Health care workers administer COVID-19 tests at a drive-through clinic in Sydney on Dec 31, 2021. (BIANCA DE MARCHI / AAP IMAGE VIA AP)
HANOI / COLOMBO / NEW DELHI / SINGAPORE / BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN / WELLINGTON / SEOUL – Australia recorded 43 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday, as it readies to welcome international tourists on Monday for the first time in nearly two years.
The country, which shut its borders in March of 2020, has been gradually reopening since November, allowing first Australians to travel, then international students and workers, and now leisure travellers.
Even Western Australia, the mining-heavy state that has kept strict borders controls for almost 700 days, has decided it can cope with the Omicron outbreak and will reopen to triple-vaccinated visitors. read more
The state on Saturday recorded 257 new community infections, its highest yet, and no deaths. Australia's deaths were reported mainly in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, states that continue to see several thousand daily cases or more.
Victoria, Australia's second-most populous state, will open a new quarantine hub for unvaccinated international residents on Monday.
"The Omicron variant has shown us we must continue to be flexible in our pandemic response – and the purpose-built (hub) will be vital to how we manage pandemics today and into the future," Lisa Neville, the state's police minister responsible for quarantining, said on Saturday.
Fully vaccinated travellers, Australians and international, are not required to quarantine in managed facilities.
Workers wearing protective suits spray disinfectant at Suri Seri Begawan Raja Pengiran Anak Damit Mosque in an effort to counter the spread of the COVID-19 in Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei on March 17, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)
Brunei
Brunei reported 2,988 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, another record high, bringing the national tally to 30,587.
As a country of 420,000 people, Brunei saw its total cases exceeding 30,000 on Friday, one day after the daily number exceeded the 2,000 mark for the first time.
The new cases were all local infections, the Health Ministry said.
One more COVID-19 patient died on Friday, bringing the total number of deaths to 108. The country also reported a total of 11,731 active cases, the ministry added.
The country is going through the third wave of COVID-19 and the number of cases is expected to exceed the total of the second wave, with the Omicron variant replacing the Delta variant as the dominant variant, said the ministry.
A health worker prepares to collect a swab sample from a woman to test for the COVID-19 at a community hall in Hyderabad on Jan 12, 2022. (NOAH SEELAM / AFP)
India
India has vaccinated over 80 percent of its adult population with both doses against COVID-19, said federal Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday.
"India is fast moving towards achieving the target of 100 percent vaccination," the health minister tweeted.
According to the official data released by the federal health ministry on Friday morning, more than 1.7 billion vaccine doses had been administered till Thursday evening.
New Zealand
New Zealand reported 1,901 new community cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, said the Ministry of Health in a statement.
Among the new infections, 1,240 were in the largest city of Auckland. The rest were reported in other parts of the country, including 249 in Waikato and 66 in Bay of Plenty.
In addition, 14 new cases of COVID-19 were detected at the New Zealand border, said the ministry.
There are currently 76 COVID-19 patients in New Zealand hospitals, but with no one being treated at the intensive care unit.
New Zealand has reported 28,360 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.
Singapore
Singapore reported 18,094 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the total tally to 551,519.
Of the new cases, 3,079 cases were detected through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 15,015 through ART (antigen rapid test) tests, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health.
Among the PCR cases, 2,934 were local transmissions and 145 were imported cases. Among the ART cases with mild symptoms and assessed to be of low risk, there were 14,952 local transmissions and 63 imported cases, respectively.
Anti-epidemic supplies provided by the Chinese government arrive in Honiara, capital of the Solomon Islands, on Feb 18, 2022. (THE CHINESE EMBASSY IN SOLOMON ISLANDS / HANDOUT VIA XINHUA)
Solomon Islands
A new batch of anti-epidemic supplies provided by the Chinese government arrived in the Solomon Islands on Friday to help the South Pacific island nation fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
The supplies included oxygen generators, oximeters, protective suits and over 300,000 test kits.
Chinese Ambassador to the Solomon Islands Li Ming said China is willing to further strengthen its cooperation and exchanges with the Solomon Islands in all areas in a bid to promote a better future for the bilateral relationship.
Solomon Islands Minister for Health and Medical Services Culwick Togamana expressed gratitude for the Chinese government and people.
The Solomon Islands is struggling to curb the local transmission of coronavirus, which continues to overload its health system.
Government data showed a total of 5,043 cases have been reported as of Wednesday since community transmission began in the South Pacific nation in January 2020, but health authorities believe that the figure is under-reported due to the limited testing capacity.
South Korea
South Korea reported 102,211 more COVID-19 cases as of midnight Friday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 1,858,009, the health authorities said Saturday.
The daily caseload was down from a record high of 109,831, but it hovered above 100,000 for the second straight day, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The recent resurgence was driven by infections in the Seoul metropolitan area amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, which became a dominant strain here.
Of the new cases, 23,135 were Seoul residents. The number of the newly infected people living in Gyeonggi province and the western port city of Incheon was 30,641 and 7,816, respectively.
Sri Lanka Army medic inoculates a woman with a booster shot of the coronavirus vaccine at a vaccination center in Colombo on Feb 1, 2022. (ISHARA S. KODIKARA / AFP)
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka's health officials said the country was seeing a rise in dengue and COVID-19 cases, and people should be vigilant and get tested for both as the viruses carried similar symptoms, local media reported here Friday.
According to official figures, a total of 9,503 dengue cases had been reported so far this year with 1,801 cases reported in February while 7,702 cases were reported in January.
The daily number of COVID-19 cases had surpassed 1,000 for the 19th consecutive day, showcasing a massive spread of the Omicron variant, health officials said.
The Health Ministry said that fever, headache and body ache had been identified as similar symptoms that could be visible in both diseases, and people should seek medical advice and get tested for both infections.
A man passes walks past a billboard on the coronavirus in Ho Chi Minh City on Dec 4, 2021. (NHAC NGUYEN / AFP)
Vietnam
Vietnam registered an all-time record number of daily COVID-19 infections on Friday, with 42,439 cases, an increase of 6,239 cases from Thursday, according to the Ministry of Health.
The new infections, logged in 63 localities nationwide, included 42,427 domestically transmitted and 12 imported.
The Vietnamese capital Hanoi remained the locality with the highest number of infections on Friday with 4,549 cases, followed by the northern Vinh Phuc province with 2,158 cases and the northern Quang Ninh province with 2,018 cases.
The infections brought the country's total tally to 2,685,463 with 39,358 deaths. Nationwide, as many as 2,261,180 COVID-19 patients, or 84 percent of the infections, have so far recovered.
More than 190.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the country, including 173.5 millions shots on people aged 18 and above, said the ministry.
As of Friday, it has registered nearly 2.68 million locally transmitted COVID-19 cases since the start of the current wave in April 2021, according to the ministry.