The COVID‑19 pandemic accelerated investment in health infrastructure across Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and Thailand.

Indonesia built over 600 COVID-19 testing labs between 2020 and 2021, expanded telehealth services, and introduced digital platforms to monitor diseases. However, these improvements were concentrated in urban areas, while many remote regions remains underdeveloped.

Thailand took a different approach. Alongside establishing more than 10,000 COVID-19 labs, it developed an integrated healthcare system that monitors disease outbreaks nationwide, including among migrant workers.

Research suggests that Thailand’s integrated approach has successfully strengthened the country’s preparedness for future public health emergencies — something Indonesia should learn from to broaden its public health access across the archipelago.

Thai government’s fast response

Thailand successfully detected and tracked a new COVID‑19 wave in mid‑2025, which recorded around 374,000 cases and 84 deaths.

The country had already demonstrated its capacity during the first wave in 2020. Among the first nations to detect COVID-19, Thailand contained the outbreak in less than six months. Of 3,195 confirmed infections, 3,072 patients........

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