India to Indonesia: Asian economies challenged by Delta Covid variant

In India, where the delta strain was first identified last year, a deadly second wave is ebbing but its fallout is substantial.

The delta variant is challenging the part of the world that’s been most successful in blunting the economic impact of Covid-19, with Asian countries that snuffed it out locking down again as the virus returns, and others seeing the world’s highest death rates.

Just 12 months ago, the Asia-Pacific region’s rapid containment of Covid-19 made them the envy of the world as the virus ravaged the US and Europe. Now, from Seoul to Sydney, Bangkok to Beijing, authorities are reimposing growth-sapping restrictions as low vaccination rates in many of those places leave their populations vulnerable.

So far, it’s consumers