Variants raise stakes in SE Asia battle

The threat from more transmissible coronavirus variants, including one first detected in India, presents Southeast Asia with its most severe challenge since the pandemic began, experts say.

Maurizio Trevisan, dean of the College of Health Sciences at Vin-University in Hanoi, said Vietnam is among those countries in the region experiencing "the most difficult wave" of the pandemic.

Vietnam had 276 cases detected on Sunday alone, the highest ever in the country, according to World Health Organization data. The country reported its first locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in 35 days on April 29; as of Sunday, it had recorded 4,175 confirmed cases.