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COVID-19: Responding to the Present Crisis, Preparing for Future Challenges

ADB is formulating an aggressive set of actions to protect the poor, the vulnerable, and wider populations across Asia and the Pacific. And to ensure economies will rebound as swiftly as possible.

By Asian Development Bank

April 8^th, 2020

Fighting the Pandemic

Across Asia and the Pacific, governments, business and communities are busy responding to control the novel corona virus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Workers at the Beijing Natong Technology Group manufacturing medical face masks.

Workers at the Beijing Ruentex Environment Technology Group disposing medical wastes related to COVID-19.

A security personnel wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) checks the temperature of a passenger at the Dongdan Subway Station in Beijing.

Shopkeeper Warni, 46, wears a protective face mask as she waits for customers inside her shop in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Volunteers in Jakarta, Indonesia, carry banners with instructions on how to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Irwan, a volunteer, sprays disinfectant in public areas around Jakarta, Indonesia, to fight the spread of COVID-19.

Volunteers spraying disinfectant on a rickshaw in the streets in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Two daily labourers carry bottle gourds to the wholesale market from the river side at Syambazar in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

People stand inside circles to maintain social distancing as they wait to buy supplies from the state-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.

Nepalese Police use a drone to monitor lockdown in Bhaktapur district, Nepal, 06 April 2020.

People line up while observing social distance to buy a daily essential at Patan Durbar Square in Lalitpur,Nepal. 8 April 2020.

Lalitpur metropolitan city worker disinfects Durbar Square, a UNESCO world heritage site, during a nationwide emergency lock down, in Lalitpur, Nepal, 8 April 2020.

The crowds are sparse in the normally busy district of Chinatown, where shopowners estimate that business has dropped by 50%. Tourism in Singapore has suffered due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Commuters wearing protective masks sitting with enough space from each other inside a train in Tokyo, 30 March 2020.

The lockdown imposed in the island of Luzon, Philippines, to contain the pandemic has resulted in an unusual cityscape in Metro Manila. Empty streets are dotted by few people going about their errands and mindful of the restrictions in place.

Major roads in Metro Manila like EDSA, the city's main transport artery, are virtually empty.

Walkways in Ortigas, Metro Manila, are deserted too.

The Ortigas flyover along EDSA in Metro Manila is virtually empty of passing vehicles. On a normal day, the scene would be rather different.

Law enforcers are regulating the entry and exit of people around Metro Manila.

Free transport for health workers have been deployed in Metro Manila during the enhanced community quarantine.

Essential services like pharmacies and grocery stores remain open to serve the public during the enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila.

The Ortigas business district where the ADB’s headquarters are located is usually flooded with pedestrians and jammed with horn-honking traffic. The same streets are a somewhat surreal scene now.

Business as Usual Nonetheless

ADB’s headquarters has been closed since March 12, and most staff in Manila and in many ADB field offices from across Asia and the Pacific are now working from home.

Meanwhile, a skeletal crew of staff, security guards, and cleaners are working around the clock to keep the 'lights on' at headquarters and ensure that the building is ready to re-open at short notice. Some are even staying onsite.

Staff from the ADB headquarters and many Resident Missions across Asia and the Pacific have been working from home because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jonnalee Tuazon from the Department of Communications (DOC) catching up with emails.

ADB Chief Economist Yasuyuki Sawada has an online meeting with staff from ADB's Japan Representative Office in Tokyo.

Tatiana Evstifeeva from ADB's Tajikistan Resident Mission is also working from her home office.

The ADB headquarters have been closed since March 12, 2020.

The ADB headquarters have been closed since March 12, 2020. Corridors in the building are looking empty.

A skeletal crew of staff, security guards, and cleaners work around the clock to keep the 'lights on' at ADB's headquarters, to ensure the building is ready to re-open at short notice.

Some staff, including security guards, and cleaners, are staying onsite.

ADB’s headquarters might be temporarily shut, but staff are busy working responding to the COVID-19 crisis.

ADB is deploying a $20 billion assistance package in support to our developing members with technical assistance and quick-disbursing grants for the health sector. Support for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, and domestic and regional trade is also included.

Sharing with One's Community

In the Philippines, ADB is working with the Government, the private sector, and in coordination with the Philippine Army, to deliver critical food supplies to up to at least 140,000 poor households in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces, areas hardest hit by the pandemic.

The Rapid Emergency Supplies Provision Project, dubbed 'Bayan Bayanihan,' is based on the Filipino Bayanihan approach, or the spirit of sharing what one has with one’s community. It brings immediate bridging assistance to poor households, while longer-term programs get under way.

ADB President Masa Asakawa visits the repacking operations of the Philippine Army in Fort Bonifacio on 6 April 2020.

From left: National Security Advisor Hermogenes Esperon, Jr., Amb. Marciano Paynor, Jr., President Asakawa, Ramesh Subramaniam of ADB, Lt. Gen. Gilbert Gapay, and Col. Alex Musngi.

President Asakawa visited an army packing and distribution center where the Commanding General of the Philippine Army, Lt. Gen. Gilbert Gapay, provided a tour of an operation run with military precision.

Visiting the frontline of the Bayan Bayanihan emergency food program on 6 April 2020, ADB President Masa Asakawa lent a helping hand to deliver needed supplies to poor homes in Metro Manila.

ADB President Masa Asakawa visiting the frontline of the Bayan Bayanihan emergency food program on 6 April 2020 in Metro Manila.

Each day, soldiers fill thousands of sacks with bags of rice, tinned goods, and other essential items, and deliver them to poor communities around Manila and nearby areas.

A beneficiary of the Bayan Bayanihan emergency food program. Barangay Hulong Duhat, Malabon City, 4 April 2020.

Beneficiaries of the Bayan Bayanihan emergency food program. Barangay Hulong Duhat, Malabon City, 4 April 2020.

The project will establish a template that might be replicable in other Asian countries confronting similar issues.

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The fight to quell the pandemic is far from over, and so is our work. We will provide more images and information capturing the resilience of communities, businesses, and countries across Asia and the Pacific, as ADB helps them tackle the vast human and economic impacts of the COVID-19 disease.

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