New Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (center) and wife Louise look on as Supreme Court chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo (left) signs the oath of office after the swearing-in ceremony of the new president at the National Museum in Manila on June 30, 2022. (TED ALJIBE / AFP)
TOKYO / HANOI / SINGAPORE / NEW DELHI / MANILA / SYDNEY / KUALA LUMPUR / SEOUL / WELLINGTON / VIENTIANE / MANILA / ISLAMABAD – Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos has tested positive for COVID-19, Press Secretary Rose Beatrix Cruz-Angeles said Friday.
Angeles told a press conference that Marcos, 64, has tested positive in an antigen test for COVID-19. "He has a slight fever, but he is otherwise okay," she said.
Angeles said the presidential management staff is currently informing those in close contact with Marcos to observe their symptoms per the protocol. Marcos' wife and children were not exposed.
Regarding Marcos' schedule for Friday, Angeles said Marcos will not attend the U.S. independence event at the embassy in Manila. However, he will virtually participate in a meeting with local officials on booster shot uptake on Friday night.
Marcos had tested positive for COVID-19 in March 2020.
Meanwhile, the Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported 1,936 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 3,713,131.
The DOH said three more people died from COVID-19 complications, pushing the country's death toll to 60,625.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the country remains low-risk despite the steady rise in new cases.
"Most areas show a sharp increase in cases, with Metro Manila showing the steepest increase, now exceeding 550 cases per day," she said in an online briefing.
Staff check a client at a drive-through COVID-19 testing clinic at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia on Jan 8, 2022. (MARK BAKER / AP)
Australia
In its latest bid to attract workers back to the office, Australia's city of Melbourne has released a project promising to cut down the transmission of COVID-19 by improving ventilation in office spaces throughout the city.
A first-of-its-kind study, revealed on Friday, evaluated three different ventilation systems over three months in vacant office buildings including displacement ventilation air conditioning, in-ceiling air filters, and natural airflow through open windows.
The pilot study found that while all three methods reduced the potential for transmission of airborne viruses, displacement ventilation air conditioning, which supplies air from the floor level, was the most effective in lowering COVID-19 transmission by 83 percent, while also reducing energy consumption by 20 percent.
"This industry-leading research has identified simple but effective changes that can be implemented in office buildings to help workers feel safe, comfortable and protected," said Melbourne Acting Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece.
The project found that while opening windows reduced transmission by 53 percent, it was not an ideal solution as it increased energy use by up to 20 percent and was not available to all buildings.
While data shows workers are beginning to return to the office in the wake of strict lockdowns, the return has been a trickle and not the flood many had predicted.
Data from the Australian property representative body, the Property Council of Australia, has shown that in May office occupancy rates in Australian cities were still around 50 percent of pre-pandemic levels.
Beyond addressing workers' fears about catching COVID-19 in the office, municipal governments have been rolling out various programs to incentivize workers to return to the office, including discounts for meals and free events for people during their lunch breaks.
Fiji
The Fijians have been urged to take protective measures as the island nation continues to report more COVID-19 cases.
Fiji recorded 243 new COVID-19 cases in the last three days with 94 cases being reported in the central part of the country, reported the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) on Friday.
Permanent Secretary for Health James Fong said that lockdown in Fiji is not necessary, however, the Fijians must take protective measures at all times.
A girl walks past a poster at a vaccination centre in New Delhi on April 10, 2022, after government announced the paid precaution dose against the coronavirus to be available for everyone above 18 years of age at private vaccination centers. (MONEY SHARMA / AFP)
India
India's health ministry has reduced the gap between the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine and the third booster dose from nine months to six months, officials said Thursday.
The decision was taken on the recommendation of the Standard Technical Sub Committee of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization.
Health officials said the move is expected to expand coverage of the booster doses in the country.
India began offering booster doses to healthcare and frontline workers, and those about 60 years with comorbidities in January. The coverage was extended to all adults from April 10.
So far India has administered over 48 million booster doses, which is about 5 percent of the eligible population.
According to the federal health ministry, the country has administered over 1.98 billion doses since the COVID-19 vaccination drive began in January 2021.
India recorded 18,815 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total tally to 43,585,554, showed data released by the federal health ministry on Friday.
Besides, 38 more deaths due to the pandemic since Thursday morning took the death toll to 525,343.
People wearing face masks walk through the Shibuya scramble crossing in Tokyo, Japan, Jan 21, 2021. (ZHANG XIAOYU / XINHUA)
Japan
The Japanese government said Thursday that the number of COVID-19 cases was continuing to rise, with the spike in figures coming at the same time as a number of coronavirus rules and restrictions have recently been eased.
On Thursday, the nationwide daily tally of new COVID-19 cases hit 47,977 as of 7:30 pm local time. This compares to 45,000 daily new infections reported across the Asian country a day earlier, according to official figures.
As for the capital, a barometer of the future direction of COVID-19 cases in Japan, the Tokyo metropolitan government reported 8,529 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, compared to 8,341 infections reported on Wednesday.
Thursday's figure in the capital also marks an increase of more than 4,900 from a week ago.
The figure, the local government noted, marks the 20th straight day of week-on-week increase and the third straight day that the daily tally more than doubled from a week earlier.
As for those hospitalized by the COVID-19 virus, the local government said the seriously ill patients requiring breathing apparatus such as ventilators or ECMO heart-lung machines, totaled six on Thursday, down by two from a day earlier.
Following Tokyo, Osaka reported 4,615 new COVID-19 cases, while Tokyo's neighboring Kanagawa Prefecture said there were 3,130 new infections. There were 2,712 new cases in Aichi Prefecture, its local government said, while the figure for another of Tokyo's neighbors Saitama Prefecture stood at 2,434 on Thursday.
The cumulative number of people confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19 in Japan is 9,551,285, including those in airport quarantine and passengers and crew on cruise ships.
The death toll from the pandemic rose by 15 on Thursday to total 31,379 in Japan.
Laos
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected essential health services and, even though the virus outbreak in Laos has subsided, some healthcare services are not able to recover to pre-pandemic levels, according to Lao Minister of Health Bounfeng Phoummalaysith.
This was the assessment of the situation as reported at the Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) annual meeting to assess work undertaken in 2021 and the first half of 2022.
According to the local daily Vientiane Times on Friday, the two-day meeting took place in the Lao capital Vientiane from Thursday to Friday, chaired by Bounfeng Phoummalaysith.
Hospital directors from across the country, representatives of provincial health departments, other officials and development partners attended the meeting.
Participants heard a report on progress so far and the next steps planned under the RMNCAH strategy for 2021-2025, especially with regard to the quality of healthcare, efficiency and sustainability of services, and equality in access to treatment.
Bounfeng said the ministry, partners and other sectors had joined forces to curb the COVID-19 spread and the situation was now under control.
But many essential health services were suspended during the initial outbreak of the virus and some services were still not functioning normally.
Malaysia
Malaysia reported 4,020 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Thursday, bringing the national total to 4,586,322, according to the health ministry.
There are nine new imported cases, with 4,011 cases being local transmissions, data released on the ministry's website showed.
Three new deaths have been reported, pushing the death toll to 35,795.
New Zealand
New Zealand recorded 13,344 new community cases of COVID-19 and 23 more deaths from the pandemic, the Ministry of Health said on Friday.
The continued increase in the number of new cases was due to the impact of chilly winter and the detection of BA.2.75 in the country, which is a recently identified second-generation subvariant of BA.2, the dominant variant circulating in New Zealand at this stage.
Pakistan
Pakistan reported 693 new COVID-19 cases during the last 24 hours, bringing the tally to 1,541,645, the country's ministry of health said on Friday.
According to the ministry's statistics, a total of 30,413 people died from COVID-19 in Pakistan, with no more deaths recorded on Thursday.
Singapore Airlines stewardesses walk past a giant lollipop candy display at Changi International Airport in Singapore on April 1, 2022, as Singapore reopened its land and air borders to travelers fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. (ROSLOAN RAHMAN / AFP)
Singapore
Singapore reported 9,985 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the total tally to 1,505,938.
Of the new cases, 834 cases were detected through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 9,151 through ART (antigen rapid test) tests, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health.
Among the PCR cases, 780 were local transmissions and 54 were imported cases. Among the ART cases with mild symptoms and assessed to be of low risk, there were 8,754 local transmissions and 397 imported cases.
Three new deaths were reported from COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the death toll to 1,426, the ministry said.
South Korea
South Korea reported 19,323 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Thursday compared to 24 hours ago, taking the total number of infections to 18,471,172, the health authorities said Friday.
The daily caseload was slightly up from 18,511 in the previous day, and far higher than 9,522 tallied a week earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
For the past week, the daily average number of confirmed cases was 14,622.
Twelve more deaths were confirmed from COVID-19, bringing the death toll to 24,605. The total fatality rate was 0.13 percent.
A man passes walks past a billboard on the COVID-19 coronavirus in Ho Chi Minh City on Dec 4, 2021. (NHAC NGUYEN / AFP)
Vietnam
Vietnam recorded 913 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, down by one from Wednesday, according to its Ministry of Health.
The new infections brought the total tally to 10,752,140 with 43,089 deaths.