SINGAPORE – Coronavirus cases are spiking across the region. Worryingly, emerging economies in South and South-east Asia that averted the brunt of the pandemic last year are suddenly facing a new wave of infections which threatens to overwhelm local healthcare capacity. Even the more developed Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia have recently been forced to tighten mobility restrictions. This stands in stark contrast to countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, where Covid-19 rates are falling sharply.

Investors have grown concerned about these flare-ups, and whether Asia’s reopening and recovery time frames are still realistic.