Students walk to attend classes as their school reopened after a gap of nearly one year due to the coronavirus pandemic in Srinagar on March 2, 2022. (TAUSEEF MUSTAFA / AFP)
JERUSALEM / BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN / HANOI / SINGAPORE / YANGON / CANBERRA / JAKARTA / WELLINGTON / SEOUL/ BENGALURU – Almost two years after India went into the world's biggest lockdown to slow the spread of COVID-19, students headed back to school in Maharashtra state on Wednesday, a sign of normal life resuming as infection rates fall.
India's daily coronavirus infections rose by less than 10,000 for a third straight day on Wednesday, a level last seen in late December before the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, data from the health ministry showed.
Last week, Maharashtra state minister Aaditya Thackeray said schools in the state's largest city, Mumbai, would resume pre-COVID-19 attendance, reinstating all activities in view of declining cases.
"Essentially it is more to do with the kind of severity India has seen, both amongst adults and children infected with the Omicron variant," said Uma Chandra Mouli Natchu, a professor of infectious diseases at St John's Research Institute in Bengaluru.
"It appears the disease is significantly milder for both vaccinated individuals as well as for children, even if they are unvaccinated," Natchu said.
India has fully vaccinated more than 765 million of its 940 million adult population and about 28 million teenagers aged 15-18, but has not started vaccinating children younger than 15.
In Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat, bazaars were back in full swing after a long hiatus.
Patrons streamed in to enjoy dinner and late-night snacks following the lifting of a curfew last week at Ahmedabad's popular Manek Chowk, a market that transforms into a hawker centre after dusk.
Similar signs of life resuming its normal pace abound across the country. Roads and trains are once again congested as people return to offices, movie theatres are reporting a surge in foot traffic, and in the city of Gurugram near the capital, New Delhi, restaurants and gaming parlours are packed.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks to the media during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra on Jan 6, 2022. (PHOTO / AFP)
Australia
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday he has tested positive for COVID-19.
Morrison said he was experiencing flu-like symptoms in a statement released on his official website late Tuesday night.
He tested daily since Sunday, including Tuesday morning, with all tests returning negative results, according to the statement.
"I took a further test this evening after developing a fever late today. The test was inconclusive so I took a PCR test tonight which returned a positive result late this evening," he said.
He is in isolation at home in Sydney, while his wife and children, having all tested negative, will isolate for seven days at home as close contacts.
Brunei
Brunei reported 4,220 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, another record daily high, bringing the national tally to 67,762.
As a country of 420,000 people, Brunei saw its daily cases exceeding the 4,000 mark for two straight days, after recording more than 3,000 cases for six straight days since last Tuesday.
The newly recorded cases were all local infections, the country's health ministry said.
A young woman receives the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at a makeshift mass vaccination clinic in Denpasar on Indonesia's resort island of Bali on July 6, 2021, as the Southeast Asian nation battles an unprecedented wave of new infections. (SONNY TUMBELAKA / AFP)
Indonesia
Indonesia has extended the shelf life of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine to nine months, as nearly six million doses it received in donations approached their expiration dates, a health ministry spokesperson told Reuters on Tuesday.
The decision underscores the challenges many developing countries face in their slow inoculation campaigns, as vaccines donated by wealthy countries arrive with a relatively short shelf life of just a few months or weeks.
Indonesia, which reported record daily infections in mid-February due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19, has fully vaccinated about 53 percent of its population of 270 million. That compares with more than 70 percent in richer nations.
Siti Nadia Tarmizi, a health ministry spokesperson, told Reuters it had six million doses of vaccines set to expire at the end of February, but only 200,000 of them had expired after it extended the shelf life of the AstraZeneca shot to nine months from six.
An AstraZeneca spokesperson said it supported the government's shelf-life extensions and that they "comply with the highest standards, in line with AstraZeneca's commitment to providing effective medicines of the highest quality."
The relatively short shelf life of AstraZeneca's vaccine is complicating the rollout to the world's poorest nations, according to officials and internal World Health Organization documents reviewed by Reuters last month.
Kurniasih Mufidayati, an Indonesian member of parliament overseeing health, called for the government to speed up vaccination on Monday.
A medical staff member wearing protective gear tends to a coronavirus patient in the COVID-19 ward at Beilinson Hospital Rabin Medical Centre in Israel's central city of Petah Tikva on Feb 1, 2022. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)
Israel
Israel on Tuesday opened its borders to foreign tourists who were not vaccinated against COVID-19, said a statement issued by Israel's Ministry of Health.
After the outbreak of the pandemic in the country, Israel closed its gates to all tourists in March 2020. Since early January this year, it has allowed entry for the vaccinated and recovered only.
The entry of unvaccinated tourists is subject to two PCR tests, to be taken before boarding the plane and after landing in Israel, as well as filling out an entry statement that includes a health declaration.
Another change that took effect on Tuesday exempts Israeli citizens from undergoing a PCR test before boarding, but only after landing in Israel.
All those entering Israel must enter quarantine for up to 24 hours until a negative result is obtained from the second PCR test.
On Tuesday, the ministry reported 8,372 new COVID-19 cases in Israel, bringing the total tally of infections to 3,637,543.
People wearing protective masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walk on the street in snow on Feb 10, 2022, in Tokyo. (EUGENE HOSHIKO / AP)
Japan
Japan prepared on Wednesday to extend infection controls in some regions amid high numbers of hospital patients hit by the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
The central government has received requests from five prefectures, including Osaka and Kyoto in western Japan, to extend measures set to expire on Sunday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.
Media said 10 prefectures, including Tokyo, the capital, were expected to seek an extension of two to three weeks for the curbs, which encompass shorter business hours and limits on the sale of alcohol.
A panel of health experts will meet later on Wednesday to advise on the state of the coronavirus battle.
February was the deadliest month with 4,856 fatalities, a tally by national broadcaster NHK showed. Most were elderly patients left vulnerable by a lagging vaccine booster effort that has covered just a fifth of the population.
A woman receives a shot of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Yangon, Myanmar, Aug 29, 2021. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
Myanmar
Myanmar's Foreign Affairs Ministry on Tuesday further extended the entry restrictions for all travelers until the end of March amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The extension will be applied to the entry of all travelers, the issuance of all types of visas and visa exemptions services until March 31.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transport and Communications issued a further extension of the suspension of international commercial flights till March 31 in an effort to prevent imported COVID-19 cases.
Myanmar's Central Committee on Prevention, Control and Treatment for COVID-19 also announced a further extension of all orders, announcements, directives previously issued by the respective union level government organizations and ministries until March 31.
Myanmar reported 2,346 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing the tally in the country to 590,237, according to a release from the Ministry of Health.
A demonstrator is arrested at a protest opposing coronavirus vaccine mandates in Wellington, New Zealand on March 2, 2022. (MARK MITCHELL / NEW ZEALAND HERALD VIA AP)
New Zealand
New Zealand police made a renewed push on Wednesday to end an anti-vaccine mandate protest that has disrupted the capital for the past three weeks, dismantling an encampment outside parliament and towing away vehicles.
Several fires broke out among tents just meters from the parliament building, sending up billows of smoke before being doused by police, a Reuters witness said, as officers tried to completely clear the grounds.
"It was an attack on our frontline police, it was an attack on our parliament, it was an attack on our values, and it was wrong," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a news conference after saying earlier it was time for the protest to end.
Police said earlier that 60 people were arrested and they had "gained significant ground" in their initial effort to clear the protesters. At least three officers were injured, police said.
But while some protesters packed up their tents and left, others resisted by throwing full water bottles, fire extinguishers and chairs, and by shouting abuse at police.
Authorities used loudspeakers to warn protesters they faced arrest for trespassing on parliament grounds. They also used pepper spray on some protesters. A Reuters witness saw a man in his underwear pouring milk over himself to dull the effects of pepper spray.
The protest began as a stand against COVID-19 vaccine mandates but was later joined by groups calling for an end to all pandemic restrictions.
New Zealand recorded 22,152 new community cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
A notice warning people not to gather in groups larger than five persons as part of restrictions to hald the spread of the coronavirus is displayed at Raffles Place financial business district in Singapore on Jan 4, 2022. (ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP)
Singapore
Singapore reported 24,080 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total tally to 748,504.
Of the new cases, 2,950 cases were detected through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 21,130 through ARTs (antigen rapid tests), according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health.
South Korea
South Korea reported a record daily high of 219,241 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Tuesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 3,492,686, the health authorities said Wednesday.
The daily caseload was sharply up from 138,993 in the previous day, topping 200,000 for the first time, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
Vietnam
Vietnam logged 98,762 new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, its new daily record, up 4,377 cases from Monday, according to its Ministry of Health.
The new infections, logged in 63 localities nationwide, included 98,743 domestically transmitted and 19 imported.
Vietnamese capital Hanoi remained the epidemic hotspot with 13,323 cases on Tuesday, also its highest-ever daily number, followed by northern Quang Ninh province with 4,011 cases, and northern Bac Ninh province with 3,933 cases.