Britain is investing £25 million to boost pandemic preparedness and halt outbreaks in Southeast Asia, a known hotspot for dangerous new pathogens. The initiative, which announced its first grants this week, includes projects to bolster disease surveillance in remote communities, train specialist laboratory scientists, and run simulation exercises to stress-test the region’s ability to tackle emerging threats. In an exclusive interview the Minister for the Indo-Pacific, Seema Malhotra, told the Telegraph that the portfolio is an “example of how we are investing smartly” to keep UK nationals safe – within Southeast Asia and beyond. “Look, we have British nationals across the region, it’s a really important space for our growth, our prosperity, our security,” Ms Malhotra said during a trip to Bangkok. “But we also see that when pandemics start, they can spread very quickly – unless you’ve built the capacity to detect early, to respond very quickly, and to contain those outbreaks.…