Students of the Pyongyang Jang Chol Gu University of Commerce undergo temperature checks before entering the campus, as part of preventative measures against COVID-19, in Pyongyang on Aug 11, 2021.
(KIM WON JIN / AFP)
SYDNEY / TOKYO / WELLINGTON / YANGON / JERUSALEM / AMMAN / ANKARA / BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN / JAKARTA / SEOUL / NEW DELHI / MANILA – The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has rejected roughly three million COVID-19 vaccine doses of China's Sinovac Biotech, saying they should be sent to severely affected countries, the UNICEF said on Wednesday.
The country's public ministry pointed to the limited global supply for vaccines and continuing virus surges elsewhere, according to the UN children's agency that manages the supply for the COVAX scheme for lower-income nations.
So far, the DPRK has not reported any COVID-19 cases and has imposed strict anti-virus measures, including border closures and domestic travel curbs.
A spokesperson for the UN agency told Reuters that the ministry will continue to communicate with COVAX facility to receive vaccines in the coming months.
People walk past a sign encouraging people to get vaccinated in Melbourne on Aug 31, 2021 as the city experiences it's sixth lockdown as it battles an outbreak of the Delta variant of coronavirus. (WILLIAM WEST / AFP)
Australia
Australian authorities on Wednesday extended the COVID-19 lockdown in Melbourne for another three weeks, as they shift their focus to rapid vaccination drives and move away from a suppression strategy to bring cases down to zero.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews flagged a staggered easing of the tough restrictions once 70 percent of the state's adult residents receive at least one dose, a milestone he hopes to reach at least by Sept 23, based on current vaccination rates.
"We have thrown everything at this, but it is now clear to us that we are not going to drive these numbers down, they are instead going to increase," Andrews told reporters in Melbourne, the state capital, after a lockdown for nearly a month failed to quell the outbreak. The lockdown was due to end on Thursday.
"We got to buy time to allow vaccinations to be undertaken all the while doing this very hard work, this very painful and difficult work, to keep a lid as much as we can on cases."
New local cases jumped to 120 in Victoria from 76 a day earlier. Of the new cases, 100 have spent time in the community while infectious.
Neighbouring New South Wales state, home to Sydney, on Wednesday brought forward its target date to fully vaccinate 70 percent of people above 16 to the middle of next month from the initial target of the end of October, as outbreaks spurred a surge in inoculation.
"No matter where you live, life will be much, much better, much freer, as long as you're vaccinated at 70 percent," Berejiklian told reporters. So far 37 percent are fully vaccinated in the state, while 67 percent have had at least one dose, slightly higher than the national numbers.
A total of 1,116 new cases were detected in New South Wales, down from 1,164 a day earlier. NSW reported four new deaths taking the total number of deaths in the latest outbreak to 100.
Brunei
Hengyi Industries Sdn Bhd, a petrochemical joint venture between Brunei and China, donated essential laboratory supplies to Brunei's Department of Laboratory Services at the Ministry of Health on Tuesday.
Hengyi Industries is a joint venture between China's Zhejiang Hengyi Group and Damai Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary under the Brunei government's Strategic Development Capital Fund, with the two sides owning 70 percent and 30 percent of the shares respectively.
"The donation, which consists of absolute ethyl alcohol, chemical sterilant and fire extinguishers, are urgently needed in Brunei's virology laboratory and will be used to assist with the processing of COVID-19 swab tests in the country," Chen Liancai, Chief Executive Officer of Hengyi Industries, told Xinhua.
Brunei reported 71 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the national tally to 2,712.
According to the Ministry of Health, all the new cases are local infections. While the source of infection of 47 local cases is still under investigation, there are 24 additional new cases to nine of the existing active clusters.
People wait to get inoculated against COVID-19 at a cinema hall in Mumbai, India on Aug 17, 2021. (RAFIQ MAQBOOL / AP)
India
India's COVID-19 tally rose to 32,810,845 on Wednesday as 41,965 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry's latest data.
Besides, as many as 460 deaths due to the pandemic since Tuesday morning took the total death toll to 439,020.
Indonesia
Indonesia has administered 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, setting a milestone that would help it ease restrictions further to revive the economy.
More than 23 percent of the country’s 270 million population, the fourth-biggest in the world, have received at least their first dose, while about 13 percent are fully inoculated, the health ministry data showed.
Israel
Israeli pupils returned to school on Wednesday with mask requirements and mandatory COVID-19 testing aimed at stemming a surge in coronavirus cases that has overshadowed the highly-vaccinated country's reopening.
Health officials worry the launch of a new school year – with most students attending in-person – will exacerbate the current wave ahead of this month's Jewish holiday season, potentially forcing another national lockdown.
New infections have soared since the emergence of the Delta variant, reaching a pandemic-high 10,947 on Tuesday among Israel's 9.3 million population.
Under what he calls a "living with COVID" policy, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has pressed ahead with the new school year, in part by ramping up vaccine booster shots and requiring testing for students and unvaccinated instructors.
But Bennett's government announced the new measures just days before classes resumed, drawing criticism from parents who say they were given little time to prepare.
Separately, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Tuesday announced a vaccination campaign, offering the third dose of COVID-19 vaccine to soldiers.
Soldiers will be able to receive the third dose only in military facilities, and will be prohibited from receiving the shot at civilian clinics, the IDF noted.
Only soldiers who were vaccinated at least five months before with the second dose may be vaccinated with the third dose.
The military said there are currently 2,880 active COVID-19 cases among soldiers, with two of them in serious condition, while an additional 3,616 soldiers are in home quarantine.
ALSO READ: Vaccine shortages prompts some ASEAN nations to develop own jabs
Japan
Japan's Kanagawa prefecture said it has found another vial of Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine suspected of containing a foreign substance and has put the rest of the lot on hold.
In a statement on Tuesday, prefectural authorities said a pharmacist found several black particles in one vial upon checking for foreign substances before the vaccine's use.
Japan suspended the use of 1.63 million doses of Moderna shots last week after being notified of contamination in some of the supply. Moderna and Spanish pharma company Rovi, which bottles Moderna vaccines, have said the cause could be a manufacturing issue, and European safety regulators have launched an investigation.
Moderna has said no safety or efficacy issues had been identified from the issue.
Kanagawa prefecture said the vaccine's domestic distributor, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, had collected the vial with the suspected contaminant, and that about 3,790 people had already received shots from the same lot.
More Moderna shots were temporarily halted in two regions of Japan this week for what appears to be a separate issue of bits of the vials' rubber stopper breaking off when needles are incorrectly inserted.
Jordan
Jordan's Minister of State for Media Affairs Sakher Dudin said on Tuesday the country will lift the remaining COVID-19 restrictions starting Sept 1, as part of the government's plan to achieve a "Safe Summer."
In the third and final phase of the "Safe Summer" plan, Jordan will resume in-school learning and allow universities to open their campuses, the minister was quoted as saying by the state-run Petra news agency.
Jordan will also allow full capacity at the workplace, with the exception of wedding halls that will be allowed to only operate at 50 percent capacity and with a cap of 200 people, he added.
Jordan has so far reported 797,126 COVID-19 infections and 10,411 deaths.
Malaysia
Malaysia is studying if it’s necessary to give booster COVID-19 vaccine shots, as the country grapples with the fast-spreading delta variant.
An expert committee has been set up to assess the need for a third shot and is expected to give its recommendation by month-end, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said at a briefing on Wednesday.
The priority now is to focus on people who haven’t received even their first shot, he said. Only 46 percent of Malaysians have been fully inoculated as of Aug 31, with states including Sabah and Perak falling behind on coverage. More vaccines will be sent their way, he said.
Myanmar
Myanmar's Foreign Affairs Ministry on Tuesday further extended the entry restrictions for travelers till the end of September.
According to the ministry's announcement, the entry of all travelers, the issuance of all types of visas and visa exemptions services will be suspended till Sept 30.
Foreign nationals, including diplomats and United Nations officials, who wish to travel to Myanmar by relief or special flights due to urgent official missions or compelling reasons, are asked to contact the Myanmar mission for possible exceptions to certain visa restrictions, it said.
Myanmar has reported a total of 399,282 COVID-19 infections as of Tuesday, after 3,399 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health.
People, some wearing masks, walk along a path in Wellington, New Zealand, Aug 19, 2021. (MARK MITCHELL / NEW ZEALAND HERALD VIA AP)
New Zealand
New Zealanders on Wednesday visited beaches and queued for takeaway food as tough lockdown measures enforced to beat an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus were eased for most of the country.
About 1.7 million people in the largest city Auckland still remain in strict level 4 lockdown for another two weeks, but restrictions for the remainder of the country were loosened.
However, schools and offices remained shut nationwide and businesses can only provide contactless services.
Except for a small number of cases in February, New Zealand was largely coronavirus-free until the outbreak of the Delta variant prompted Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to order a snap nationwide lockdown on Aug 17.
The country reported 75 new cases of COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, up from 49 a day earlier. Of those, 74 were in Auckland and one was a household contact in Wellington. The total cases from the current outbreak rose to 687, nearly all in Auckland.
ALSO READ: India's virus vaccine supply jumps, raising export hopes
"The latest bounce in numbers is not unexpected," the Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said at a news conference, adding it was still below the peak daily number.
However, the government now faces questions over a delayed vaccine rollout, as well as rising costs in a country heavily reliant on an immigrant workforce.
Just over a quarter of the population has been fully vaccinated so far, the slowest pace among the wealthy nations of the OECD grouping.
Health workers from the government-run Philippine General Hospital hold placards as they ask the government to release their risk allowances amid rising coronavirus infections, in Manila on Aug 26, 2021. (TED ALJIBE / AFP)
Philippines
Scores of healthcare workers protested in the Philippine capital on Wednesday to demand an end to what they called government neglect and unpaid benefits, as pressure builds at hospitals fighting one of Asia's longest-running coronavirus epidemics.
Protesters wearing protective medical gear gathered at the Department of Health (DOH) and held placards demanding their risk allowances and hazard pay, and the resignation of Health Secretary Francisco Duque.
The Philippines passed the 2 million mark in coronavirus cases on Wednesday, a fifth of those recorded in the past month alone. Medical staff are overwhelmed and 103 have died during the pandemic, among some 33,500 coronavirus fatalities overall.
"It is sad that many of us have died, many of us became sick, and many have resigned or opted to retire early, yet we are still kneeling before the DOH to give us our benefits," Robert Mendoza, president of the Alliance of Health Workers, said from the back of a pickup truck.
President Rodrigo Duterte gave health and budget ministries 10 days from Aug 21 to pay health workers, following nurses' threats to resign and unions warning of strikes. read more
"The government promised it will give the benefits today but up to now, it has not. I pity us because we are the ones begging," said nurse Nico Oba.
Like elsewhere in Southeast Asia where vaccination rates are low, the highly transmissible Delta variant has sees deaths climb and cases soar, with a daily record 22,366 cases in the Philippines on Monday.
The Philippines will have enough shots by October to open inoculations for general population, including vulnerable children, said vaccine czar Carlito Galvez. About 25 million doses are expected this month, while 29.5 million are expected to arrive in October, Galvez said at a virtual forum.
South Korea
South Korea has secured 1.5 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines from Romania, the health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
South Korea reported 2,025 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Tuesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 253,445.
The daily caseload was sharply up from 1,371 in the prior day, hovering above 1,000 for 57 straight days. The daily average tally for the past week was 1,716.
Thailand
Thailand on Wednesday reported 14,802 new COVID-19 cases and 252 additional fatalities, according to the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).
It has been two consecutive days that the number of new cases fell below 15,000, signifying a declining trend. Of the new cases, 3,732 were found in Bangkok and 1,284 in Samut Prakan.
CCSA also said that 18,996 patients were discharged from hospitals over the past 24 hours.
Since the beginning of the pandemic early last year, there have been 1,219,531 cases and 11,841 deaths across the country.
Turkey
Turkey on Tuesday confirmed 21,893 new COVID-19 cases, raising its tally of infections to 6,388,331, according to its Health Ministry.
The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 252 to 56,710, while 14,106 more people recovered in the last 24 hours.