A man reacts to a swab test for the Covid-19 coronavirus at the Zainoel Abidin hospital in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Nov 16, 2020. (CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN / AFP)
SEOUL / DUBAI / JERUSALEM / SYDNEY / MUMBAI / TEHRAN / MALE / VIENTIANE / KABUL / KUALA LUMPUR / DHAKA / ULAN BATOR - Indonesia, the world’s fourth most-populous nation that’s battling Southeast Asia’s worst coronavirus outbreak, is gearing for a massive vaccination program that the government wants to start as soon as next month.
The government plans to kick off with an initial 3 million doses in December, prioritizing health workers, police, military and public servants, according to Budi Gunadi Sadikin, who leads the national economic recovery task force. The government expects another 13 million will be inoculated in the first quarter of 2021, with majority of Indonesians receiving their jabs later in the year.
Novavax Inc is set to provide 30 million doses of its vaccine candidate, augmenting Indonesia’s supply of 85 million from China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd and 57.6 million of the locally produced Merah Putih, Sadikin told parliament on Tuesday. Indonesia doesn’t have any supply agreement with Moderna Inc, Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE which said their vaccines have above 90 percent effectivity rates.
Indonesia needs about 246 million doses to vaccinate 107 million people ages 18 to 59 years old, Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto said at the same meeting. The government will shoulder the costs of nearly 74 million doses.
Jakarta recorded 1,037 new cases, Central Java 652, West Java 648, Riau 268 and East Java 206.
ADB
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Tuesday that it had allocated US$20.3 million in technical assistance to help its developing members access vaccines for COVID-19 and establish systems to enable equitable and efficient vaccine distribution.
The Manila-based bank said the funds will be available for ADB developing members to support vaccine-related health system assessments and the development of country readiness plans to strengthen the capacity to access, introduce, deploy, deliver, and monitor vaccines safely and effectively.
The ADB said the funds will help members assess and strengthen vaccine cold chain and logistics, infection control, supply and skills of health workers, risk communications, and real-time data capturing and monitoring.
It added that technical assistance will also support the identification and promotion of innovative cold chain and vaccine tracking technologies.
Woochong Um, the director-general of ADB's Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department, said Asia and the Pacific "has largely done well to limit the spread of COVID-19."
READ MORE: Minister: Australia 'victim of own success' in virus fight
Afghanistan
Afghanistan reported 213 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the total tally to 43,681 cases, the country's Ministry of Public Health confirmed.
Six more patients died from the virus, taking the death toll to 1,638 since the outbreak of the pandemic in February.
People return to Melbourne's central business district on Nov 9, 2020. (WILLIAM WEST / AFP)
Australia
Australian authorities conducted mass tests on Tuesday and about 4,000 people were confined to quarantine in the hope of stifling a new cluster of cases of the novel coronavirus after hopes it had been largely eradicated.
The state of South Australia reimposed social distancing restrictions on Monday after detecting 21 cases of the coronavirus, most of which were acquired locally. The cases were the first local transmissions of the virus in Australia in nine days.
South Australia Premier Steven Marshall said testing had identified five new cases in the past 24 hours, while 14 people were suspected to be infected and were awaiting test results. "We are not out of the woods. We are just at the beginning stages of dealing with this particular very nasty cluster," Marshall told reporters in Adelaide.
Marshall said all cases could be traced back to an Australian who arrived in South Australia from overseas on Nov. 2 and entered mandatory quarantine in a hotel.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh reported 2,212 new COVID-19 cases and 39 new deaths on Tuesday, making the tally at 436,684 and death toll at 6,254, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.
The official data showed that 15,990 samples were tested in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh.
Cambodia
A Cambodian-American tested positive for the COVID-19 after arriving in Cambodia from the United States, the country's Ministry of Health (MoH) said in a statement on Tuesday.
The 56-year-old man landed in the capital Phnom Penh on Sunday from the United States via a connecting flight in China's Taiwan region.
"The result of his samples' test showed that the man was positive for the COVID-19, and he is currently undergoing treatment at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital," the MoH said.
India
Indian vaccine maker Bharat Biotech said it has started phase III trials of its COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin.
The trial has been registered at clinical trials registry and approved by the Drugs Controller General of India.
Reports said Covaxin has been evaluated in 1,000 subjects in phase I and phase II clinical trials, with promising safety and immunogenicity data.
Daily coronavirus infections in India fell to their lowest since mid-July, with 29,163 new cases reported for the last 24 hours, taking the total to 8.87 million, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
Daily cases have fallen in India, the country with the second-highest number of infections behind the United States, since hitting a peak in September.
Indians celebrated Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, over the weekend, and experts have warned that the festival season could lead to a new spike.
Deaths rose by 449 over the last 24 hours, the ministry also said, with toll now at 130,519.
Indian biotech company Bharat Biotech has commenced phase III clinical trials for the COVID-19 vaccine involving 26,000 volunteers across the country, the company said in a statement on Monday.
This is India's first Phase III efficacy study for a COVID-19 vaccine, and the largest phase III efficacy trial ever conducted in the country approved by the drug regulator, the statement said.
Iran
Iran unveiled on Tuesday its home-made rapid antigen testing kit for COVID-19 in an official ceremony in the capital Tehran, official news agency IRNA reported.
"This kit has a performance similar to that of PCR tests," Sayyed Sajjad Moravveji, CEO of Barakat E-Health Company (BEHCo), told reporters on the sidelines of the event.
Compared with ordinary PCR kits currently used in Iran, the new kit is more adequate for outpatients since it can identify infected people in 15 to 20 minutes, he said.
It can also make COVID-19 testing accessible for people living in remote and deprived areas, Moravveji added.
Additionally, the new kit costs about 30 percent of the price of a PCR testing kit, he noted.
Iran reported on Tuesday 13,352 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections in the country to 788,473.
Iraq
The Iraqi Health Ministry reported 2,390 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the nationwide infections to 521,542.
It added that 42 new deaths and 2,526 more recovered cases were recorded in the country, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 11,712 and the total recoveries to 449,565.
Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday about buying Russia's Sputnik V vaccine for COVID-19.
"An hour ago I spoke with Russian President Vladmir Putin regarding the possibility of purchasing an option on the vaccine Sputnik-V," Netanyahu told reporters. "We will discuss this in the coming days."
The total number of COVID-19 cases in Israel rose to 324,644, with 903 new ones reported.
The death toll from the virus reached 2,734 with two new fatalities, while the number of recoveries rose to 314,039 with 659 new ones.
Meanwhile, Israel approved the returning to schools of grades 5-6 students in "green" and "yellow" cities and the reopening of outdoor shopping centers in "green" cities.
ALSO READ: Iran reports highest daily COVID-19 tally and toll
Christian devotees pray at church in Mumbai on Nov 16, 2020, after places of worships in Maharashtra state reopened following more than eight months of shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. (SUJIT JAISWAL / AFP)
Jordan
Jordan reported 5,861 new COVID-19 cases and 71 more deaths from the virus, pushing the tally of infections in the kingdom to 149,539 and the death toll to 1,843.
Kuwait
Kuwait reported 489 new COVID-19 cases and four more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 137,329 and the death toll to 842 in the country.
The Kuwaiti health ministry also announced the recovery of 829 more patients, taking the total recoveries in the country to 128,414.
Laos
Lao Ministry of Health on Tuesday reported one new case of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 25.
Deputy Minister of Health Phouthone Meaungpak told a press conference in Lao capital Vientiane on Tuesday that the patient is a 26-year-old Lao student returning from Hungary.
Malaysia
Malaysia reported 1,210 new COVID-19 infections, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday, bringing the national total to 49,730.
Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that 19 of the new cases are imported and 1,191 are local transmissions.
Five more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 318.
Maldives
Twenty-two staff members of the Velena International Airport's (VIA) Cargo Department in the Maldives tested positive for COVID-19, local media reported Tuesday.
Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) Spokesperson Dr Fathimath Nazla Rafeeq was quoted by state-owned PSM news as saying that the first case at the VIA was reported on Nov 5, with a further 21 cases discovered through contact tracing by Monday.
Mongolia
Five more locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 were recorded in Selenge province in northern Mongolia on Tuesday, according to the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD).
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country reached 440, including 27 locally transmitted cases as of Tuesday evening.
New Zealand
New Zealand reported four new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, all detected in recent returnees in managed isolation.
One arrived from Qatar via Australia on Nov. 5 and tested positive at routine testing around day 12 of their stay in managed isolation, according to the Ministry of Health.
Two arrived from Britain via Qatar and Australia on Thursday and tested positive at routine testing around day 3 of their stay in managed isolation.
One arrived from France via Qatar and Australia and also tested positive at routine testing.
One previously reported case has now recovered, which means there are 61 active cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand.
Oman
Oman announced 329 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 120,718. It also reported 12 deaths, bringing the death toll to 1,350, while its overall recoveries rose to 111,446.
Qatar
In Qatar, 243 new cases of coronavirus infections were detected, increasing the total number to 136,028, including 235 deaths and 133,010 recoveries.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia announced 301 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total tally to 353,556. The recoveries rose to 340,668 with 364 more recovered cases in the kingdom, while the death toll reached 5,676 with the registration of 19 more fatalities.
Visitors wearing face masks as a precaution against the coronavirus, walks past near a banner in Seoul, South Korea, Nov 16, 2020. (PHOTO / AP)
South Korea
South Korea decided to strengthen social distancing rules for the greater Seoul area amid spikes in new coronavirus cases, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said on Tuesday.
Tighter curbs would ban public gatherings of 100 people or more, limit religious services and audiences at sporting events to 30 percent capacity, and require high-risk facilities including clubs and karaoke bars to broaden distance among guests.
South Korea has been one of the world's coronavirus mitigation success stories after tackling a major COVID-19 epidemic with aggressive tracing and testing, but continues to battle persistent rises in infections.
The decision came after the daily tally hovered above 200 for the third consecutive day on Monday, the highest since early September, with a series of cluster outbreaks emerging from offices, medical facilities and small gatherings in the densely populated greater Seoul area.
Sri Lanka
The COVID-19-related death toll rose to 61 in Sri Lanka after three deaths were reported on Monday evening, the government information department said in a statement Tuesday.
The deaths were reported mainly from capital Colombo, which has recorded a surge in COVID-19 patients in recent weeks after two new clusters were detected from Minuwangoda, on the outskirts of Colombo and a fish market in Peliyagoda, in Colombo.
Till Tuesday morning, the total number of COVID-19 patients in Sri Lanka reached 17,674, out of which 11,806 patients had recovered and been discharged.
On Monday alone, over 350 people tested positive for the virus, statistics from the health ministry showed.
Sri Lankan authorities on Monday enforced a lockdown in several parts of Colombo once again, days after it was re-opened, due to a rising spread in COVID-19 patients. The government information department said the trading hubs of Pettah and Fort were included in the areas under "isolation" due to the rapid spread of the virus.
The Philippines
The Department of Health (DOH) of the Philippines on Tuesday reported 1,148 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number in the country to 410,718.
Tuesday's number of new daily cases is the lowest since Nov. 4. The DOH has been reporting less than 2,000 cases of daily increase since Nov. 10.
The DOH said 186 more patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 374,543, and the death toll climbed to 7,862 with 23 new deaths.
The DOH said it had tested over 4.98 million people in the Philippines so far. The Philippines has a population of about 110 million.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the government is closely watching the situation in several evacuation centers in the wake of the series of cyclones that have hit the Philippines in recent weeks.
The UAE
The United Arab Emirates recorded 1,209 new COVID-19 cases and four more deaths, raising the total infections to 151,554 and the death toll to 534, while the tally of recoveries rose by 680 to 143,932.
Turkey
Turkey's confirmed COVID-19 patients increased by 3,316 to 417,594, the Turkish Health Ministry announced.
It also said that 94 people died and 2,712 patients recovered in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 11,601 and the total recoveries to 356,375.
Turkey's worst-hit city by COVID-19, Istanbul, has been continuing to inspect compliance with pandemic rules nonstop to curb the surge in COVID-19 cases.
