In this file photo taken on Oct 1, 2021, commuters wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walk in a passageway during a rush hour at Shinagawa Station, in Tokyo. (EUGENE HOSHIKO / AP)
WELLINGTON / MANILA / TOKYO / SEOUL / SINGAPORE – Daily coronavirus infections in Japan on Thursday exceeded 100,000 for first time since the pandemic began, the Yomiuri newspaper reported.
Infections in Japan have surged since the start of the year as the Omicron variant has taken hold. About a fifth of the cases are in Tokyo.
Meanwhile, new COVID-19 cases in Tokyo exceeded 20,000 for the first time on Wednesday, dimming hopes that a wave of infections fuelled by the Omicron variant is peaking in Japan.
Nationwide cases reached a record 91,760, while 18 prefectures recorded all-time highs, according to a tally by online news service JX Press.
Tokyo reported 21,576 new cases, surpassing the previous record of 17,631 in the Japanese capital on Friday.
People return to shopping at Newmarket in Auckland, New Zealand as some COVID-19 restrictions were eased, Nov 10, 2021. (ALEX BURTON / NEW ZEALAND HERALD VIA AP)
New Zealand
The New Zealand border will reopen to vaccinated Kiwis and other current eligible travelers from Australia at 11:59 pm on Feb 27 and to the same groups from the rest of the world on March 13.
The government's five-step reconnecting plan will see all New Zealanders and key visa holders able to start to enter the country over the coming three months, assisting with the economic recovery and immediately address worker shortages, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told media on Thursday.
From Feb 27, vaccinated New Zealanders and eligible travelers from Australia will be able to enter New Zealand without staying in managed isolation and quarantine facilities. Two weeks after March 13, New Zealanders and eligible travelers from the rest of the world will be able to come home, Ardern said.
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Philippines
The Philippines' Department of Health reported 7,661 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 3,577,298.
The DOH said 43 more people died from COVID-19 complications, pushing the country's death toll to 54,097. The number of active cases dropped to 160,297 as the country's positivity rate also dropped to 24.8 percent.
The COVID-19 risk in the Philippines has gone down to "moderate" from "a high or critical" classification when the fourth wave peaked in mid-January, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said on Wednesday.
"Our national health system capacity, such as the total beds and intensive care unit, are both at low risk," she told a virtual press conference, adding that hospital utilization rates "are still well under control."
Residents are tested at a temporary swab centre set up at the void deck area on the ground floor of a public housing block, after a few positive COVID-19 cases were detected in the building, in Singapore on May 21, 2021. (Roslan RAHMAN / AFP)
Singapore
Singapore has approved Pfizer's oral COVID-19 medicine Paxlovid, its Health Sciences Authority said on Thursday.
Paxlovid is the first COVID-19 oral treatment authorised for use in the city-state for the treatment of mild to moderate cases among adults at high risk of severe disease, HSA said in a statement.
South Korea
South Korea's daily number of COVID-19 cases hit a new record high, surpassing 22,000 for the first time amid the spread of the Omicron variant, the health authorities said Thursday.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country reported 22,907 more cases of COVID-19 for the past 24 hours, raising the total number of infections to 907,214.
The daily caseload was up from 20,269 in the previous day, hovering above 20,000 for two straight days.