn the tide.
We should stop being so overly competitive that we break our children and risk mental health problems. Teaching kindness and consideration instead would increase resilience – and the chance of happiness.
The repeated failures to restart global travel by economies in Asia and elsewhere demonstrate the critical need for a multilateral solution to mitigate risks.
The mainland Chinese have made tremendous sacrifices of their individual freedom and rights for the sake of the common good.
Hong Kong now has experience organising large-scale, rapid community testing and screening, which gives it a big advantage as the winter flu season approaches along with the risk of a new spike in coronavirus cases.
Tourism is intrinsic to the Indonesian island’s economic success, but its enterprising inhabitants have survived several crises in the past.
We might be yearning to get away from hot and sweaty, Covid-19-restricted Hong Kong, but sit tight and be thankful. The pandemic is not over yet.
From live-streaming sales to building lasting business relationships online to adopting AI in manufacturing, Chinese companies have risen to the challenge of the pandemic and offer the rest of the world a glimpse of the future.
While the opposition tends to object to any proposal coming from the chief executive or the central government, Carrie Lam has also reacted defensively to legitimate questions about her policies.
It is a huge source of stress, not just for the parents who cannot afford to be online and connected, but also for their children, who struggle to keep up with their lessons.
Digital companies that do not need to physically interact with the public have benefited the most from the pandemic. Governments must also apply a higher corporate tax to, say, pharmaceutical companies that are profiting from the crisis.
The need for aggressive monetary easing, the most radical of Abe’s ‘three arrows’, was appreciated by the Fed and ECB even before Covid-19 struck. Given a boost by the pandemic, Abe’s experiment is now the norm in the world’s major economies.
Americans have a lot more to lose as the US intensifies its efforts to decouple from China in a world battling a health crisis that cries out for greater cooperation between nations.
Already weakened by social unrest over slowing economic growth and crippling inequalities, these countries are now struggling to contain a pandemic with a fraction of the resources that rich nations have, and without the aid extended to low-income countries.
Phasing out coal in the short and medium term is impractical for Asean due to growing energy demand and abundant reserves, and clean coal technology can lower emissions.
Thailand’s plan to welcome long-stay tourists could prove a paradigm for tourism in the time of coronavirus, where only those with time and money can afford to travel.
Many claim to be happily unemployed but it is more likely that desperation has given way to indifference. If we don’t help them find jobs and long-term employability, we risk producing generations of youth unable to be independent and self-reliant.
The public has been diagnosed with ‘anti-epidemic fatigue’ by officials. If they really understood what that meant, they would know why Hongkongers aren’t rushing to join the mass-testing programme for Covid-19.