A man receives a dose of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine at the Kalayani Watthanakarun Hospital compound in the southern province of Narathiwat, Thailand, on July 9, 2021. (MADAREE TOHLALA / AFP)
SEOUL / ANKARA / NEW DELHI / SUVA / HANOI / BANGKOK / TEHRAN / ISTANBUL / KATHMANDU / KABUL / COLOMBO / KUALA LUMPUR / DHAKA / BISHKEK – Thailand decided on Monday to adjust its COVID-19 vaccination policy by mixing Sinovac vaccine with AstraZeneca vaccine, in a bid to enhance immunity against the virus amid rising new infections.
Instead of two Sinovac shots, the National Communicable Disease Committee has decided to offer the AstraZeneca vaccine as a second shot after the first Sinovac shot to raise people's immunity against the Delta variant, Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said at a press conference.
Anutin said that there would be an interval of three to four weeks between the first Sinovac shot and the second AstraZeneca shot.
Medical workers, who have been fully vaccinated, will also receive a third booster dose, using the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccine, according to Anutin.
Meanwhile, the government also decided to implement home isolation or community isolation programs for those who have been found infected but had slight symptoms or no symptoms, Anutin said.
The greater Bangkok area, accounting for about 50 percent of Thailand’s gross domestic product, will shutter shopping malls, spas, massage and beauty clinics for at least two weeks starting today. A mandatory work-from-home rule for most government staff, overnight curfews and curbs on domestic travel are set to hurt retailers, airlines and restaurant operators, already reeling from some form of COVID-19 restrictions for more than a year.
Thailand reported on Monday 8,656 new infections, marking the first drop of daily tally in a week. The total number of infections rose to 345,027. The toll climbed to 2,791, up by 80 over the past 24 hours.
As of Sunday, the country has administered more than 12.5 million doses of vaccine, with less than 5 percent of its nearly 70 million people fully vaccinated.
Australia
The prospect of an extended lockdown in Sydney loomed on Monday as Australian health officials reported yet another record daily rise in COVID-19 cases for the year, fuelled by the highly infectious Delta variant.
New South Wales state reported 112 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, almost all of them in Sydney, despite the country's biggest city entering its third week of lockdown. Case numbers have been at record levels for at least three days.
There was, however, a glimmer of light as the number of newly-infected people who were out in the community while infectious dropped to 34 from 45 on Sunday.
State Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the progress of that figure in coming days would determine whether Sydney's lockdown, due to end on Friday, would be extended.
Indonesia
Indonesia reported a record daily high in coronavirus infections with 40,427 cases on Monday, data from the country's COVID-19 task force showed.
It also reported 891 additional COVID-19 deaths, taking the total to 67,355. Indonesia has reported more than 2.5 million cases overall.
Indonesian senior minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said earlier in the day that the country expects its COVID-19 cases to drop next week, citing reduced mobility after it imposed strict movement restrictions on July 3 on Java and Bali islands.
Indonesia has reported more than 30,000 infections on a daily basis since July 6. It has also reported the highest COVID-19 infections and deaths in Southeast Asia.
The Philippines
The number of Filipinos willing to get inoculated against the coronavirus rose to 43 percent in June from just 16 percent in February, an opinion poll showed on Monday, as concerns over the safety of vaccines eased.
The Pulse Asia survey of 2,400 respondents took place from June 7 to 16, more than three months after the Philippines began its vaccination drive on March 1.
So far, nearly 9.7 million people have been given at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 3.5 million have been fully vaccinated, about 3.2 percent of the 110 population.
"We are glad as vaccines are really the solution," presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a regular news conference, commenting on the poll.
Vaccination is the only way for livelihoods to return, he added.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte last month urged people to get inoculated and even threatened arrest of vaccine decliners or forcible injection of a drug used on pigs, after data indicated reluctance to be vaccinated or difficulties in making appointments.
The Philippines has in recent years had difficulty in combating mistrust in government-issued vaccines over concern about a dengue vaccine.
South Korea
South Korea reported 1,100 new coronavirus cases for July 11, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said on Monday, as the country's toughest anti-COVID curbs take effect in Seoul in an attempt to quell its worst-ever outbreak.
The number was the highest ever recorded on a Sunday, KDCA data showed, though below three consecutive days of peaks leading up to 1,378 on Friday.
The new wave of infections have so far brought fewer serious cases and deaths than earlier rounds, with many older and more vulnerable South Koreans now vaccinated against the virus. The latest outbreak brings South Korea's total COVID-19 cases to date to 169,146, with 2,044 deaths, well below numbers seen in many other industrialized countries.
But health authorities have expressed concerns over the rising number of young patients who have not yet received vaccine shots, and the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant in recent outbreaks.
The Delta variant accounted for 26.5 percent of total COVID-19 cases in the greater Seoul area in the first week of July, compared with 2.8 percent in the second week of June, KDCA head Jeong Eun Kyeong said.
It’s estimated that, if the current situation continues with a 1.22 reproduction rate, daily cases will increase to about 2,300 in mid-August before decreasing.
Starting Monday, the government has imposed the strictest level of social distancing in Seoul and neighbouring areas for the first time, including a ban on gatherings of more than two people after 6 pm.
Myanmar
Myanmar's military authorities will ensure that oxygen plants operate at full capacity to help treat COVID-19 patients as cases in the Southeast Asian country hit record highs, an army spokesman said on Monday.
Army spokesman Zaw Min Tun said at a news conference military authorities were preparing 14 locations for COVID-19 treatment in military hospitals across Myanmar.
The spokesman also said that vaccinations would be extended to those below the age of 18. He said Myanmar had an agreement with Russia for the production of five million vaccine doses a year.
Myanmar is in the midst of its most serious wave of infections and on Sunday reported 3,461 new cases to bring its total to 192,213, while deaths rose 82 to 3,838.
The Health and Sports Ministry imposed a stay-at-home order in 18 more towns across the country due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the state-run media reported on Sunday.
The stay-at-home order, which will take effect on Monday, will be applied to six towns in Bago region and 12 towns in Yangon region because of the recent increasing COVID-19 infections. So far, the ministry has imposed the stay-at-home order in 63 towns across the country.
Israel
Israel's health ministry on Monday instructed four health organizations to start offering the third doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for adults with weak immune systems.
Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz announced the move on Sunday, adding the ministry was looking into the possible authorization of booster shots for the general public.
The ministry has reported a steady rise in the number of infections driven by the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19.
The total number of active COVID-19 cases in Israel decreased by 80 to 3,984, the ministry said Sunday, marking the first such decrease since June 22, when there were 477 active cases.
The ministry also reported 316 new cases and three more deaths, bringing the tally to 846,083 and the toll to 6,438.
The number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 in Israel has reached nearly 5.73 million, or 61.4 percent of its total population.
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Vietnam
The Vietnamese capital Hanoi will suspend in-store services of restaurants, cafes and barbershops again starting from Tuesday amid increasing COVID-19 concerns, local media VnExpress reported.
Takeaways and deliveries will still be allowed, local media cited a circular released by Hanoi's municipal People's Committee as saying.
Physical exercises, entertainment activities and large gatherings at public venues such as parks and gardens will also be suspended, according to the circular.
Mandatory medical declarations, 14-day quarantines and other epidemic control measures will be imposed on anyone who returns to Hanoi from the southern Ho Chi Minh City and other COVID-19 hotspots, according to the circular.
In Binh Duong province, home to 30 industrial parks, stay-home orders were issued for seven of nine localities as virus infections topped 1,500 cases, according to the provincial government’s website.
Authorities in the nation’s Mekong Delta rice bowl put in place similar anti-virus measures.
Vietnam reported another new record in daily coronavirus infections on Monday, with 2,367 cases, its health ministry said. The country has reported over 32,000 cases overall, with 123 deaths.
Vietnam will seek to secure 40 million more doses of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper reported, citing a government resolution.
Health workers attend to COVID-19 patients at a facility at the Commonwealth Games village temporarily converted into a COVID care facility in New Delhi, India, on May 2, 2021. (TAUSEEF MUSTAFA / AFP)
India
India added 37,154 COVID-19 cases Monday, taking the total count to almost 31 million confirmed cases.
The second-worst-hit nation has administered 377.4 million vaccine shots so far but only 5.3 percent of its population is fully inoculated against the virus, according to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker.
Many Indians are selling their gold jewelry to make ends meet as the pandemic devastates the economy. Daily COVID-related deaths rose by 724 to 408,764 according to the latest data from the Indian health ministry.
Opening India's tourist destinations and allowing pilgrimage travel could act as COVID-19 "super spreaders" of a third wave of infections, the Medical Association, the country's top doctor's body, warned on Monday.
In another development, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd said on Monday that India's full rollout of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine will have to be put on hold until the Russian producer provides equal quantities of its two differing doses.
Dr. Reddy's had received about 3 million first doses by June 1 and about 360,000 doses of the second by early this month, the company and the Indian government have said.
"As a matter of responsibility, we would not like to announce a full-fledged commercial launch until we have an equivalent quantity (of the second dose)," Dr. Reddy's said in an e-mail to Reuters.
Singapore
Seniors in Singapore have the lowest take-up rate in COVID-19 vaccinations, despite having had access to vaccinations the longest, according to the Straits Times newspaper.
Those aged 70 and above were the first age group to be offered vaccinations but currently have the lowest take-up rate, having now been passed by every subsequent age group. The newspaper quoted seniors expressing concerns about vaccine side effects and questioning the mRNA technology. The government has pointed out that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots in use are safe and among the world’s most effective.
Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, who co-leads the city-state’s virus task force, appealed to family members to encourage older relatives to get inoculated. He said the vaccination rate among seniors is an “area of concern” as those aged 70 and above “appears to be plateauing.”
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Turkey
Turkey has so far administered more than 58.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, according to the data released on Monday by the health ministry.
More than 17 million citizens have received two doses of the vaccine, while over 2.8 million have taken their third shots in the country of 83 million, said the ministry.
Meanwhile, authorities warned that daily COVID-19 cases were on the rise in the provinces with low vaccination rate.
Tevfik Ozlu, a member of the Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Committee, warned a new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic would be inevitable if the herd immunity was not achieved as soon as possible.
Turkey on Sunday confirmed 5,261 new COVID-19 cases, raising its total tally of infections to 5,481,555, according to its health ministry.
The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 37 to 50,229, while 5,242 more people recovered in the last 24 hours.
Iran
Iran on Monday reported 20,829 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's total number of infections to 3,394,279.
The toll rose by 182 to 86,041, the Ministry of Health and Medical Education reported.
A total of 3,041,541 people have recovered from the disease while 3,790 patients remained in intensive care units, according to the ministry.
By Monday, 4,907,545 people have received their first dose of coronavirus vaccines in the country while 2,149,712 have received both doses.
Brunei
Brunei reported two new imported COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing the national tally to 277.
According to the Ministry of Health, one of the new cases involved an Indonesian man aged 43, who had had a fever for five days and malaise for one day.
The other case involved a 34-year-old Indonesian woman who had suffered abdominal pain, fever and cough for three days. Both cases arrived in the country from Jakarta, Indonesia on July 4.
Meanwhile, the ministry said that as of July 11, 95,603 individuals had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, accounting for about 21.1 percent of Brunei's total population.
Fiji
Fiji has recorded 873 new cases of COVID-19 and three more deaths, according to the latest update from the health ministry on Monday.
Permanent Secretary for Health James Fong said the deaths include a 15-year-old teenager, a 56-year-old woman and an 87-year-old woman.
A total of 58 deaths due to COVID-19 had been reported in Fiji, with 56 posted during the outbreak that started in April this year.
The country has recorded a total of 11,385 cases since the first case was reported in March 2020.
Nepal
Nepal on Monday received 1.5 million doses of Johnson & Johnson (J&J)'s COVID-19 vaccine donated by the US government in partnership with COVAX.
A Qatar Airways flight landed in the day at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu "with the US-aided vaccine doses," Raj Kumar Chhetri, spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, told Xinhua.
This is the first time a Western nation has provided COVID-19 vaccines for Nepal. Till now, vaccines received from China and India have been administered in the South Asian country in addition to those provided under COVAX.
As of Sunday, 2.61 million people in Nepal had received the first dose of a vaccine while 1.04 million people have gotten both doses, according to the Ministry of Health and Population.
Nepal has reported a total of 655,449 COVID-19 cases and 9,382 deaths so far, according to the ministry.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan recorded 1,236 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Monday, raising the tally to 135,889, the Ministry of Public Health said.
An additional 1,509 recoveries and 58 more deaths were also recorded, raising the COVID-19 related death toll to 5,849.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan authorities on Monday began administering the Sinopharm vaccines to teachers and school staff across the country, with an aim to reopen schools as soon as possible.
Minister of Education G.L. Peiris, who attended one of the vaccination centers in Colombo, along with several other ministers and Army Commander Shavendra Silva, said they hoped to complete the vaccination of teachers, principals, and non-academic employees within a week.
According to official statistics from the health ministry, nearly 3 million peopleabove the age of 30 years have received the Sinopharm vaccines in Sri Lanka to date, making it the leading vaccine to be administered among the general public.
Out of the nearly 3 million people jabbed, over 1 million have received their second injections as well, health ministry statistics showed.
Separately on Monday, the ministry received 26,000 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 shot, the second batch that arrived in the country this month, taking the total volume of Pfizer shots the country has to 52,000 doses.
Malaysia
Malaysia has reported 8,574 new COVID-19 infections, the health ministry said on Monday, bringing the national tally to 844,870.
Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that 40 of the new cases were imported while the remaining 8,534 were spread via local transmission.
Another 102 more deaths were also reported, bringing the death toll to 6,260.
Of the remaining 91,272 active cases, 964 were in intensive care units and 452 of them required assisted breathing.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh reported 13,768 new cases as of 8:00 am local time Monday, the highest daily spike, bringing the tally to 1,034,957, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.
The official data also showed 220 more deaths were recorded Monday, raising the death toll to 16,639.
The total number of recoveries increased by 7,020 to 881,52, said the DGHS.
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan on Monday reported 1,330 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 140,978.
The Republican Headquarters for Combating COVID-19 also reported 763 new recoveries and 11 more deaths, bringing the total number of recoveries to 118,771 and the death toll to 2,113.
Deputy Chairwoman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan Zhyldyz Bakashova said at a briefing on Monday that the country would need to vaccinate 70 percent of the population in order to create herd immunity from COVID-19.