An Iranian pedestrian wearing protective mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic, waits to cross the Azadi street in the capital Tehran on April 20, 2021. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)
ANKARA / YANGON / CAIRO – More than 100,000 nurses have been infected with COVID-19 in Iran since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020, of whom 120 have died, Iran's Nursing Organization said on Tuesday.
Chief of the organization Mohammad Mirzabeigi said that without the nurses' sacrifice for taking care of the patients, the crisis could not have been controlled in the country.
Soon after recovering from the virus, the nurses resume their duty, Mirzabeigi was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
Iran on Tuesday started mass production of its domestic vaccine for COVID-19, named COV-Iran Barekat, Tasnim news agency reported.
Iran plans to produce 1 million doses of COV-Iran Barekat by May 21, and around 10 million doses of the vaccine will be supplied by June, said Hojjat Niki Maleki, director of the information department of the Barekat Foundation, which is mass-producing the vaccine.
Iran's COVID-19 death toll has risen to 75,261, after 351 new deaths were registered in the last 24 hours, the Iranian health ministry said Monday.
Meanwhile, 18,408 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed, raising the country's total infections to 2,673,219, the Ministry of Health and Medical Education said in a written briefing published on its official website.
A total of 2,127,192 people have recovered from the disease or been discharged from hospitals across the country, while 5,533 remain in intensive care units, the ministry added.
It noted that 17,206,735 tests have so far been carried out across the country.
Australia
Australia's Victoria state reported a locally acquired COVID-19 case for the first time in more than two months on Tuesday, sending authorities searching for the source of the infection.
A man in his 30s, who recently returned from overseas and had completed his hotel quarantine in South Australia state, tested positive for the virus on Tuesday morning, authorities said.
The infected person started developing flu-like symptoms over the weekend after reaching Victoria last Tuesday, the health department said in a statement. It was not immediately clear when he finished his hotel quarantine.
Australia closed its borders to all but citizens and permanent residents in March 2020 and international arrivals, except from New Zealand, must go through a two-week hotel quarantine at their own expense.
Virus-exposed locations are being identified, while close contacts of the man have been asked to undergo tests and self-isolate.
Australia's Federal Court has rejected a legal challenge to the government's Indian travel ban, as Justice Tom Thawley dismissed the first two arguments of the four-pronged bid to overturn the ban.
The ban has made it a criminal offence under the Biosecurity Act to try and enter Australia within 14 days of being in India.
Lawyers for Gary Newman, a 73-year-old Melbourne man who has been stuck in India amid the coronavirus pandemic since March 2020, told the court that the controversial ban contravened his common law right to return home.
But the court agreed with government lawyers that the Biosecurity Act prevailed over such rights if it was needed to protect the national interest.
The Biosecurity Act gives the minister for health Greg Hunt the power to introduce emergency powers that are "appropriate and adapted to achieve the purpose" for which they are intended.
It includes the power to "prevent or control" entry or exit of a human disease from the country.
The tourism industry has warned the Australian government that it is being crippled by uncertainty over when international borders will reopen.
Peak industry body the Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF) recently said the government's failure to set a date for reopening the country's international borders was "devastating" its recovery from the pandemic.
Thailand
Thailand on Tuesday reported 1,919 new cases of COVID-19 and 31 new fatalities, according to the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) spokesperson Taweesin Visanuyothin.
Of the new cases, 1,902 were domestic infections while the 17 others were imported cases, Taweesin said.
The infections brought the total number of confirmed cases to 86,924 in the Southeast Asian country, with more than 50,000 of them detected since the third wave of COVID-19 started in early April.
A man cycles along the Marina Bay promenade in Singapore on May 7, 2021. (PHOTO / AFP)
Vietnam
Hanoi banned gatherings of more than 10 people in public places and requested the suspension of non-essential meetings and events, according to a post on the health ministry’s website.
The Vietnamese capital city, which is asking residents to leave home for essential reasons only, closed parks after a new outbreak centered in North Vietnam began on April 27.
Vietnam is seeking the transfer of mRNA technology to domestically manufacture COVID-19 vaccines, state media reported on Tuesday, as officials warned of supply issues until the end of the year.
MRNA vaccines, like that developed jointly by BionTech and Pfizer, prompt the human body to make a protein that is part of the virus, triggering an immune response.
"Given the currently limited supply to Vietnam, especially as the COVID-19 situation is showing complicated developments, the health ministry has met with a World Health Organization representative to facilitate the negotiations on transferring of mRNA technology," the Vietnam News Agency reported.
Governments are looking to build up local vaccine production after manufacturing setbacks slowed rollouts in some countries.
Vaccine makers have come under growing pressure to free up their patents to aid poor countries. BioNTech and other COVID-19 vaccine makers have said they were already transferring vital production knowledge to other parts of the world.
On Monday, BioNTech announced plans to set up a regional centre and a new vaccine factory in Singapore.
Vietnam has been praised for its record in containing COVID-19 outbreaks quickly through targeted mass testing and a strict, centralised quarantine programme.
But a new outbreak emerged late last month and has already reached 25 of its 63 provinces, with a daily record 129 cases reported on Monday, although infections are still relatively low at 501 in the past two weeks.
Vietnam reported 48 new COVID-19 cases from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. local time Tuesday, including 43 locally transmitted and five imported, raising the total confirmed cases in the country to 3,537, according to its Ministry of Health.
Indonesia
Indonesia is adding hospital beds in anticipation of a jump in COVID-19 infections after Eid holidays in the country that’s home to the world’s largest Muslim population.
The number of coronavirus cases will probably increase as people continue to gather and travel during the break despite a government travel ban, with holidays usually leading to a 40 percent-60 percent jump in cases, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said in an interview on Tuesday.
Every year, more than 80 million Indonesians typically travel to their hometowns to celebrate Eid, a holiday marked by gatherings and family reunions after a month of daily fasting. This time, just like last year, people are restricted from traveling home, though there are frequent reports of those flouting the rules.
Around 70,000 hospital beds are being allocated to treat coronavirus patients across the nation, out of a total of 390,000 beds available nationally, said Sadikin. Indonesia has around 70,000 intensive care units operating in the country, 7,500 of which are dedicated for Covid-19 patients, he said.
More than 1.7 million Indonesians have been infected and almost 48,000 have died, making it the worst outbreak in Southeast Asia. Daily new cases peaked in January at around 14,500 after Christmas and year-end holidays, before gradually falling to around 4,000 as the nationwide vaccination program began and the government continued to impose restrictions on mobility.
A health ministry study has shown that vaccination, which kicked off in January, has succeeded in bringing down the number of severe cases and reducing death rates among health workers to zero. More than 13 million people have received at least their first dose, with the government targeting to inoculate 181.5 million people to achieve herd immunity.
Sadikin’s concern comes as India, the world’s second most populous country, becomes the new epicenter of the global pandemic and reports record numbers of new infections each day, overwhelming its health system.
The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 5,021 within one day to 1,723,596, with the death toll adding by 247 to 47,465, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
According to the ministry, 5,592 more people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 1,580,207.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh reported 1,230 new COVID-19 cases and 33 new deaths on Tuesday, making the tally at 776,257 and death toll at 12,005, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.
The official data showed that 14,184 samples were tested in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh. The total number of recovered patients in the country stood at 715,321 including 3,044 new recoveries on Tuesday, said the DGHS.
Oman
The Omani health ministry on Tuesday announced 576 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the sultanate to 202,713, the official Oman News Agency reported.
Meanwhile, 784 people recovered during the past 24 hours, taking the overall recoveries to 186,391, while 10 fatalities were reported, pushing the death toll to 2,148 since the pandemic broke out in the country, according to a ministry statement.
India
India’s coronavirus crisis showed scant sign of easing on Tuesday, with a seven-day average of new cases at a record high and international heath authorities warning the country’s variant of the virus poses a global concern.
India's daily coronavirus cases rose by 329,942, while deaths from the disease rose by 3,876, according to the health ministry. India's total coronavirus infections are now at 22.99 million, while total fatalities rose to 249,992.
India leads the world in the daily average number of new deaths reported, accounting for one in every three deaths reported worldwide each day, according to a Reuters tally.
The seven-day average of new cases is at a record high of 390,995.
The World Health Organization said the coronavirus variant first identified in the country last year was being classified as a variant of global concern, with some preliminary studies showing that it spreads more easily.
“We are classifying this as a variant of concern at a global level,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead on COVID-19, told a briefing in Geneva on Monday. “There is some available information to suggest increased transmissibility.”
Nations around the globe have sent oxygen cylinders and other medical gear to support India's crisis, but many hospitals around the nation are struggling with a shortage of the life-saving equipment.
Saudi Arabia
Foreign citizens arriving in Saudi Arabia must quarantine for a week in government-approved accommodation starting May 20 to combat the spread of COVID-19, the Saudi civil aviation authority (GACA) said on Monday.
As the kingdom reopens, exempted individuals such as Saudi citizens, flight crews and diplomats will have to quarantine at home unless they are vaccinated, state news agency SPA said, citing an interior ministry official.
Airlines are required to contract accommodation approved by the tourism ministry to house people in quarantine. The cost will be added to airfare.
Fully vaccinated people do not need to quarantine if they present a vaccination certificate.
The Philippines
The Philippines has detected its first two cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in India, its health ministry said on Tuesday.
The variant, known as B.1.617, had been confirmed in two Filipino workers who returned in April from the United Arab Emirates and Oman, Alethea De Guzman, director of the ministry's epidemiology bureau, told a news conference, adding they had been in isolation since coming back.
In a bid to prevent the entry of a variant, the Philippines has temporarily barred travelers coming from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh from entering the country.
Kyrgyzstan
More than 43,000 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in Kyrgyzstan, Deputy Minister of Health and Social Development Uluk-Bek Bekturganov said at a briefing on Tuesday.
According to the data, 447 people were vaccinated in the republic during the past 24 hours, with 112 having received both doses. In total, since the start of the vaccination program, 43,127 people have been vaccinated in Kyrgyzstan, with 6,010 of them having received a second dose.
Turkey
Turkey on Monday registered 13,604 new COVID-19 cases, including 1,734 symptomatic patients, raising the total number of cases in the country to 5,044,936, according to its health ministry.
The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 282 to 43,311, while the total recoveries climbed to 4,743,871 after 26,953 more people recovered in the last 24 hours.
The rate of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients stands at 4 percent and the number of seriously ill patients is 2,983 in the country, said the ministry.
A total of 213,863 tests were conducted over the past day, with the overall number of tests in Turkey reaching 49,604,004.
Turkey started mass COVID-19 vaccination on Jan. 14 after the authorities approved the emergency use of the CoronaVac vaccine. More than 14,648,000 people have been vaccinated so far.
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Iraq
The Iraqi health authorities said on Monday that Iraqi laboratories don't have the ability to identify the double mutant coronavirus variant detected in India until a new testing lab is erected.
Riyadh Abdul-Amir, head of the ministry's Public Health Department, told the official Iraqi News Agency that the coronavirus variant detected in India cannot be identified until the building of the new genetic testing laboratory for viruses is completed in two months.
"We still do not know whether the vaccines are effective, but taking vaccines is still the best option for citizens," Abdul-Amir noted.
Meanwhile, a statement by the Iraqi Ministry of Health reported 4,902 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total nationwide number to 1,117,627.
The ministry also reported 29 new COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 15,800, while the total recoveries in Iraq climbed by 6,237 to 1,011,606.
A total of 9,707,527 tests have been carried out across the country since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020, with 34,315 done during the day.
Nepal
The first shipment of China-donated oxygen cylinders and ventilators arrived in Nepal on Tuesday, which Nepali officials say are helpful in reducing the shortage of oxygen for COVID-19 patients in the country.
Nepal on Monday reported 139 deaths from COVID-19, the highest number of deaths ever logged in the country.
It is the first time that more than 100 patients were confirmed dead at one time in Nepal since the country was first hit by the pandemic early last year.
The Ministry of Health and Population did not confirm whether all the new deaths occurred in the past 24 hours.
"I cannot say whether all of them died in the last 24 hours. It is the figure of deaths reported in the last 24 hours. A few of them might have died in earlier days too," Sameer Adhikari, joint spokesperson at the ministry, told Xinhua.
According to the ministry, the latest fatalities have brought the total deaths to 3,859 in the country.
The death toll grew at a time when hospitals are complaining about the shortage of oxygen and beds. Several hospitals in the country have stopped admitting new COVID-19 patients, while social media platforms have been flooded with desperate calls for oxygen and intensive care unit beds for patients.
Israel
Israel's Ministry of Health reported 61 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, raising the total number of cases in the country to 838,953.
The death toll from the virus increased by one to 6,378, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 80 to 78, out of 141 hospitalized patients.
This is the lowest number of patients in serious condition in Israel since July 2, 2020 when it stood at 72.
The total recoveries in Israel stands at 831,602, while the number of active cases increased to 973.
Kuwait
Kuwait will lift the partial curfew starting from the first day of Eid al-Fitr festival, the government announced Monday.
At a press conference, the Kuwaiti government spokesman Tareq Al-Mezrem said the government decided to end the partial curfew from the first day of Eid al-Fitr, but some activities would remain restricted.
The government decided to close all commercial activities from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. starting the first day of Eid al-Fitr, except for pharmacies, food marketing outlets, restaurants, and maintenance services, he said.
Pakistan
Pakistan has barred its citizens under 40 years of age and those with a history of severe allergic reaction to any component of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from taking the jab, the health ministry said on Monday.
According to the interim guidelines issued by the health ministry on Sunday about administering the AstraZeneca vaccine, people who developed blood clotting issues after receiving the first dose of the vaccine should not take the second does.
Those with active gastrointestinal bleeding or seizure, or a history of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and thrombosis are also stopped from opting to get the AstraZeneca vaccine administered, the guidelines said.
The decision follows reports in some countries of rare blood clotting and low platelets events in people, especially those below 50 years, after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine, local media reported.
Lebanon
Lebanon registered on Monday 302 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number in the country to 533,141, the Health Ministry said.
Meanwhile, the death toll from the virus increased by 21 to 7,507.
Finland announced on Monday that it grants nearly 500,000 euros (608,385 U.S. dollars) in additional aid to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in Lebanon.
The support is part of Finland's contribution of 3 million euros to the COVID-19 Emergency Appeal of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to help countries hardest hit by COVID-19.
Qatar
The Qatari Health Ministry on Monday announced 397 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 211,389, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.
Meanwhile, 1,022 more recovered from the virus, bringing the overall recoveries to 202,552, while the fatalities increased by four to 512, according to a ministry statement quoted by QNA.
A total of 1,949,350 persons in Qatar have taken lab tests for COVID-19 so far, while the total number of vaccine doses administered is 1,844,658.
Bhutan
Bhutan reported 20 new COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, bringing the total active cases to 151 as of Monday as more cases were recorded lately in the southern part of the country.
Bhutan declared zero active COVID-19 cases twice on March 5 and 18. With new cases remaining below four until March 31, 16 positive cases were detected on April 1, mostly from quarantine facilities.
The number of daily positive cases recorded from quarantine facilities has since soared to 64 by April 16 in the capital city of Thimphu and the Phuentsholing town that borders India, where a new wave of the pandemic is raging.
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Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan's Supreme Court has sentenced 17 men to various jail terms and fines over the embezzlement, negligence, violation of engineering works over the Sardoba dam burst in central Syrdarya region last year, the Supreme Court press service said Monday.
Six of the defendants, who occupied senior positions in companies engaged in building the dam, were given 3 to 10 years prison terms, and the rest faced fines, equivalent to around 13,000 U.S. dollars, it said.
Around 90,000 people were evacuated when Sardoba dam in the Syrdarya region burst, flooding residential areas and crop fields on May 1, 2020.
Japan
Eighteen people have died from the COVID-19 respiratory disease outside of hospitals in Japan's Osaka Prefecture, officials said, amid calls for tougher restrictions on movement to halt a fourth wave of infections ahead of the Olympics.
All but one of the deaths occurred since March 1 as highly infectious strains of the virus caused a spike in new cases, the prefecture reported late on Monday for the first time. Most were 60 years old or more, but one fatality was in their 30s.
The Japanese government is in discussions with Moderna for an additional 50 million doses of its vaccine, said Christophe Weber, CEO of Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., which is handling regulatory approval and distribution of the shot in Japan. The deal would bring Japan’s total Moderna doses to 100 million. Weber said he expects the vaccine to be approved in Japan this month.
Japan on Monday purportedly began to speed up its highly criticized and sluggish rollout of COVID-19 inoculation campaign, informed sources said Monday.
The central government said that plans are currently in effect to ensure that all of Japan's 36 million senior citizens are inoculated by the end of July amid soaring cases of the virus and with no signs of it abating in urban areas even under extended emergency measures.
Cambodia
A plane carrying a third batch of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine that Cambodia acquired from Chinese biopharmaceutical company arrived in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Tuesday. "The vaccine's arrival today is another testament to the unbreakable iron-clad friendship between our two countries," Cambodia's Health Ministry secretary of state Yok Sambath told reporters while receiving the vaccine at the Phnom Penh International Airport.
Myanmar
Myanmar reported 11 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the tally in the country to 142,974, according to a release from the Ministry of Health and Sports.
No new death was reported on Tuesday, leaving the death toll at 3,210 in the country, the release said.
Mongolia
Mongolia confirmed 477 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the lowest since April 3, making the tally at 45,936, the National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Tuesday.
The NCCD said that 7,560 samples were tested in the last 24 hours across the country.
Meanwhile, nine more deaths and 1,570 more recoveries were reported, taking the respective totals to 191 and 34,230, said the center.
The number of daily COVID-19 infections has gradually decreased in the country as a result of a recent month-long national coronavirus lockdown, and a mass vaccination against the virus, according to the country's authorities.
Malaysia
Malaysia will follow a standardized protocol nationwide to make it easier for people to comply with social-distancing procedures, Defense Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob told reporters on Tuesday.
The decision comes a day after Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin extended the restrictions on movements nationwide to rein in a fresh wave that has left some hospitals low on beds.
Malaysia on Tuesday received the first batch of locally filled and finished doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech.
The first batch of 290,480 doses manufactured by Malaysia's leading pharmaceutical company Pharmaniaga were handed over to Health Minister Adham Baba in a brief ceremony on Tuesday.
Pharmaniaga said the company had recently obtained a lot release approval for its filled and finished product from Malaysia's National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA), which allowed the vaccines to be distributed to the Health Ministry designated health facilities.
Malaysia recorded 3,973 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total tally to 448,457, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
Maldives
The Maldives has recorded 1,204 new cases of COVID-19, raising the total number of cases to 37,019, local media citing the Health Protection Agency (HPA) reported here Tuesday.
Among the new cases, 961 were detected in the capital region of Greater Male and 235 in inhabited islands.
The total number of active cases stood at 10,376, and 244 remained hospitalized.
Meanwhile, local media the Times of Addu citing the HPA reported that 65 percent of intensive care units at the Dharumavantha Hospital are currently occupied by patients below the age of 40.
Singapore
As of Sunday, 1.8 million people in Singapore had received at least one dose of the vaccine, or nearly a third of the population. About 1.2 million people have completed the full two-dose vaccination regimen, Gan Kim Yong told parliament.
Singapore has one of the fastest vaccinations drives in Asia, but it lags some Western countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, according to a Reuters tracker.
“Global supplies of vaccines are limited, and not just the quantity but also logistics are challenging, and therefore we need to do what we can to expand and diversify our sources,” Gan said.
Singapore has been using the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, and has taken delivery of 200,000 doses of the vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech, which has yet to be granted approval by Singapore authorities. Singapore has been looking at alternatives and had “entered into advance purchasing agreements”, said Gan, who said he was unable to give details due to confidentiality clauses.
Singapore’s health authority has previously said it was holding talks with AstraZeneca.
Still, if supplies arrived as scheduled, Singapore would complete its inoculation programme by the end of the year, he said.
Singapore was also making plans for booster shots later this year or early next year, if necessary.