In this file photo taken on Feb 28, 2022, passengers and loved ones reunite at the arrivals hall on the first day of New Zealanders returning from Australia after the border reopened for travelers observing home self-isolation rules, at the Auckland international airport.(DAVID ROWLAND / AFP)
SEOUL / BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN / TOKYO / SINGAPORE / HANOI / WELLINGTON – New Zealand welcomed hundreds of travelers from Australia with emotional scenes on Wednesday as it opened its borders to its trans-Tasmanian neighbor for the first time since mid-2021.
Maori cultural performers greeted travelers while families and friends hugged and cried at the Auckland International Airport where two flights from Australia landed this morning. Those waiting in the arrivals lounge held up boards saying "Hello & Kia Ora & G'day & Welcome".
New Zealand had some of the toughest curbs in the world during the pandemic and its borders have been closed for most of the time since March 2020, except for a short-lived travel bubble with Australia last year that was suspended after a few months as COVID-19 spread
"Just so, so excited to be back, and all I really want to do is spend time with the family really," Jane Cheeseman told the New Zealand Herald, as she and her two children were reunited with her sister ahead of Easter holiday.
New Zealand had some of the toughest curbs in the world during the pandemic and its borders have been closed for most of the time since March 2020, except for a short-lived travel bubble with Australia last year that was suspended after a few months as COVID-19 spread.
But the government has started to ease these increasingly unpopular measures, hoping to boost tourism and ease labor shortages now that Omicron is widespread domestically.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Australia's Channel 7 she was "extraordinarily excited" about the reopening.
"I can't actually imagine or remember a time when we would have been just so excited to be welcoming our Australian family back to our shores. It's very genuine," she added.
Air New Zealand said it was running 11 near-full flights from Australia on Wednesday.
"This is the first step in welcoming international visitors back to our shores and we couldn't be more excited for both New Zealand and Air New Zealand," the airline's chief customer and sales officer, Leanne Geraghty, said in a statement.
Foreigners were previously banned from entering New Zealand, and until February citizens looking to return had to either make emergency requests to the government or secure a spot in state quarantine facilities.
Most travelers coming into the country have to undertake pre-departure and arrival testing, while most foreigners are also required to be fully vaccinated.
Tourists from visa-waiver countries including the United States, Britain and Singapore will be able to visit from May 1. The border will remain closed for all other visitors until October.
Chris Hipkins, COVID-19 Response Minister, said curbs in the country would be further eased as the number of new cases fall.
From Thursday, there will be no restrictions on the number of people attending indoor events and there will be some easing on where masks have to be worn.
New Zealand, which has a population of just over 5 million, reported 9,542 new cases in the past 24 hours, well below a peak of more than 20,000 new cases a day. It has recorded just 497 deaths from COVID-19 since the start of the outbreak.
Workers wearing protective suits spray disinfectant at Suri Seri Begawan Raja Pengiran Anak Damit Mosque in an effort to counter the spread of the COVID-19 in Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei on March 17, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)
Brunei
The Brunei government announced on Tuesday that the country will extend its early endemic phase until April 30.
The country announced moving to the endemic phase under its National COVID-19 Recovery Framework in December last year, with local infections dropping gradually after the country imposed the strictest social distancing measures, including work from home for government and private sectors and a curfew.
However, Brunei has been witnessing another surge in new COVID-19 cases, with the national tally rising almost tenfold to nearly 140,000 cases in the third wave of infections in the country since January this year.
According to a statement from Brunei's COVID-19 Steering Committee, some existing COVID-19 guidelines were also updated.
The sale of antigen rapid test (ART) kits through vending machines provided by the government will be ceased as ART kits are readily available in shops at affordable market prices.
Under the updated guidelines, transport operators, who are on duty to travel across the border to transport goods, are only required to obtain a negative ART result at least twice a week and are no longer required to obtain a polymerase chain reaction test every two weeks.
Brunei reported 250 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the national tally to 139,061.
Passengers wait in line before moving onto their temporary housing for quarantine as they come out of an arrival gate for international flights at the Narita International Airport in Narita, east of Tokyo, on Dec 2, 2021. (HIRO KOMAE / FILE / AP)
Japan
Japanese Education Minister Shinsuke Suematsu on Tuesday said that about 30,000 foreign students have been allowed into the country since March when border rules related to COVID-19 were relaxed.
Due to Japan's stringent border restrictions imposed in a bid to contain the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus, around 110,000 foreign students were kept out of the country for two years as of March, according to official estimates.
Suematsu said that the government aims to permit entry to all of those who have been waiting by May, stating that efforts to that end were going well.
As Japan was experiencing a resurgence in COVID-19 infections, in late November, a ban on non-resident foreign nationals was imposed.
A notice warning people not to gather in groups larger than five persons as part of restrictions to hald the spread of the coronavirus is displayed at Raffles Place financial business district in Singapore on Jan 4, 2022. (ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP)
Singapore
Singapore researchers have found that the overall risk of heart inflammation following COVID-19 vaccinations is comparable to or lower than that caused by non-COVID-19 vaccinations, the Straits Times reported on Tuesday.
In a new study, which has been published in Lancet Respiratory Medicine, researchers looked at over 400 million vaccination doses in the international databases in order to compare the risk of myopericarditis, a condition that causes inflammation of the They found that COVID-19 vaccinations caused 18 myopericarditis cases per million doses while the other vaccinations caused 56 cases per million doses, said the newspaper.
The study was conducted by researchers in Singapore, including Kollengode Ramanathan, a senior consultant from Singapore's National University Heart Center, Jyoti Somani and Dale Fisher from the division of infectious diseases at the National University Hospital.
Digital screens showing safety precautions against the coronavirus are seen in a subway train in in Seoul, South Korea on March 22, 2022. (AHN YOUNG-JOON / AP)
South Korea
South Korea's health ministry on Wednesday said it will administer a second COVID-19 vaccine booster shot for people aged 60 and older, as the country continues its battle against the Omicron coronavirus variant.
"The government plans to expand the fourth round of vaccination to those aged 60 and older," Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol told a meeting, adding the infection rate in the age group has continued to rise to stand above 20 percent.
The country had previously begun providing second booster shots to high-risk groups, including those in nursing homes, as a surge in Omicron infections drove cases and deaths to record highs in recent months.
Further details of the plan will be unveiled at a news conference later in the day, Kwon said.
Tuesday's government data showed 316,608 people have received the second booster shot so far, with around 33 million people – 64.2 percent of the total population – having received the first booster shot.
South Korea reported 195,419 new coronavirus cases as of Tuesday midnight, bringing the country's total tally to 15,830,644 infections and 20,034 deaths.
Vietnam
Vietnam reported 22,804 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, down 377 from Monday, according to its Ministry of Health.
The new infections are all domestically transmitted.
Vietnamese capital Hanoi remained the epidemic hotspot with 1,942 new cases, followed by the northern Phu Tho province with 1,384 and the northern Yen Bai province with 1,102.