Visitors wear masks while walking around Merlion Park, a popular tourist destination, with the Marina Bay Sands in the background in Singapore, May 31, 2021. (ANNABELLE LIANG / AP)
JERUSALEM / DHAKA / KABUL / SEOUL / ANKARA / KUALA LUMPUR – Singaporean authorities detected five new coronavirus cases in the community, marking the lowest daily total since the government tightened restrictions on May 16 for a month following an outbreak.
All five of these COVID-19 cases were linked to earlier infections, government data showed on Monday. No new cases were discovered in the foreign worker dormitories, while nine imported cases were already under quarantine.
The decline in cases comes ahead of a possible easing of restrictions after June 13. It is unlikely, however, that recent measures will be fully removed as the easing will be done in a controlled manner, government officials have said.
Afghanistan
A total of 1,582 new COVID-19 cases were registered in Afghanistan over the past 24 hours, bringing the number of infections to 82,326 in the country, a statement of the Public Health Ministry released here Monday said.
According to the statement, 56 patients died from the disease over the same period, taking the number of COVID-19 related deaths to 3,251 since the outbreak of COVID-19 in February 2020 in Afghanistan.
Australia
Australia's Victoria state on Monday reported its biggest rise in new locally acquired COVID-19 cases in a week as authorities rushed to track the source of the highly infectious Delta variant found among infections in the latest outbreak.
Victoria, the country's second-most populous state, reported 11 new locally acquired cases on Monday, versus two a day earlier. Monday's data includes two cases announced on Sunday which were recorded after the midnight cut-off deadline.
Bangladesh
The Bangladeshi government has extended the countrywide lockdown for 10 more days and adopted stricter restrictions to control the COVID-19 infections.
The lockdown, which ended early Monday after having been extended several times, will now run through the midnight of June 16.
On Monday, the country's Directorate General of Health Services reported 1,970 new cases of COVID-19 and 30 new fatalities, bringing the number of total cases to 812,960 and the total death toll to 12,869.
Fiji
Fiji recorded a surge in COVID-19, with 83 new cases reported on Sunday from the day before, according to the Fiji Times. The new tally is a record high for the Pacific Islands nation, where only 0.33 percent of the population have been fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Officials believe that kava consumption has contributed to the surge, with the virus spreading as people share bowls of the intoxicating drink, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported last week.
This photo taken on April 26, 2021 shows security officers checking cars along a road in Suva after the Fijian capital entered a 14-day lockdown. (PHOTO / AFP)
The Philippines
The Philippines began vaccinating 22 million workers, including from the tourism, outsourcing and transport industries. The move is key in reopening and reviving the economy that remained in recession last quarter, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said. The Southeast Asian nation is expecting shipments of over 10 million doses this month, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez said.
Maldives
Daily COVID-19 cases in the Maldives have dipped below 500 for the first time in weeks, local media reported on Monday.
Data from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) showed that 412 new cases of COVID-19 were detected on Sunday, as daily recorded cases have been steadily declining from a record high of 2,194 in May.
The country currently has a total of 67,950 cases and 19,670 active cases of COVID-19, out of which 166 have been hospitalized for treatment. The number of active cases reached a peak of over 25,000 on May 27 as local hospitals struggled with capacity constraints. However, recoveries have since outpaced new infections.
The Maldives has experienced a surge of COVID-19 cases in May amid a devastating new wave of infections. The government responded by tightening restrictions on public gatherings, travel between islands, and arrivals from neighboring South Asian countries.
Mongolia
Mongolia confirmed 1,177 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, raising the national count to 66,443, the country's Health Ministry said Monday.
A total of 6,248 samples were tested across the country in the past day, the ministry said in a statement, adding that the latest confirmed cases were local infections.
Meanwhile, 300 more patients recovered from the disease, taking the total recoveries to 54,081, while the deaths totaled 327, with two more fatalities registered over the past day.
The Asian country launched a national vaccination campaign against COVID-19 in late February, in a bid to inoculate at least 60 percent of its 3.3 million population against the coronavirus.
So far, more than 1,525,500 Mongolians have been fully vaccinated, according to the ministry.
Indonesia
Indonesia added 6,993 cases on Monday, the most since March 4, as the government warned that new infections are set to keep picking up until June or July.
The expected resurgence after the Eid holiday in late May could last for about five to seven weeks as people gradually return from their hometowns, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said. About half of the 72,000 beds allocated for COVID-19 patients have been filled, he added.
Israel
The rules to enforce wearing face masks indoors in Israel will be lifted starting June 15, Israel's Health Minister Yuli Edelstein announced on Sunday.
Israel has already lifted the obligation to wear a face mask outdoors since April 18, following the decline in COVID-19 infections in the country.
Edelstein said that, if there is no unexpected increase in infections in the coming days, the restriction will soon be completely cancelled.
This is one of the last COVID-19 restrictions still valid in Israel, after most of the restrictions were lifted on June 1, regarding gatherings, social distancing, hygiene means and more.
But most restrictions related to travel abroad have not been lifted yet, such as a ban on traveling to nine countries, quarantine obligation for passengers arriving from these countries, and coronavirus tests obligation for all arriving passengers.
Earlier on Sunday, Israel has started vaccinating teenagers aged between 12 and 15 against the virus.
The vaccination campaign in Israel began on Dec 20, 2020, with the first phase targeting medical staff, people aged over 65, and patients with chronical diseases.
India
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that the central government will provide free COVID-19 vaccines to all aged over 18 years old starting in June.
In a televised address to the nation on Monday evening, Modi said that the central and all state governments will finalize guidelines for providing free vaccines in the coming two weeks.
"The center will bear all the costs of providing the COVID-19 vaccines free of cost. The center will buy 75 percent of all vaccine doses manufactured in the country. The rest 25 percent will be bought by private hospitals," Modi said.
He added that the private hospitals will not be allowed to charge more than 150 Indian Rupees (around 2 U.S. dollars) for one dose as service charge above the price of the vaccine.
Amid the shortage of vaccines doses in the country, Modi told the public that seven companies were involved in manufacturing the doses.
Key Indian cities re-opened for business on Monday, with long queues for buses in the financial hub of Mumbai while traffic returned to the roads of New Delhi after a devastating second wave of coronavirus that killed hundreds of thousands.
The 100,636 new infections of the past 24 hours were the lowest in the world's second most populous nation since April 6, and well off last month's peaks of more than 400,000, allowing authorities to re-open parts of the economy.
"We have to save ourselves from infection but also bring the economy back on track," Delhi's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Twitter.
He ordered half the capital's shops to open on odd and even numbered days of the month respectively, in a bid to limit crowds, but allowed offices and the Delhi underground rail network to run at 50 percent of capacity.
But some curbs were retained, such as the ban on dining in restaurants and the use of theatres and gyms in a city still slowly recovering from a surge in the months of April and May that overwhelmed hospitals.
They ran short of beds and medical oxygen, and people died in hospital parking lots and homes, while crematoriums and morgues struggled to cope with an incessant flow of corpses.
India's COVID-19 tally rose to 28,909,975 on Monday with 100,636 new cases reported in the past 24 hours, said the federal health ministry.
The single-day spike of COVID-19 cases is found to be the lowest in over two months. Earlier, on April 5 the country had crossed the 100,000-mark.
Besides, as many as 2,427 deaths since Sunday morning pushed the overall death toll to 349,186. This is the first time in past 45 days when daily deaths due to the pandemic fell down to below 2,500-mark.
Laos
Laos reported five new cases of COVID-19 on Monday as community spread showed a downward trend in the country.
Deputy Director General of the Department of Communicable Diseases Control under the Lao Ministry of Health, Phonepaserd Sayamoungkhoun, told a press conference in the Lao capital Vientiane that the country recorded five new COVID-19 cases over the previous 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1,968.
The country had a total of 248 active cases with no severe cases in hospitals right now, said Phonepaserd.
Japan
Japan intends to issue COVID-19 vaccine passports this summer to inoculated residents traveling abroad to boost travel and other economic activities, Nikkei reported.
An inter-agency team is discussing a plan to issue a paper certificate this summer for businesspeople and others, followed by a digital version by the end of the year, the newspaper said, without disclosing where it got the information.
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South Korea
South Korea on Monday began administering COVID-19 vaccines to soldiers under 30 in a bid to form herd immunity in the military, according to the defense ministry.
Out of about 414,000 service members and civilian personnel in the military under the age of 30, some 358,000, or 86.5 percent of the total, applied for the vaccination, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement.
The applicants will receive Pfizer vaccines at 91 military clinics for around six weeks until July 16, and the inoculation rate could go up if additional soldiers apply for it, the ministry said.
Some 117,000 service members aged 30 or higher, who had already received the first shots of AstraZeneca vaccines, will be administered the second jabs for about three weeks from July 19 to Aug 6.
South Korea reported 485 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Sunday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 144,637.
The daily caseload was down from 556 in the prior day, falling below 500 in six days due to fewer virus tests over the weekend. The daily average caseload for the past week was 614.
A health worker administers a dose of the Sinovac COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine at the Prince of Songkla University, Pattani Campus, in southern Pattani province on June 7, 2021, as mass vaccination rollouts begin in Thailand. (PHOTO / AFP)
Thailand
Thailand began a mass vaccination drive to quell the worst COVID-19 outbreak to date, with a target of inoculating 70 percent of its residents before the end of this year to prepare the tourism-reliant nation for a wider reopening.
The Southeast Asian nation plans to administer about 500,000 shots per day starting Monday, compared to about 100,000 daily average over the past week, according to health ministry officials. The target population in the initial phase of the nationwide rollout include residents in Bangkok, the epicenter of the current outbreak, and those in Phuket, which is scheduled to test the reopening for vaccinated tourists from July 1, they said.
The ramp-up in vaccine rollout comes amid the country’s worst wave of infections that began in April, causing a sixfold jump in cases and a surge in COVID-19 deaths. New clusters of infections have also emerged in its factories in recent weeks, threatening the nation’s manufacturing and exports sector, a key economic engine.
The success of the inoculation drive is seen as key to reviving Thailand’s tourism sector and in safeguarding the manufacturing industry from infections – two key drivers of Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy. The gross domestic product has contracted for five straight quarters, a trend that’s likely to continue in the April-June period given the raging outbreak.
“Vaccines are crucial for economic recovery, and prioritizing the rollout is also important because different groups can have different impacts on the economy,” said Somprawin Manprasert, chief economist at Bangkok-based Bank of Ayudhya Pcl’s research unit. By focusing on key sectors like manufacturing, the vaccination program can help prevent disruptions to economic activities, he said.
Thailand's COVID-19 cases increased by 2,419 to 179,886 over the past 24 hours, data from the country's Center for COVID-19 Administration (CCSA) showed on Monday.
Another 33 deaths were reported, taking the national death toll to 1,269, with a large majority reported since April 1, when the third wave of the outbreak began and quickly spread across the country.
Turkey
Turkey on Sunday reported 5,386 new COVID-19 cases, including 482 symptomatic patients, raising the total number of cases in the country to 5,287,980.
The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 96 to 48,164, while the total recoveries climbed to 5,160,774 after 6,003 more people recovered in the last 24 hours, according to the Turkish Health Ministry.
The rate of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients stood at 2.8 percent and the number of seriously ill patients was 1,096 in the country, said the ministry.
A total of 204,827 tests were conducted over the past day, with the overall number of tests in Turkey reaching 55,455,452.
Malaysia
Malaysia reported 5,271 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Monday, marking the lowest number of daily cases since May 18 and bringing the total tally to 622,086.
Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that 14 of the new cases were imported and 5,257 were locally transmitted.
An additional 82 deaths were recorded from the coronavirus epidemic in the Southeast Asian country, bringing the COVID-19 related death toll to 3,460.
A man pushes a trolley with his shopping at a wholesale supermarket in Melbourne on May 27, 2021. (PHOTO / AFP)
Lebanon
The Lebanese Health Ministry on Sunday launched a "marathon" day in the districts of Akkar, Baalbek-Hermel, and Bekaa to accelerate the vaccination campaign in the country, the National News Agency reported.
Over 2,000 people above the age of 60 reportedly flocked to medical centers in these areas to receive the free Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The ministry announced that similar events will be held for people of different age groups in various areas, aiming to reach nationwide herd immunity by September.
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Myanmar
Myanmar reported 64 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total tally to 144,317.
A release from Myanmar's Ministry of Health on Sunday also reported two new deaths from the coronavirus epidemic in the Asian country, bringing the COVID-19 related death toll to 3,225.
According to the official data, a total of 132,452 recovered patients have been discharged from hospitals and over 2.63 million samples tested for COVID-19 so far, including 1,077 samples tested on Sunday.