A health worker takes a nasal swab sample of an elderly man to test for COVID-19 during a door to door testing drive in Gauhati, India, June 4, 2021. (ANUPAM NATH / AP)
SINGAPORE / BANGKOK / PHNOM PENH / YANGON / SEOUL / ISTANBUL / ULAN BATOR / SUVA / NEW DELHI – Some of India's states are easing lockdown restrictions as coronavirus infections subside, with the world's second most-populous nation on Saturday logging its lowest daily case count in nearly two months.
The national capital territory of Delhi, the seat of India's federal government, was among those relaxing restrictions and will allow shops to open on alternate days. Shops with even numbers will open on one day while those with odd numbers will open the next day. Private offices will also now be allowed to operate at 50 percent of normal staffing levels.
India saw 120,529 new coronavirus cases emerge over the last 24 hours while deaths rose by 3,380. The country's total case tally stands at 28,694,879 while 344,082 people have died
"The coronavirus situation in Delhi is slowly getting better," Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said in an online news conference as he announced that the state will build oxygen storage capacity of 420 tonnes.
Kejriwal said the state would in future be prepared to deal with 37,000 new cases a day. Its peak thus far was 28,395 new infections on April 20.
In northern Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state, only night curfew restrictions remain for 55 of its 75 districts.
"Districts which have positive cases under 600 have been given permission to open but with restrictions, while cities with over 600 positive cases will be under lockdown till the next order," a local government spokesperson said.
Overall, India saw 120,529 new coronavirus cases emerge over the last 24 hours, while deaths rose by 3,380. The country's total case tally stands at 28,694,879 while 344,082 people have died.
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In the industrialized western state of Maharashtra, the local government will from June 7 allow malls, movie theatres, restaurants and offices to open regularly in districts where the positivity rate has fallen below 5 percent.
In the state of Gujarat, also in the west, all government and private offices will be allowed to operate fully staffed from June 7, instead of the current restriction of 50 percent.
The Gujarat government has also eased restrictions on commercial activities, allowing shops in 36 cities to remain open for longer.
In eastern Odisha state, lockdowns have been eased in three districts thanks to a decline in coronavirus cases while the southern state of Tamil Nadu now allows grocery retailers to open for most of the day and has permitted offices to operate with 30 percent capacity.
APEC
Ministers from Asia-Pacific trade group APEC are set to discuss on Saturday a proposal from New Zealand to remove tariffs on COVID-19 vaccines and related medical products, although some members consider the plan to be too ambitious.
In a move that could ease delays in delivering vaccines more widely, host New Zealand wants APEC's 21 members to agree on "best practices guidelines" on the movement of vaccines and related medical products across borders, a person familiar with the talks told Reuters.
Average APEC tariffs on vaccines are low at around 0.8 percent but other goods important in the vaccine supply chain face higher tariffs.
Alcohol solutions, freezing equipment, packaging and storage materials, vials and rubber stoppers face average tariff rates above 5 percent, and import tariffs can be as high as 30 percent in some APEC economies.
Senior officials have been in talks since May 18 and trade ministers will hold final discussions in a virtual meeting later on Saturday, after which a joint statement will be issued.
APEC ministers are also expected to discuss support for the waiving of intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, an issue which is currently under negotiation at the World Trade Organization.
Australia
Australia's second-most populous state Victoria on Saturday reported a small increase in locally acquired COVID-19 cases as authorities hunted for the source of the Delta variant that has been detected in a new cluster.
Five new local cases were reported, taking Victoria's total to 70 in the latest outbreak, including one recovered case, as the state capital Melbourne entered its second weekend of a hard lockdown, due to end on June 10. Curbs were eased for the rest of the state on Friday.
Saturday's count was up from four new locally acquired cases on Friday.
The new Delta variant cluster has grown to nine active cases, up by two from Friday including a case transmitted at a workplace.
Victoria's chief health officer, Brett Sutton, said the Melbourne lockdown could be lifted later next week as long as all cases have been tracked down, even if the source of the Delta variant that was first detected in India had still not been found.
So far, one in five Australians aged 16 and over have received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a Facebook post on Saturday.
Cambodia
Cambodia on Friday confirmed the country's first three cases of the COVID-19 variant that was first detected in India, Health Minister Mam Bunheng said in a statement.
"On June 4, 2021, laboratory testing by the Pasteur Institute in Cambodia found new COVID-19 variant B1617 on three patients, who are Cambodian laborers coming back from Thailand via a land border," he said.
The patients included two women, aged 27 and 43, and one man aged 46, the minister said, adding that two of them are undergoing treatment at hospitals in Battambang province while the other one is receiving treatment at a hospital in Oddar Meanchey province.
Cambodia has so far logged a total of 33,075 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 242 deaths and 25,544 recoveries, according to the health ministry.
Fiji
Fijian police recorded 29 arrests over the last 24 hours related to breaches of curfew orders and health restrictions in the island nation.
Fiji's Assistant Commissioner of Police Rusiate Tudravu said 17 people were traveling in a vehicle without a pass during curfew hours, three were loitering after curfew hours, three were found intoxicated and had breached health restrictions, among others.
There were 378 active cases, 189 recoveries and four deaths in the last 24 hours.
So far, 195,169 Fijians have received the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine while 4,615 have received both jabs.
Containers carrying coronavirus vaccines donated by the Japanese government are loaded onto a plane before its departure for Taiwan at Narita International Airport in Narita, east of Tokyo, June 4, 2021. (SADAYUKI GOTO / KYODO NEWS VIA AP)
Japan
Japan is planning to provide COVID-19 vaccines to Vietnam and Malaysia, the Yomiuri newspaper reported Saturday, without saying where it got the information.
Japan has received a request for vaccines from Vietnam, and could dispatch them as early as this month, public broadcaster NHK reported.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s administration is preparing to dispatch the vaccines as soon as this month, according to Yomiuri. The supply of the inoculations would be made outside the COVAX initiative, according to the report.
The government will offer Malaysia and Vietnam the AstraZeneca vaccine because it’s approved by both nations’ health authorities, according to the report. The amount of doses will be determined later, Yomiuri reported.
Japan is also considering making vaccines available to Pacific Island countries in a plan that may be announced at a teleconference summit later this month, according to the newspaper.
In another development, Meiji Holdings’ KM Biologics plans to file an application around the middle of 2022 to seek Japanese approval for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, Nikkei reports, citing Kengo Sonoda, a development manager at the company.
The company is planning to start a final phase of clinical trials as soon as this year with production planned at a site in Kumamoto precture, southern Japan.
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Mongolia
Dangaasuren Enkhbat, a Mongolian presidential candidate from the political alliance the Right Person Electorate Coalition, announced on Saturday that he and his wife have tested positive for COVID-19.
"So far, we have no symptoms. We are now under isolation," said Enkhbat, a former legislator, said in a statement.
Mongolia has set June 9 as the date for its next presidential election.
Also on Saturday, the health ministry said 1,393 new cases were reported, the highest daily tally so far, bringing the total caseload to 63,978.
Six more deaths were also reported, pushing the toll to 321, the ministry said, adding that 783 new recoveries were logged to take the overall recoveries to 53,595.
This photo taken on Jan 14, 2021 shows healthcare workers putting on personal protective gear in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Ayeyarwady COVID Center at the Thuwanna football stadium in Yangon, Myanmar. (SAI AUNG MAIN / AFP)
Myanmar
Myanmar on Friday reported its highest number of COVID-19 cases since health services and testing collapsed, adding to concerns over a growing outbreak near the border with India.
The 212 cases reported from across the country are low compared to many neighbors, but are the highest in over four months.
Many of the cases are from Chin State, bordering India, raising concerns that the more transmissible variant first found there is now spreading in Myanmar.
"Three people died yesterday alone. Many got scared," Lang Khan Khai from the Zomi Care and Development aid group told Reuters from the town of Tonzang, just over 20 kilometers from the border with India.
Medics are concerned that few cases are being detected. The ratio of confirmed infections to tests rose to over 11 percent on Thursday – the highest since just before the last big peak in cases.
The Health and Sports Ministry has imposed a stay-at-home order in four more towns of Chin, state-run media reported on Friday.
The stay-at-home order, which will be in effect on Saturday, will be applied to Tedim, Falam, Thantlang and Hakha after the towns recently saw increasing cases.
As of Friday, Myanmar has reported 144,157 confirmed cases. A total of 132,415 patients have recovered while the death toll stood at 3,221.
Nepal
Nepal asked its hospitals on Friday to reserve beds for children for fear another surge in coronavirus infections will hit them hard.
The move came as the government approved for emergency use the COVID-19 vaccine made by Sinovac Biotech of China. According to the Department of Drug Administration, the vaccine was approved for the immunization of individuals aged 18 or above.
"Hospitals and medical institutions must set aside at least 20 percent of beds for children, who are likely to suffer the most in the potential third and fourth waves of coronavirus," the Ministry of Health and Population said in a statement.
"Hospitals must also ensure the availability of enough oxygen."
READ MORE: M'sia warns of rising number of virus deaths, cases among kids
Daily infections in the Himalayan nation are hovering around 5,000 after hitting a peak of more than 9,000 in early May. Nepal had reported fewer than 100 daily cases in March. It has reported 581,560 infections in total and 7,731 deaths.
Donors have rushed aid including oxygen, protective gear, drugs and face masks to the country, which is also struggling to secure vaccines after neighboring India stopped exports to meet its local demand.
Pakistan
Pakistan has started producing the single dose Chinese CanSinoBio COVID-19 vaccine to be able to deliver 3 million doses a month, health officials said.
Branded PakVac, an initial batch of 118,000 doses of the vaccine is ready to be delivered to the government on Friday, the National Institute of Health (NIH) said two days after the inauguration of the production plant in Islamabad.
To be more cost effective, 10 doses of PakVac will be filled into one vial. According to the officials PakVac will save around 25 percent on vaccine cost, which according to government figures amounts to US$250 million so far.
Pakistan’s inoculation program has administered 8.5 million doses of coronavirus vaccines so far, according to official figures.
Pakistan reported 1,923 new cases on Friday with a positivity rate of 3.82 percent, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said on Saturday.
The country's caseload stood at 930,511, including 860,385 recoveries, according to NCOC.
Meanwhile, 84 more deaths were also reported, bringing the toll to 21,189.
There are 48,937 active cases who are under treatment across the country, including 3,452 in critical condition.
Singapore
Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Friday night that it will release Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccines from its current stock of 200,000 doses to around 20 private clinics and let them be licensed providers for the Chinese vaccine under the Special Access Route (SAR).
These private clinics can provide the vaccine to all Singapore citizens, permanent residents and persons holding Long-Term Visit Passes.
The MOH said the licensed providers will be allowed to charge patients receiving the vaccine a fee to cover their costs. For Singapore's 34,000 individuals who were previously rejected from taking the mRNA vaccines or who were allergic to the mRNA vaccine, the government will reimburse them this fee if they decide to receive the Sinovac vaccine.
READ MORE: Singapore allows Sinovac vaccine after WHO emergency approval
In another development, the MOH said on Friday that Singapore will tighten border measures for travelers from China's southern Guangdong province.
The announcement came on the same day Singapore reported 13 new cases, seven of which were locally transmitted and six imported, bringing the tally to 62,158. The toll remained at 33.
South Korea
South Korea reported another 744 cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Friday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 143,596.
The daily caseload was up from 695 the prior day, marking the highest in 22 days since May 14.
Two more deaths were confirmed, raising the death toll at 1,971.
South Korea has administered 7,455,726 vaccine doses. A total of 2,277,137 people have been fully vaccinated.
Thailand
As Thailand continues to battle its worst wave of COVID-19 outbreak since the pandemic began, authorities said the popular resort island Phuket remained on track to reopen to vaccinated foreign visitors from July 1.
The reopening plan, part of a "Phuket Sandbox" program, was approved Friday at a meeting of the Center for the Economic Situation Administration, chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Under the plan, which is yet subject to approval by the cabinet of ministers, foreign visitors from low-risk and medium-risk countries to Phuket could be exempted from mandatory quarantine if they have been fully vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccines certified by the World Health Organization.
The visitors have to stay on the island before they can go to other parts of Thailand.
The country also planned to allow vaccinated foreign visitors in nine other provinces, including the capital Bangkok and popular tourist destinations Pattaya and Chiang Mai, in the third or fourth quarter of the year.
Turkey
Turkey on Friday confirmed 6,169 new COVID-19 cases, raising the tally to 5,276,468, according to the health ministry.
The death toll rose by 94 to 47,976 while the total recoveries increased by 7,617 to 5,147,610.
Vietnam
Vietnam detected 91 more local virus cases with two more provinces reporting first cases, pushing the nationwide locally-acquired tally from late April to 5,340, the health ministry said.
As of Saturday, 39 out of a total 63 provinces and cities, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh Ciy, have virus infections.
In northern Bac Ninh province, where Samsung has factories, authorities said the number of virus infections dropped to a multiple-day low of 12 on Friday.
The nation’s second-worst virus-hit province has recorded 1,031 infections from May 5, according to the provincial government’s website.
Johnson & Johnson representatives said on Friday they will study the possibility of transferring COVID-19 vaccine production technology to Vietnam following the country’s request, according to the government’s website.
The company, which plans to register its COVID-19 vaccine in Vietnam, said it will try to speed up its vaccine supply process via the COVAX facility.