A man wearing a face mask to protect against COVID-19 walks around Wat Pho temple in Bangkok on Feb 24, 2022. (JACK TAYLOR / AFP)
JAKARTA / MELBOURNE / SINGAPORE / HANOI / SEOUL / WELLINGTON / BANGKOK / SUVA – Thailand will next month remove a requirement for arrivals vaccinated against COVID-19 to undergo a test and brief quarantine on arrival, an official said on Friday, the latest measure to revive its battered tourism industry.
Visitors are encouraged to perform antigen self-tests during their stay, instead of the current "Test & Go" scheme, where arrivals must isolate in a hotel while awaiting the result of a test on arrival.
The new measure follows the removal last month of a pre-departure test requirement.
"Adjusting measures has an impact on drawing in tourism receipts," Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesperson for the coronavirus taskforce, told a news conference.
Although Thailand is seeing a pickup in tourism, numbers are still down sharply from that level, with 210,800 arrivals in March, up from 6,700 in the same period last year, but far short of the monthly average of 3.3 million in 2019.
Still required for visitors, however, is online travel clearance for which proof of vaccination and insurance must be presented. The "Thailand Pass" has long been a source of frustration over the time taken to be granted approval.
Other rules eased on Friday include reducing the required insurance coverage to $10,000 and granting entry to unvaccinated visitors, providing they show a negative pre-departure polymerase chain reaction (PCR) result.
Leader of the opposition Labor Party, Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference in Sydney on April 10, 2022. (BIANCE DE MARCHI / AAP IMAGE VIA AP)
Australia
Australia's opposition leader Anthony Albanese has tested positive for COVID-19, forcing him to isolate for seven days in the middle of the country's election campaign in which the Labor party is battling to regain power after nine years.
Albanese said late on Thursday he returned a positive result after a routine PCR test before he was due to travel to Western Australia, campaigning for the election on May 21.
"I will be isolating at home in Sydney for the next 7 days and will continue to follow health guidelines and advice," he said on social media.
"While at home I will continue my responsibilities as alternative Prime Minister and will be fighting for a better future for all Australians," Albanese said.
In the latest Newspoll survey run for The Australian newspaper on Monday, Albanese's Labor was leading the conservative Coalition 53 percent to 47 percent on a two-party preferred basis, however Prime Minister Scott Morrison had widened his lead over Albanese as preferred prime minister to 44 percent to 37 percent.
Fiji
Fijians have been urged to keep their guards up against COVID-19 which has claimed 862 lives in the Pacific island country since March 2020.
Fiji's Minister for Youth and Sports Parveen Bala said at the Community Sports Association Conference that Fijians can not let their guards down, according to a government statement on Friday.
This convention will need to address the new normal of a pandemic and post-pandemic sporting world. Fijians do not need to fear this new normal as they continue to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, adding that Fijians are finding ways and means to better control the virus.
Fiji has recorded more than 64,000 COVID-19 cases since March 2020 when the island nation reported its first case of COVID-19. Besides the 862 COVID-19 related deaths, Fiji has also reported 912 patients who died from other serious medical conditions unrelated to COVID-19.
Muslims visit a mosque to break their fast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on April 7, 2022. (DEVI RAHMAN / AFP)
Indonesia
Indonesia has seen a decline in daily COVID-19 cases in the past few weeks although the relaxation of restrictions continued in the face of increasing public mobility during the fasting month of Ramadan.
Last month, the government removed its quarantine requirement for all international visitors nearly two years after the archipelago closed its borders for foreign travelers.
Authorities have also lifted the COVID-19 test requirement for domestic travelers who have received booster shots.
Moreover, the government has allowed Muslims to perform prayers at places of worship without any limit on the number of worshipers and permitted them to conduct the annual homecoming tradition for Eid al-Fitr celebration.
Indonesian Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi told local media on Tuesday that the ministry has estimated that 85 million people would make homebound trips for the holiday festivities this year, with travelers aged 18 years and above required to receive booster shots.
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said on Monday that nearly all of the country's population have COVID-19 antibodies they obtained either from vaccinations or previous infections.
His statement came after results of a serological survey conducted by the University of Indonesia revealed that 99.2 percent of Indonesians already have antibodies, higher than 88.6 percent found in an earlier survey in December last year.
Aiming to fully vaccinate 208.26 million people in the country, the government has administered over 394.73 million doses, including the third booster jabs.
To date, the total number of COVID-19 infections in the country rose to 6.04 million with 156,015 deaths due to the viral disease.
New Zealand
New Zealand recorded 9,390 new community cases of COVID-19 and 13 more deaths on Friday, the country's Ministry of Health said in a statement.
Of the new community infections, 2,241 were detected in the largest city of Auckland, according to the ministry. In addition, 56 new cases of COVID-19 were detected at the New Zealand border, said the ministry.
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)
Sinapore
Singapore reported 3,420 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the total tally to 1,174,390.
Among the total cases, there were 3,245 local transmissions and 175 imported cases, respectively.
Of the new local cases, 334 cases were detected through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 2,911 through ART (antigen rapid test) tests, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health.
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 Korean experts have voiced worry about a new wave of the COVID-19 resurgence in autumn following the lifting of social-distancing guidelines earlier this week.
The government decided to lift all anti-virus measures, including a business curfew and a cap on private gatherings, from April 18 except for the mask mandate.
Son Young-rae, an official with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, told a press briefing on Monday that the lifting of the social-distancing guidelines does not represent an end to the pandemic.
South Korea reported 81,058 more COVID-19 cases as of midnight Thursday compared to 24 hours ago, data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) showed Friday.
The daily caseload was down from 90,867 the previous day and far lower than 125,827 tallied a week earlier.
Jeong Eun-ok, a math professor at Konkuk University, told a forum hosted by the KDCA on Wednesday that a new wave of the pandemic could break out as early as November.
Jeong said it would be significant to maximize vaccinations and keep the social-distancing rules in place, forecasting that the absence of the fourth-dose vaccination could raise the number of deaths to 2,700 in the autumn resurgence.
If the fourth shots are administered to 12 million people, the number of deaths could fall to 700, Jeong estimated.
Jeong Jae-hoon, a professor of preventive medicine at Gachon University, told the forum that a new wave may take place in the second half as the BA.2 can continue to be a dominant variant for 10 to 14 weeks before the emergence of a new variant.