Vendors wait for customers at the Chow Kit wet market in Kuala Lumpur on April 21, 2021. (MOHD RASFAN / AFP)
SYDNEY / DUBAI / SEOUL / TOKYO / NEW DELHI / ISLAMABAD – Malaysia will repatriate its nationals from parts of India due to the surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, Malaysian Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on Thursday.
He said the government decided to repatriate Malaysians as well as their dependents based in the northern and western parts of India by chartered flights.
Those returning will be subject to COVID-19 tests before departure and upon arrival and will also be quarantined for 14 days at government-designated quarantine stations, Hishammuddin said in a statement.
This follows Malaysia's expanding of entry ban from India to its neighbors of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal in a bid to stop the import of new COVID-19 variants to the country this week.
Meanwhile, Malaysia's Health Ministry reported 3,551 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the national total to 427,927.
Another 19 new deaths have been reported, pushing the death toll to 1,610.
Afghanistan
An additional nine people died from COVID-19 in Afghanistan in the last 24 hours, bringing th death toll to 2,673, the Afghan Ministry of Public Health reported on Thursday.
The ministry also reported 293 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infected people in the Asian country to 61,455, including 4,821 active cases.
Armenia
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Russia was considering supplying 1 million shots of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to Armenia, the RIA new agency reported.
Russia had already sent 15,000 doses of the vaccine to the former Soviet republic last month, Lavrov was quoted as saying at a meeting with his Armenian counterpart. Armenia's population is fewer than 3 million people.
Australia
Australian authorities were racing to track the source of a mystery COVID-19 infection in Sydney on Thursday, the first locally transmitted case in the city in more than a month, warning residents to brace for more cases.
Health officials are baffled by the case of a man in his 50s who tested positive on Wednesday, given he had no known links to high-risk jobs or people.
The New South Wales (NSW) state health department issued an alert naming more than a dozen venues across Sydney visited by the unidentified man in recent days, including restaurants, cafes and shopping centres.
Authorities also asked thousands of residents in the city's innerwest to seek testing for any mild flu symptoms after fragments of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 were detected in the sewerage network used by several suburbs.
The state also reported one locally acquired case of the new coronavirus on Thursday, a day after it reported its first infection in more than a month.
Restrictions on gatherings are being imposed in Sydney and surrounding areas due to the cases detected in the city. From 5 pm Thursday, the maximum number of people allowed into homes will be 20, while singing and dancing in all indoor venues except those hosting weddings will be banned, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters.
Masks will be compulsory on public transport and in all public indoor venues, such as retail, theaters, hospitals and aged-care facilities. The restrictions will last until at least the end of the weekend.
In another development, the validity of the Australian government's controversial India travel ban will be challenged in the country's Federal Court.
Five additional cases of a rare type of blood clot were identified in recipients of AstraZeneca Plc’s COVID -19 vaccine in Australia. All are receiving treatment, the company said in a statement Thursday.
A couple enjoy the view of Sydney Harbour from Mrs Macquarie's Chair on May 3, 2021, as Australia's largest city is enveloped in a thick bank of hazardous bushfire smoke forcing authorities to scale back controlled forest burning nearby. (SAEED KHAN / AFP)
Cambodia
Cambodia ended on Thursday a blanket coronavirus lockdown in Phnom Penh after three weeks, as busy traffic returned to some streets of the capital, though authorities retained tighter curbs in some districts where infections have surged.
Cambodia on Thursday confirmed 650 new local COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the national case tally to 17,621 so far, the Ministry of Health (MoH) said in a statement.
Four more fatalities had been reported, raising the death toll to 114, the statement said, adding that 739 patients had recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 6,843.
Meanwhile, the government ended a 21-day blanket lockdown in capital Phnom Penh and its adjacent Ta Khmau city of Kandal province on Thursday.
Fiji
Fiji reported on Thursday four new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases to 129 in the island nation.
According to Fiji's Health Ministry, the first case is an imported case, who is a Tongan national and arrived from Guyana on April 22.
This was the last inbound passenger flight from Auckland, New Zealand before flights were halted. The patient is a traveling partner of a previously confirmed imported case.
Fiji also reported the third death due to COVID-19 on Thursday, also the first patient who died due to local transmission of the virus.
According to a statement by Fiji's Health Ministry, the 53-year-old man had been admitted to Lautoka Hospital, about 24 km north of Fiji's third largest city of Nadi since April 19, when he was hospitalized for a surgical procedure. He was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) on Wednesday afternoon and tested positive for COVID-19, before he died on Wednesday night.
India
India reported on Thursday more than 410,000 coronavirus infections over the last 24 hours, while deaths rose by a record 3,980. The South Asian nation's tally has surged past 21 million, boosted by the record 412,262 new cases.
Its death toll now stands at 230,168, health ministry data show.
The US State Department said on Wednesday it had approved the voluntary departure of non-emergency US government employees from India because of a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Last week, the department said family members of US government employees could voluntarily leave India.
A deadly second wave of coronavirus infections has swept through India in recent weeks, creating a shortage of hospital beds and oxygen for patients.
Iran
The tally of COVID-19 infections in Iran has approached 2.6 million.
Iran reported 15,872 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's total infections to 2,591,609. The pandemic has so far claimed 73,568 lives in Iran, up by 349 in the past 24 hours.
A total of 2,039,427 people have recovered from the disease or been discharged from hospitals across the country, while 5,499 remain in intensive care units.
Iran has recently implemented restrictions on businesses and travels in high-risk areas amid a new wave of the virus spread.
Indonesia
Indonesia began imposing a previously announced ban on domestic travel on Thursday as it sought to contain the spread of the coronavirus during the Eid al-Fitr celebrations, when millions normally travel to mark the end of the Islamic fasting month.
Police officers were deployed across the capital city of Jakarta on Thursday to check documents and prevent travellers without special permission from leaving the city. They were enforcing a ban on travel by air, land, sea, and rail announced in April which is due to be in place between May 6-17.
Iraq
Iraqi reported on Wednesday 5,813 new coronavirus cases, raising the total nationwide infections to 1,091,954. It also reported 32 new COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 15,640, while the total recoveries climbed by 7,248 to 979,041.
Isreal
Israel reported 73 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, raising the total number of cases in the country to 838,761. The death toll from the virus increased by one to 6,370, while the number of patients in serious conditions decreased from 93 to 91, out of 158 hospitalized patients.
The number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 in Israel has surpassed 5.41 million, or 58 percent of its total population.
Meanwhile, the number of foreign tourist arrivals in Israel jumped about 4.5 times in April from March, which came after Israel reopened its skies in mid-March.
Japan
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said he would decide Friday on extending a state of emergency for Tokyo and three other regions, as he tries to stem a surge in Covid-19 infections ahead of the capital hosting the Olympics from July.
Suga told reporters Thursday he would first consult an expert panel on details including the length of time and the regions to be covered. He was speaking after local leaders called for restrictions to stay in place as infections are putting strains on some medical systems.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike told reporters earlier in the day the extension was needed, adding she would propose keeping the restrictions in place until the end of May. Three prefectures surrounding the capital will also seek to retain some restrictions.
The state of emergency that took effect from April 25 covered Tokyo and the western prefectures of Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo. It had been scheduled to end May 11.
A man walks along a street with closed shops in Shibuya district, during Japan's "Golden Week" holidays in Tokyo on May 2, 2021. (PHILIP FONG / AFP)
Lebanon
Lebanon registered 1,012 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections to 530,217. Meanwhile, the death toll from the virus went up by 22 to 7,390 in the country.
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Mongolia
General educational schools and kindergartens across Mongolia will begin summer vacation earlier than usual due to a COVID-19 surge, Mongolia's Ministry of Education and Science announced Thursday.
Kindergarten and primary school students will be on summer vacation beginning Monday, while secondary and high school students will take their vacation from next Friday, the ministry said in a statement, noting that the start of the new 2021-2022 academic year has been moved forward to mid-August accordingly.
Mongolia has recorded 12 new COVID-19-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the first double-digit increase since the pandemic hit the country, the National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Thursday.
The nationwide death toll stands at 153, according to the NCCD.
The Mongolian government on Wednesday decided to ease the ongoing nationwide COVID-19 lockdown starting from Saturday, according to the country's State Emergency Commission (SEC).
All types of service organizations, except for 18 types of organizations such as stores carrying non-food items, saunas, bars, hotels, and centers of training, fitness and entertainment, will be allowed to reopen starting from Saturday, the SEC said in a statement.
Myanmar
Myanmar reported 16 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the tally in the country to 142,874, according to a release from the Ministry of Health and Sports.
One more death was reported on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 3,210 in the country, the release said.
According to the ministry's figures, a total of 131,999 patients have been discharged from the hospitals and over 2.58 million samples have been tested for COVID-19 so far, including 1,848 samples tested on Wednesday.
New Zealand
New Zealand Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said quarantine-free travel with the Australian state of New South Wales will be paused from 11:59 p.m. local time while the source of two COVID-19 cases in Sydney is investigated.
New Zealand reported one new case of COVID-19 in managed isolation and no new cases of COVID-19 in the community on Thursday.
The newly imported case came from Nepal, and has remained in a managed isolation and quarantine facility in Auckland, according to the Ministry of Health.
Oman
In Oman, 770 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Wednesday, raising the total confirmed number in the sultanate to 198,572.
Meanwhile, 1,372 people recovered during the past 24 hours, taking the overall recoveries to 180,547 while nine deaths were reported, pushing the tally up to 2,071 since the pandemic broke out in the country.
Pakistan
The first batch of China's CanSino COVID-19 vaccines that the Pakistani government purchased in bulk has arrived in Pakistan, the CanSino Biologics Inc said on Thursday.
Having arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday, the bulk vaccines will be packaged locally to support Pakistan's fight against COVID-19, the company told Xinhua.
On Monday, Special Assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister on Health Faisal Sultan said that the local production of the single-dose CanSino COVID-19 vaccine is about to commence in the country to facilitate its vaccination drive.
The start of the local production of the CanSino vaccine will gradually make Pakistan largely self-sufficient in meeting its COVID-19 vaccine needs, he told local media.
Qatar
Qatar announced 645 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 208,877. And 1,385 more people recovered from the virus, bringing the overall recoveries to 196,906, while the fatalities increased by six to 489.
A coronavirus patient breathes with the help of oxygen provided by a Gurdwara, a place of worship for Sikhs, under a tent installed along the roadside in Ghaziabad on May 6, 2021. (PRAKASH SINGH / AFP)
South Korea
South Korea reported 574 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Wednesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 125,519.
The daily caseload was down from 676 in the previous day due to fewer virus tests on the Children's Day.
The daily number of infections hovered in triple figures since Nov. 8 last year due to small cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province as well as imported cases.
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Syria
The Syrian Health Ministry on Wednesday launched an online registration service for people to sign up for vaccination against the COVID-19.
The registration website requires people to submit their ID information, phone number, age and health condition.
The ministry noted that the vaccination priority is for the medical workers, people with chronic diseases and those aged over 55.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Hasan al-Ghabash was cited by state news agency SANA as saying that the vaccine will be given for free.
On April 24, Syria received a donation of COVID-19 vaccines from the Chinese government to help combat the pandemic.
Thailand
Thailand confirmed on Thursday that it plans to include 3 million foreigners living in the country in its mass vaccination programme to protect the entire population, amid concerns over the scope of vaccine access.
Thailand is planning to spend billions of dollars in providing financial relief to low-income groups to cope with the economic hit from the biggest COVID-19 outbreak sweeping the nation since the pandemic began.
The cabinet gave in-principle approval on Wednesday for fiscal stimulus measures at a cost of 85.5 billion baht (US$2.8 billion). It also proposed 140 billion baht worth of spending for co-payment and e-voucher programs and more cash handouts to welfare cardholders and special groups, officials said.
The Maldives
The Maldives' Health Emergency Operation Center (HEOC) has declared that the country is experiencing the fourth wave of COVID-19 infections as daily infections broke the local record for four consecutive days, local media reported on Thursday.
HEOC member Mohammed Ali on Wednesday said that a recent surge in infections has increased the chances for a spread of new variants. Meanwhile, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) data showed that the record for new daily cases was broken for the fourth day.
Maldives will begin a night-time curfew from Thursday to control a doubling of daily coronavirus infections that was fuelled by crowds at a local election and family gatherings during the ongoing Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
The Philippines
The Philippines’ coronavirus inoculation drive could leap this month, with the possibility of increasing vaccine supplies to about 7 million shots from 4 million, which could lead to a further reopening of the economy.
Turkey
Turkish President Erdogan stated on Wednesday that he expects the shipment of the Sputnik V vaccine to be sent from Russia as planned, Turkey's presidential office said in a statement after a phone call between him and Putin.
Turkey approved the emergency use of the Sputnik V vaccine last week after signing a procurement deal with Russia for 50 million doses. The first shipment is expected to be delivered in May, according to Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.
Turkey on Wednesday confirmed 26,476 new COVID-19 cases, including 2,414 symptomatic patients, raising the total number of cases in the country to 4,955,594.
The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 356 to 41,883, while the total recoveries climbed to 4,589,501 after 35,464 more people recovered in the last 24 hours.
Vietnam
Vietnam reported eight more infections linked to a cluster in the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases Campus of Dong Anh in Hanoi, taking the tally in the center to 22, the health ministry’s newspaper Suc Khoe Doi Song reported.
The nation has reported 3,030 virus infections, including 64 local cases from April 27 when the country confirmed the first domestic patient in a month, and 35 deaths as of May 6 morning, the newspaper reported.
Vietnam has ordered a strict border control and mandatory quarantines of three weeks while imposing some movement restrictions as it traces the recent flare up in coronavirus cases to overseas travelers.