New research shows that factory activity across Southeast Asia fell sharply in July because of increasing cases of the coronavirus’s Delta variant. The results were based on a series of business surveys completed this week. The economic difficulties were also linked to slow progress in coronavirus vaccinations in many Southeast Asian nations. Economic experts say the big drop in factory production threatens growth in some of the world’s most resilient markets. Southeast Asia has survived several major economic crises in the past, partly because its nations have enacted economic reforms and the area is close to China. But the continuing coronavirus pandemic - driven by a recent rise in infections of the Delta variant - is creating new problems. Economists with British-based banking group HSBC told Reuters news agency that low vaccination rates in several countries are threatening these economies. They pointed to low vaccination rates in Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand. Populations in these countries could remain vulnerable not only to the current outbreak, but any future mutations that may develop, HSBC said in a statement. Virus-related restrictions are likely to continue, the bank said, leaving many factories without workers.
