Yongpeng Sun-Tastaufen
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Singapore excludes Sinovac from vaccine tally; South Korea cases surge
Elsewhere, South Korea reported its biggest single-day surge this year, and Thailand plans to convert an international airport terminal into a field hospital.
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- Only people who have taken Moderna and Pfizer shots are reflected in Singapore’s overall vaccination numbers, a health ministry spokesman said
- Elsewhere, South Korea reported its biggest single-day surge this year and Thailand plans to convert an international airport terminal into a field hospital
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Published: 9:59am, 7 Jul, 2021
Updated: 11:08pm, 7 Jul, 2021
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A doctor administers Sinovac’s Covid-19 vaccine to a woman at a private clinic in Singapore on Tuesday. Photo: Xinhua
Singapore
is not counting people who took Sinovac Biotech’s CoronaVac vaccine in its national count, according to the Ministry of Health.
Only people who have taken Moderna and Pfizer shots are reflected in the overall vaccination numbers, a spokesman for the ministry said.
Sinovac recipients are included in a national immunisation registry that clinics can see in order to avoid giving multiple vaccines to the same individual, the spokesman said.
Why Singaporeans are lining up for Sinovac jabs despite efficacy concerns
28 Jun 2021
Nearly 2.2 million people have officially completed their vaccination regimen, and 3.6 million have received at least one dose of Moderna or Pfizer shots, according to the ministry’s website. About 17,000 have received shots made by
China
’s Sinovac, the spokesman said.
Singapore began allowing some
private clinics
to administer Sinovac on June 18, though the vaccine has not yet been approved by the regulator. Two non-serious adverse event reports had been received as of June 29, the ministry said earlier on Tuesday in a written response to parliament questions.
01:30
WHO approves Sinovac Biotech’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use
WHO approves Sinovac Biotech’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use
Evidence is growing that
mRNA vaccines
such as Pfizer and Moderna’s are more effective at preventing serious illnesses and death, and they can also curb transmission. Non-mRNA shots like Sinovac are able to prevent acute illness or death, but they may be less able to stop the virus spreading.
Some people who had allergic reactions to their first mRNA shot are able to choose Sinovac via a so-called Special Access Route, the ministry said.
NEW
KNOWLEDGE
What is the latest news on the coronavirus vaccine rollout?
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Also on Wednesday, the health ministry said coronavirus restrictions will be further loosened from next week, including allowing up to five people to dine at restaurants.
Restrictions will further ease around the end of July when at least half of the population are expected to be fully inoculated. That will include more liberal social measures for those vaccinated, like gatherings of up to eight people, the ministry said.
South Korea reports biggest surge of year
South Korea
reported more than 1,200 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the highest daily count since late December, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum told a Covid-19 response meeting on Wednesday.
Kim said social distancing measures would be extended for the next few days and officials will consider whether to toughen existing rules as the country battles a fourth wave of the pandemic, fuelled by the highly contagious
Delta variant
.
The virus was spreading rapidly among unvaccinated people in their 20s and 30s, Kim said, advising young people to get tested. About 85 per cent of new cases occurred in the densely-populated greater Seoul area.
Hot and humid summer weather that had driven people indoors in search of air conditioning was partly blamed for the spike, as many such spaces in urban areas are poorly ventilated.
People queue for Covid-19 tests at a temporary testing site in Seoul on Tuesday. Photo: EPA/Yonhap
“If the situation fails to be brought under control within two to three days, we would have to impose the strongest level of distancing”, Kim said. Current rules bar people from gathering in groups of five or more. Meetings of three people or more are banned past 6pm under the highest level of social distancing.
“Distancing has not been observed properly among young people in their 20s and 30s since last month as they welcomed summer with increased activities”, said Professor Eom Joong-sik of the Gacheon University Gil Hospital in Incheon. “The spread of the Delta variant is also somewhat contributing to the recent spikes.”
South Korea offers quarantine-free travel as Asia’s ‘zero-Covid’ economies self-isolate
5 Jul 2021
Seoul announced a ban on outdoor gatherings in parks along the Han River on Wednesday, after hundreds of young people were spotted hanging out in the area on consecutive nights. Violators face a 100,000 won (US$88) fine if caught, with additional financial penalties to be applied if their behaviour is linked to outbreaks.
Around 30 per cent of the country’s population of 52 million people have received at least one dose of a
Covid-19 vaccine
.
The highest ever daily caseload reported by South Korea was 1,240 on December 25, when the country was
experiencing a third wave
of the pandemic.
Indonesia grapples with one of Asia’s worst Covid-19 outbreaks
India’s health minister quits as Modi readies cabinet reshuffle
India’s health minister resigned ahead of a cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, officials said, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking to reinvigorate an administration that has been heavily criticised for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan quit, a source close to the minister said, paying the political price for the government’s struggles to cope with a devastating second wave of coronavirus infections.
Media reports said a change is also possible at the labour ministry.
The ministers for finance, foreign affairs, home and defence, however, were unlikely to be changed, according to the reports.
Before announcing his first cabinet reshuffle since winning a second term in 2019, Modi consulted leaders of his Bharatiya Janata Party, a government official said.
Vietnam is struggling to contain its most serious Covid-19 outbreak so far. Photo: EPA-EFE
Vietnam orders virus lockdown in Ho Chi Minh City
Nine million people in Ho Chi Minh City have been ordered into lockdown, state media said Wednesday, as the commercial hub struggles to contain Vietnam’s most serious Covid-19 outbreak so far.
Beginning in the early hours of Friday, residents will be mandated to stay at home for two weeks after 8,000 cases were recorded in the city during the latest virus wave.
Nguyen Thanh Phong, Ho Chi Minh City mayor, said on Wednesday the city was “facing challenges in controlling” the pandemic, according to state-run news outlet VNExpress.
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“To quickly control the Covid-19 pandemic, Ho Chi Minh City is determined to be tougher,” he was quoted as saying as he announced the lockdown.
Residents will be allowed to leave home only to buy food or medicine, state media said.
At least 10 cities have suspended their airlinks with Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, and panic buying was reported on Wednesday as three major wholesale markets were shut down.
Seniors hit the dance floor again as South Korea lifts Covid-19 social-distancing rules
Seniors hit the dance floor again as South Korea lifts Covid-19 social-distancing rules
Thailand to turn Bangkok airport terminal into hospital
Thailand
plans to convert a terminal at the nation’s main international airport into a field hospital as a surge in coronavirus infections that is straining the nation’s public health system shows little sign of easing.
Airports of Thailand Pcl., operator of the Suvarnabhumi International Airport, has been asked to convert the newly completed terminal into a facility with an intensive-care unit, medical rooms and support for patients with mild to medium symptoms. The hospital will initially provide at least 5,000 patient beds, according to a government statement late on Tuesday.
Medical facilities are already at capacity, and deaths could double by August if the outbreak does not ease, Kumnuan Ungchusak, an expert in epidemiology and adviser to the Health Ministry said at a seminar last week. Most cases have emerged from Bangkok, which continues to report the most infections and deaths each day.
Phuket’s reopening marks baby steps for Thailand’s pandemic exit
2 Jul 2021
The spread of the Delta variant, expected to become the most dominant strain as early as August, has hindered efforts to contain the outbreak. With the mutated strain expected to spread to more provinces, daily case count may surge to 10,000 from next week, Apisamai Srirangsan, spokeswoman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said at a briefing on Wednesday.
Separately, Thailand’s Covid-19 task force said it will consider proposals for a lockdown in the virus hotspots of Bangkok and its surrounding areas once the health officials submit them. The panel last month refrained from implementing a lockdown in Bangkok and instead placed stricter curbs on construction sites and restaurants.
Thailand’s daily infections and deaths have set records this month, with infections exacerbated by the spread of the more contagious Delta variant. About 90 per cent of the nation’s 301,172 cumulative Covid-19 cases have come since April, with 6,519 reported on Wednesday.
Sydney residents queue outside a Covid-19 vaccination centre. Photo: AFP
Sydney extends lockdown by a week
A two-week Covid-19 lockdown in
Australia
’s largest city of Sydney was on Wednesday extended for another week in a bid to contain an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta virus variant.
The city, home to one-fifth of Australia’s 25 million people, is fighting its worst outbreak of the year so far, with total cases reaching more than 330 since the first case was detected three weeks ago.
New South Wales state authorities imposed a hard lockdown on June 26 to get on top of the Delta strain. The stay-home orders were expected to end Friday, but will now end on July 16, state premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.
Twenty-seven new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 were reported in New South Wales on Wednesday, up from 18 a day earlier, taking the total infections in the outbreak to more than 350.
Hong Kong should consider making Australia high risk after Delta surge: expert
2 Jul 2021
Existing restrictions, including mandatory masks indoors and on public transport, will remain for another week and schools in Sydney will move to remote learning when they end their winter break, The Sydney Morning Herald said in a report.
Officials have said the lockdown has been effective as the tough restrictions limited daily cases to tens rather than hundreds, but the fast moving Delta variant in a country that has been slow to vaccinate alarmed officials.
Lockdowns, swift contact tracing and a high community compliance with social distancing rules have helped Australia suppress past outbreaks and keep its Covid-19 numbers relatively low, with just over 30,800 Covid-19 cases and 910 deaths.
Philippines set to receive 30 million vaccine doses
The
Philippines
expects to receive as many as 30 million
Covid-19 vaccine
doses this month and next, according to its vaccine tsar, who also apologised for supply delays that halted inoculations in some cities.
About 16 million doses to arrive in July would include vaccines donated by
Japan
and the
US
, those committed under
the WHO
’s Covax Facility as well as shots procured by companies, vaccine tsar Carlito Galvez said in a recorded briefing aired on Tuesday night. Around 14 million doses are expected in August, he said.
Delays in supplies are unavoidable and usually occur in the first and last weeks of the month as vaccine manufacturers prepare for deployment, Galvez said. Several cities in the Philippine capital region
have halted their first-dose vaccination programmes
as supplies from the national government run out.
Analysis | ‘Late and slow motion’: where the Philippines’ pandemic response went wrong
19 Feb 2021
Vaccination roll-out in the Philippines is picking up with 1.26 million shots administered in the first five days of July compared with 5.46 million doses for the entire month of June, Galvez said. About 2.9 million people have been fully vaccinated, while nearly 12 million doses have been administered since the drive started in March.
China’s Sinovac Biotech has sought to amend its emergency use authorisation to include children from three to 17 years old, Food and Drug Administration head Eric Domingo said in the same briefing.
A worker monitors the oxygen tank feed to various wards at a hospital in Aceh, Indonesia. Photo: AFP
Indonesia expands virus curbs
Indonesia
expanded nationwide coronavirus curbs on Wednesday to battle
its deadliest Covid-19 wave yet
, as the death toll rocketed with the government warning that the worst may be yet to come.
The new restrictions would apply to dozens of cities and extend from Sumatra island in the west to easternmost Papua as the highly infectious Delta variant rips across the Southeast Asian archipelago after battering densely populated Java.
“Cases are also rising in other regions and we need to pay attention to the availability of hospitals,” said senior minister Airlangga Hartarto, adding: “the government has decided to extend the restrictions” until July 20.
The country’s hospitals are buckling under the pressure as a wave of sick patients flood the overwhelmed health care system.
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This week the government rolled out new virus curbs in the hard-hit capital Jakarta, across Java and on holiday island Bali as it reported Tuesday a record 31,189 new infections and 728 deaths – as much as seven times the daily mortality rate less than a month ago.
Areas affected by the extended restrictions announced on Wednesday have much lower daily case counts than Covid-19 epicentre Java, home to more than half of Indonesia’s nearly 270 million people.
But limited health care services in those regions are already under strain and an explosion in cases could bring them to their knees, Hartarto warned.
“Facilities in those regions are limited and overwhelmed,” he said, adding that even tighter rules may follow if infections keep rising.
The wider restrictions include forcing most non-essential employees to work from home, as well as limiting shop and restaurant hours.
The Muslim-majority country’s mosques and churches were also closed in the highest-risk areas.
Reporting by Bloomberg, Reuters, AFP, Park Chan-kyong
