| One of the poorest Southeast Asian economies has been hit by crisis after crisis this year. Amid the prolonged global pandemic, in February Myanmar's military seized power from an elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, claiming electoral fraud despite findings to the contrary by international observers. Over the following days, weeks and months, doctors went on strike to protest the coup along with thousands of people on the streets, many of whom were killed or detained. Those events unfolded while the second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country was easing, with fewer than 1,000 infections reported per month from March to May. Then came the more virulent strains, which sent cases in June past 13,000, prompting the military government to renew a ban on international flights and border crossings. But the borders in the region are porous and conducive to virus spillovers. Dozens of people from Myanmar have crossed illegally each day. The Chinese province of Yunnan, which borders Myanmar, reported three new local infections on July 4 in a city called Ruili — the second flareup in four months — and residents there have been put under lockdown again. Myanmar's surge highlights a challenge faced by many Southeast Asian countries, where vaccination rates are still low and where the more contagious delta variant has put a strain on the public health system. Its neighbor Thailand is scrambling to add hospital beds to accommodate a spike in the capital Bangkok, while Indonesia closed malls and tightened restrictions on businesses on Java and Bali islands.  A health worker receives a Covid-19 vaccine in Yangon. Photographer: Sai Aung Main/AFP/Getty Images Myanmar and its Southeast Asian peers, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, are facing similar issues on the vaccine front: Limited supplies combined with a large population left these countries unprepared for an infection surge. Myanmar, a country of about 55 million people, has only received 4 million doses, barely enough to cover 4% of the population. Still, millions of vaccines are expected in the coming months. The previous government ordered 30 million AstraZeneca shots and the military government plans to purchase of as many as 9 million doses from Russia and China. However, the shipments may not be delivered in time to reduce hospitalization and death rates. Before the latest wave, Myanmar's economy was expected to shrink 20%. If the situations in Thailand or Indonesia foreshadow what's coming next, Myanmar could be on the verge of an even bigger crisis.—Randy Thanthong-Knight | 
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