The COVID-19 pandemic will not be the last of its kind. As the world charts a way towards an equitable and resilient recovery, Public Health and Social Measures (PHSMs) that were implemented since the beginning of the pandemic need to be made a permanent feature of health systems that can be activated and readily deployed to tackle sudden surges in infections going forward. Although PHSMs aim to blunt the spread of the virus, and in turn protect lives and preserve health system capacity, there are also unintended consequences attributed to them. Importantly, the interactions between PHSMs and their accompanying key indicators that influence the strength and duration of PHSMs are elements that require in-depth exploration. This research employs case studies from six Asian countries, namely Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam, to paint a comprehensive picture of PHSMs that protect the lives and livelihoods of populations. Nine typologies of PHSMs that emerged are as follows: (1) physical distancing, (2) border controls, (3) personal protective equipment requirements, (4) transmission monitoring, (5) surge health infrastructure capacity, (6) surge medical supplies, (7) surge human resources, (8) vaccine availability and roll-out and (9) social and economic support measures. The key indicators that influence the strength and duration of PHSMs are as follows: (1) size of community transmission, (2) number of severe cases and mortality, (3) health system capacity, (4) vaccine coverage, (5) fiscal space and (6) technology. Interactions between PHSMs can be synergistic or inhibiting, depending on various contextual factors. Fundamentally, PHSMs do not operate in silos, and a suite of PHSMs that are complementary is required to ensure that lives and livelihoods are safeguarded with an equity lens. For that to be achieved, strong governance structures and community engagement are also required at all levels of the health system.

The Mount Makiling Forest Reserve (MMFR) is a biodiversity hotspot and listed as one of the 170 conservation priority areas established by the Philippine government. Its flora and fauna diversity has been reported, but knowledge gap has been identified concerning the bacterial communities associated with the flora and fauna. This study focused on ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), which are dominant in forest canopy and play essential roles in the ecosystem functionality. A metagenomic sequencing approach based on amplified V3–V4 regions of the 16S rRNA was employed to investigate the bacterial communities associated with five arboreal ant species collected from MMFR. The collected ants were identified as Dolichoderus thoracicus, Myrmicaria sp., Colobopsis leonardi, Polyrhachis mindanaensis, and Polyrhachis semiinermis. The sequence analyses revealed that Proteobacteria, Spirochaetes, Firmicutes, Bacteroides, and Actinobacteria were the most abundant phyla. Individual analysis of the bacterial genera associated with the five ant species showed that unclassified members of Rhizobiaceae, Orbaceae, and Burkholderiaceae were dominant in D. thoracicus. Unclassified members of Rhizobiaceae, Spirochaetaceae, and Ruminococcaceae were dominant in Myrmicaria sp. On the other hand, Candidatus Blochmannia, and Wolbachia were abundant in Camponotini ants C. leonardi, P. mindanaensis, and P. semiinermis. Bray-Curtis distance and UPGMA cluster analyses showed that the microbiomes of the Camponotini group clustered together, while D. thoracicus and Myrmicaria sp. exhibited unique bacterial profiles. Predictive gene profile analysis showed that the most functional categories were those associated with metabolism and biosynthesis of amino acids, pathways for metabolism of nucleotide, amino sugars and nitrogen, and utilization of different carbon sources.