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Coronavirus pandemic
This Week in AsiaHealth & Environment

Has the Delta variant curbed the effectiveness of lockdowns in ‘zero coronavirus’ economies like Australia and Hong Kong?

  • The infectiousness of the mutant coronavirus strain has led some experts to question whether elimination of the disease is no longer possible
  • With more than half of Australia’s population in lockdown and cases surging in Vietnam, zero community transmission appears to be a difficult objective

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A mostly quiet walkway under the Sydney Harbour Bridge amid a lockdown as cases surge in the state. Photo: AFP
John Power
Each time Covid-19 has flared up, Australia’s major cities have used strict lockdowns to battle cases back down to zero. As the pandemic wreaked havoc elsewhere, the country’s “zero Covid” approach prevented deaths and major disruption to everyday life for much of the past 18 months.

The Delta variant is now challenging the effectiveness of that approach like never before, as outbreaks linked to the mutant strain in three state capitals have some experts deliberating whether elimination is no longer possible – even as more than half of the country’s 25 million people were under lockdown on Tuesday in a bid to curb its spread.

The chance that the variant, which was first identified in India, could be too infectious to wipe out has raised questions about the sustainability of “zero Covid” strategies across the Asia-Pacific.

After relying heavily on border controls to crush the virus, economies such as Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Vietnam have been left exposed to the threat of infections from abroad due to sluggish vaccination rates.

Believed to be about twice as transmissible as the original strain identified in Wuhan, China, the Delta variant has fuelled a surge in infections across the region, with countries including Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand reporting record deaths.

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