A Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation employee makes announcements during a special vaccination drive against COVID-19 at a vegetable market in Hyderabad, India, Thursday, June 24, 2021. (MAHESH KUMAR A. / AP)
JAKARTA / SEOUL / HANOI / AMMAN / BANGKOK / SUVA / MANILA / RIYADH / KUALA LUMPUR / DHAKA / YANGON / KATHMANDU / JERUSALEM / ANKARA / TOKYO / NEW DELHI / SYDNEY / WELLINGTON / BENGALURU / ALMATY / ULAN BATOR / PHNOM PENH – India will miss a target to administer over a half billion COVID-19 vaccine doses by the end of the month as Bharat Biotech – maker of its only approved homegrown shot – struggles to boost output, an analysis of government data showed on Monday.
India has undertaken one of the world's largest vaccination drives and has so far distributed some 430 million doses – more than any country except China, but less than many countries relative to its population.
The government said in May it would make 516 million shots available by the end of July. It wants to inoculate all its estimated 944 million adults by December. read more
To meet the July-end target, however, authorities will have to more than triple average daily vaccinations to 14 million doses. But that will not be possible, based on the latest supply projections for Bharat Biotech's Covaxin vaccine.
The government had been counting on deliveries of 60 million to 70 million Covaxin doses monthly from July or August.
But Bharat Biotech will only supply 25 million doses this month and 35 million in August as a new production line in the southern city of Bengaluru takes time to come online, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya told parliament last week.
Mandaviya added that the supply shortfall "would not affect our immunisation programme".
The health ministry did no immediately respond to a request for comment. Bharat Biotech declined to comment on its production.
Indonesia
Indonesia is expecting to receive 45 million more doses of COVID-19 vaccines in August, health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin told a virtual news conference on Monday.
They will include vaccines from Sinovac, Moderna and Pfizer, he said.
Budi also said that hospital bed occupancies have gone down in its capital city of Jakarta, but are rising outside of Java island.
Indonesia extended its COVID-19 restrictions by a week to Aug 2 on Sunday to try to curb infections, after the government said it would add more intensive care units amid a rise in deaths.
Indonesia has become Asia's COVID-19 epicentre with hospitals deluged, particularly on the densely populated island of Java and on Bali, where oxygen supplies are running thin.
Indonesia last week reported record-high deaths on four separate days, the last of which was 1,566 deaths on Friday, bringing cumulative deaths to more than 83,000.
Indonesia's Health Ministry said Sunday that COVID-19 cases in the country rose by 38,679 within the past 24 hours to 3,166,505 with the death toll adding by 1,266 to 83,279.
Malaysia
Malaysia recorded a fresh high of 207 single-day death toll from COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the total deaths to 8,201, according to the Health Ministry.
Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that another 14,516 new COVID-19 infections were reported, of which three are imported and 14,513 are local transmissions, bringing the national total to 1,027,954.
A total of 9,372 more patients have been released after recovery, bringing the total cured and discharged to 853,913, or 83.1 percent of all cases.
Malaysia will not extend a national state of emergency when it ends on Aug 1, state news agency Bernama reported on Monday, citing law minister Takiyuddin Hassan.
The government will not ask the king to extend the emergency, which was imposed over the country’s coronavirus outbreak, he said. Malaysia has been under emergency rule since January.
Singapore
Singapore aims to relax more virus curbs, including starting to allow quarantine-free travel in September, marking the first time it’s set out a timeline to reopen borders that have been mostly shut for more than a year.
The Southeast Asian city-state expects to have fully vaccinated 80 percent of its population by then, placing the nation in a solid position to move forward with reopening, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong told Parliament on Monday.
That will allow authorities to ease measures, including allowing larger gatherings of fully vaccinated people. The country also will be able to start reopening borders and establishing travel corridors with other countries or regions that have infections under control.
“While other countries may have come to terms with a certain level of COVID-19 cases and even deaths, this is not the choice we want to make in Singapore,” Wong said.
“At the same time, there is no need to wait for everyone to be vaccinated before we begin to open up. That would mean holding back the entire reopening timeline until much later in the year, which is not tenable.”
Singapore was aiming to have two-thirds of the population vaccinated by its Aug 9 independence day, after which it planned to ease more measures. But the outbreaks and growing concern that 200,000 elderly have yet to be vaccinated prompted authorities to tighten curbs, raising questions as to whether the city-state was deviating from its reopening path.
“The answer is a clear no. We are determined to get to our destination of being a COVID-resilient Singapore. But our journey must take into account public health realities,” Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong said in a separate speech to Parliament.
Once key inoculation levels have been reached, Wong said, fully vaccinated people may be able to travel without serving a 14-day hotel quarantine on their return. Depending on the risk level of the countries visited, quarantine can be replaced with a rigorous testing regime, or the quarantine can be shortened to seven days and served at home. Unvaccinated individuals can also travel, but will have to quarantine.
Staff get ready to process residents at a newly opened COVID-19 vaccination center in a suburb of Sydney on July 26, 2021, as around half of Australia's 25 million largely unvaccinated residents are currently under stay-at-home orders. (SAEED KHAN / AFP)
Australia
Sydney’s daily COVID-19 cases climbed and are expected to keep rising after thousands took to the streets over the weekend in defiance of the lockdown restrictions sweeping parts of Australia.
The city of almost 6 million people recorded 145 new cases Monday, up by a handful from the day before, with half of the people active in the community while infectious. There have been 2,226 cases since the latest outbreak began in mid-June, fueled by the contagious delta variant. The majority of cases were recorded in areas of southwest Sydney.
The lockdown affecting Sydney will almost certainly be extended past Friday, when it is due to end, New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters at a regular morning briefing. Details of an extension and public activity restrictions are expected in the coming days.
“We might need to go harder in some areas and release some settings in others,” she said.
Case numbers in Australia’s most populous city could continue rising after a weekend of protests that defied restrictions on crowd sizes, authorities said, and have the potential to become a superspreader event.
Thousands of anti-lockdown protesters on Saturday flooded the country’s largest cities, some clashing with police. Over 50 people have been charged for defying public health orders, with more charges expected with police receiving over 5,000 tip-offs from members of the public.
the neighboring state of Victoria recorded just 11 new cases in the past 24 hours, none of which were exposed to the community while infectious. Victoria, which has been under tighter restrictions than New South Wales, looks set to exit lockdown Tuesday.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh reported 11,291 new COVID-19 cases and 228 new deaths on Sunday, making the tally at 1,164,635 and death toll at 19,274, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.
Cambodia
Cambodia on Monday reported 303 new domestic COVID-19 cases, a remarkable drop from its peak of 991 cases on June 30, the Ministry of Health (MoH) said in a statement.
However, the Southeast Asian nation had seen a significant surge in imported cases, the ministry said, adding that the kingdom found 475 imported cases on Monday, sharply up from 139 at June's end.
Authorities attributed the fall in domestic infections to higher COVID-19 vaccination rates and the increase in imported cases to importations by migrant workers returning from neighbouring Thailand.
To date, Cambodia had registered a total of 73,701 COVID-19 cases including 9,152 imported cases, the ministry said, adding that 22 more fatalities had been recorded Monday, bringing the overall death toll to 1,305.
Fiji
Fiji has upgraded restrictions as more COVID-19 cases are reported, according to the health authorities.
According to Permanent Secretary for Health James Fong on Sunday, all unnecessary movements should be restricted from Monday, and Fijians are urged to stay home as much as possible.
Movement outside home must only be for approved employment purposes, medical purposes or to get groceries. To facilitate this, the curfew hours throughout the Western Division will be effective from 6:00 pm to 4:00 am like the capital Suva.
Israel
Israel's Ministry of Health reported 1,036 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the tally in the country to 860,344.
The death toll from the virus in Israel rose by two to 6,460. The total recoveries climbed to 842,907 after 1,159 newly recovered cases were added, it said.
Officials wipe down seats to disinfect them, to halt the spread of the coronavirus, after the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games men's group C first round football match between Egypt and Spain at Sapporo Dome in Sapporo on July 22, 2021. (ASANO IKKO / AFP)
Japan
Japan on Monday started accepting applications for so-called vaccine passports for people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to travel internationally, local media reported.
According to the Japanese government, Italy, Austria, Turkey, Bulgaria and Poland have agreed to ease COVID-19 quarantine rules for the holders of the Japanese certificates, and South Korea will accept them as one of the documents required to exempt holders from quarantine requirements.
The Japanese government is currently negotiating with other countries to expand the use of its vaccine passports.The vaccination certificates will be official records issued free of charge by municipalities, showing information about an administered vaccine, the vaccination date, and personal information such as name and passport number.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 1,763 COVID-19 cases on Sunday, the third day since the Olympic Games began in the Japanese capital.
Infections have been on the rise in recent weeks, reaching 1,979 on Thursday, the highest since January.
Jordan
The Jordanian government on Sunday ordered an investigation into a power outage incident that caused at least one death late Saturday at a private hospital rented by the government to treat COVID-19 patients here.
The investigation aims to reveal the causes of the power outage and the death case reported afterward, and the impartiality and integrity of the probe results will be ensured, said Minister of State for Media Affairs Sakher Dudin in a statement.
According to local Ammon News Agency, the husband of a woman who died in the incident said the power outage lasted for about 24 minutes and the medical staff had tried to rescue his wife but to no avail, adding that the civil defense personnel had also rushed to rescue the patients.
Health Minister Firas Al-Hawari visited the hospital and confirmed to local media that two patients had died, while the first death was recorded some 20 minutes before the power cut.
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan reported 6,637 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, a daily record for the Central Asian nation which is once again tightening restrictions to curb the fresh spike in infections.
The government also reported 84 cases of pneumonia with negative PCR tests which were likely to be caused by COVID-19.
Most infections were reported in the country’s two biggest cities, Almaty and Nur-Sultan, where authorities last week limited the working hours of businesses such as restaurants and shopping malls and closed some venues altogether such as indoor swimming pools.
About 5.1 million people have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot in the country of 19 million, and 3.3 million have been fully inoculated.
ALSO READ: Malaysia's parliament to meet as virus infections surge.
Mongolia
Mongolia is planning to inoculate its citizens with a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine, Health Minister Sereejav Enkhbold said Monday.
Enkhbold made the remarks during a meeting of the national disaster risk reduction council.
"We are preparing to introduce the third doses of COVID-19 vaccine starting late August as part of further measures to combat the pandemic," he said.
Myanmar
Myanmar reported 4,998 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the tally in the country to 269,525 on Sunday, according to a release from the Ministry of Health and Sports.
The death toll reached 7,111 after 355 more fatalities were reported in the past 24 hours, the release said.
A health worker inoculates a physically challenged man with a dose of the US Johnson and Johnson vaccine against the coronavirus at the Nepal Disabled Association Khagendra New Life Center in Kathmandu on July 19, 2021. (PRAKASH MATHEMA / AFP)
Nepal
The ongoing lockdown in Nepal's Kathmandu Valley was extended for 10 more days on Sunday till Aug. 4, though most of the restrictive measures have been relaxed in past weeks.
"We extended the lockdown by keeping certain activities under the prohibited list," Kali Prasad Parajuli, chief district officer of the Kathmandu district, told Xinhua. "The health protocols should be followed to carry out activities in the sectors where the provisions of lockdown have been relaxed."
Sporting events, swimming pools, theaters, mass meetings, rallies, cultural and religious events are still banned, as decided by the Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts in the valley.
The Kathmandu Valley and many other parts of Nepal have been put under lockdown since April 29 to contain a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with the reduction in new cases since June, the restrictive measures have been eased in the valley while the lockdown was extended time and again.
Nepal's Health Ministry, citing "a spike in the infection rate" following the relaxed measures, warned on Thursday of an increasing possibility of a third wave of the coronavirus to hit the country.
New Zealand
New Zealand on Monday reported three historical cases of COVID-19 in recent returnees in managed isolation facilities, with no new cases in the community.
The three historical cases came from the Philippines and Uzbekistan and have remained in managed isolation and quarantine facilities in Auckland and Christchurch, said a ministry statement.
Pakistan
Pakistan’s new infections rose to 3,752 in the past 24 hours, the highest in over two months, according to data released Monday.
The southern Sindh province, which includes Karachi, increased restrictions such as closure of schools, wedding halls, dining out and indoor gyms.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ordered on Sunday medical aid to Malaysia, including 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The assistance, through the King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Action (KSRelief), aims to help Malaysia control the rapid spread of the pandemic.
South Korea
South Korea kicked off COVID-19 vaccinations for people ages 55-59 on Monday to speed up the pace of its inoculation campaign, as the country battles the fourth wave of infections.
The rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations for people in their upper 50s had sputtered to a week-long halt this month after a record high number of new cases sparked a rush for shots, exhausting available supplies and crashing an official reservation website.
About 6.17 million people, or 84 percent of those in their 50s, have signed up for vaccinations last week, and authorities switched to Pfizer/BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna shot for some people in the group because of fluctuations in shipment schedule.
South Korea has prioritised immunising the elderly, the vulnerable and frontline healthcare workers. It has inoculated 33 percent of its 52 million population with at least one dose, while 13 percent have been fully inoculated.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported 1,318 new coronavirus cases for Sunday. Total infections in the country stand at 190,166, with 2,077 deaths.
A medical worker takes a nasal sample from a man during a COVID-19 testing at a makeshift testing site at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, July 15, 2021. (Ahn Young-joon / AP)
South Korea said on Sunday it will tighten social distancing rules across most of the country this week, warning that its worst-ever COVID-19 wave might spread further in the summer holiday season.
The curbs will be increased to Level 3 on a four-level scale, which will mean a 10 pm dining curfew and ban on gatherings of more than four people, from Tuesday for two weeks for most areas except for some small counties.
"What's most concerning is the virus' recent spread in the non-capital areas," President Moon Jae-in told an intra-agency meeting reviewing efforts in the campaign against the coronavirus.
South Korea said 32.9 percent of its population have had the first round of vaccine. The country has given 6.86 million doses and 13.4 percent of its people are fully vaccinated. South Korea added 1,318 new cases.
Thailand
Thailand reported 15,376 new infections on Monday, the highest single-day increase since the pandemic began. That took the nation’s cumulative cases to 512,678, according to the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration. The country also reported 87 fatalities and 6,782 recoveries on Monday.
ALSO READ: Asia's air travel may take three years to recover from pandemic
The Philippines
The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported on Monday 6,664 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 1,555,396.
The death toll climbed to 27,247 after 23 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH added.
Turkey
Turkey's number of daily COVID-19 cases has nearly tripled compared to early July as the country reported 14,230 new cases on Sunday, a new record since May 11.
The number of daily COVID-19 infections in Turkey was about 5,000 in early July. Turkey reported 14,497 new COVID-19 cases on May 11, after which the number started to decline. The latest figure shows a new resurgence in the infections.
Turkey's tally of infections rose to 5,601,608 on Sunday, the Turkish Health Ministry said. The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 55 to 50,934, while 5,211 more people recovered in the last 24 hours.
A man rides a scooter on a quiet street in Vung Tau, Vietnam, Sunday, July 18, 2021. Vietnam has put its entire southern region in a two-week lockdown starting midnight Sunday, as confirmed daily COVID-19 cases exceeded 3,000 for the third day in a row. (HAU DINH / AP)
Vietnam
Vietnam's current COVID-19 epicenter Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday night announced that a citywide curfew will be imposed from Monday.
According to the decision by municipal authorities, between 6:00 pm and 6:00 am local time the next day, all outside movements will be prohibited across the city.
All activities will also be suspended during the curfew except for emergency medical care or coordination activities concerning COVID-19, local media VnExpress reported, citing the authorities.
Ho Chi Minh City has been under the country's strictest social distancing rules since July 9 under the government's Directive 16, which includes a stay-at-home order, a ban on gatherings of more than two people and the suspension of public transport.
Vietnam reported 2,708 new COVID-19 cases between 7 pm local time Sunday and 6 am local time Monday, taking the total tally in the country to 101,173, according to the country's Ministry of Health.
The new infections brought the total tally to 98,465 with 370 deaths, the ministry said.
Separately, Vietnam may get more COVID-19 vaccine donations from the United States as it struggles to control outbreaks of the fast-spreading Delta variant, the country's ambassador to the United States said on Sunday.
Vietnam took delivery of a shipment of 3 million Moderna doses from the United States on Sunday, which brought the amount given by the United States, via the global COVAX vaccine scheme, to 5 million doses.
Health Minister Health Nguyen Thanh Long said on Sunday that construction of a plant producing vaccines under US technology was underway, adding that production would start in the first half of 2022. It was not clear if he was referring to the same plan mentioned by the foreign ministry.