A recovering COVID-19 patient hangs out along a corridor of the Bekasi Patriot Chandrabhaga stadium, used as a temporary hospital amid the pandemic, in Bekasi on the outskirts of Jakarta on Dec 29, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

JAKARTA / TOKYO / WELLINGTON / JERUSALEM / KUWAIT CITY / TEHRAN - Iran started clinical tests of a locally developed coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday, with the aim of making it available to the general public by next summer, state-owned IRIB News reported. 

The shot, called Coviran, was given to three volunteers, with a total of 56 people slated to receive it in the first of three stages of clinical trials.

The commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said on Monday that a door-to-door screening campaign carried out with the participation of Basij volunteer forces has led to a fall in the number of daily new COVID-19 cases in Iran.

"The door-to-door screening program, dubbed Martyr Soleimani initiative, has resulted in a reduction of the (daily new ) cases of COVID-19 in Iran," Hossein Salami was quoted as saying.

Iranian health authorities announced on Tuesday 6,108 new COVID-19 infections, raising the overall count in the country to 1,212,481, official news agency IRNA reported.

Iran’s fatalities reached 54,946 with 132 more deaths overnight, the latest Health Ministry data showed.

Thailand

With the latest flareup in coronavirus outbreak in Thailand sweeping almost two-thirds of the country, authorities are tightening measures to contain infection risks ahead of the New Year holidays.

Bangkok, the nation’s capital and its largest city, ordered sports and entertainment venues to close from Tuesday through Jan. 4, with a possible extension in the event of the situation not improving in the next one week. Tak, a province bordering Myanmar, and the nation’s virus hotspots Samut Sakhon and Rayong, have also imposed similar restrictions to prevent a further flareup in infections.

The latest wave of infections, which started after a seafood vendor was tested positive for COVID-19 two weeks ago, has now spread to about 60 percent of Thailand’s 77 provinces, official data show. The government has so far refrained from imposing a broad lockdown but allowed each provincial authorities to set its own measures based on risks of infections.

New cases in Thailand may spike to as high as 18,000 a day in January if no control measures are implemented, Taweesilp said. The country can limit new infections to about 1,000 cases a day with curbs, he said adding the government may unveil stronger measures next week if the situation worsens.

Thailand reported its first coronavirus death in almost two months as a resurgence in the outbreak tied to migrant laborers in a seaside province near the capital continued to infect more people. A 45-year-old man in Rayong province, who tested positive for COVID-19 and had pre-existing heart conditions, died on Monday, according to Deputy Health Minister Satit Pitutecha.

Kuwait 

Kuwait aims to vaccinate 80 percent of its population against COVID-19 by September next year after starting an inoculation campaign last week with the shot developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, a Health Ministry official said.

As of Monday, 2,500 people were vaccinated and second doses will be administered from Jan. 14, said Dr. Ghada Ebrahim, director for public relations and media at Kuwait’s Health Ministry. The prime minister was the first to receive the vaccine on December 24, “to encourage people to register online and vaccinate,” she said.

Kuwait will resume flights at Kuwait International Airport on Jan. 2, 2020, Kuwait's Directorate-General for Civil Aviation (DGCA) said Tuesday.

According to Saad Al-Otaibi, the DGCA spokesman, the resumption of flights will begin Saturday at 4:00 p.m. local time.

Meanwhile, he added that all decisions might shift according to coronavirus development.

In this Dec 20, 2020 photo, a guard with a face-shield stands near a shrimp market in Samut Sakhon, south of Bangkok. (PHOTO / AP)

Afghanistan 

A total of 183 new COVID-19 positive cases have been registered in Afghanistan over the past 24 hours, bringing the number of patients infected with the disease to 52,330 in the country, the Public Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

According to the ministry, 10 patients have died due to the disease over the period totaling the number of COVID-19 related deaths to 2,189 since the outbreak of the virus in February in Afghanistan.

Bangladesh 

Bangladesh reported 1,181 new COVID-19 cases and 30 new deaths on Tuesday, making the tally at 511,261 and death toll at 7,509, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.

The official data showed that 14,588 samples were tested in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh.

The total number of recovered patients in the country stood at 454,563 including 1,245 new recoveries on Tuesday, said the DGHS.

Mongolia 

Mongolia reported 38 more COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, raising its national tally to 1,175, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases said Tuesday.

Thirty-seven of the latest cases were locally transmitted, including two in health workers, said Amarjargal Ambaselmaa, the center's head of the surveillance department, at a daily press conference.

The UAE

The United Arab Emirates reported 1,506 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the most since late October and among the highest daily infections since the start of the outbreak.

Dubai aims to vaccinate 70 percent of its population with the coronavirus shot developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE by the end of next year, Reuters reported, citing a health official.

The UAE had reported 1,027 cases on Monday and 944 on Sunday. The country has one of the highest testing rates relative to population and conducted more than 153,000 tests over the past 24 hours.

South Korea

South Korea on Tuesday reported 40 new coronavirus deaths, a record daily toll, bringing the total death tally to 859, as the country grapples with a third wave of infection centred around nursing homes and a prison in the capital Seoul.

South Korean officials have vowed to accelerate the launch of a vaccination programme after detecting the virus variant linked to the rapid rise in infections in Britain.

As of midnight Monday there were 1,046 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 58,725, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Of the new cases, 1,030 were locally transmitted and more than half were found in Seoul.

South Korea’s Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun expressed regret over a mass cluster infection in a Seoul prison, with a total 757 infections, and called for all-out prevention measures.

South Korea on Tuesday said it will sign a deal with Moderna Inc to offer COVID-19 vaccines for 20 million people, Yonhap news agency reported citing the presidential office.

This comes a day after officials vowed to speed up efforts to launch a public coronavirus vaccination programme as the country detected its first cases of the virus variant linked to the rapid rise in infections in Britain.

American troops stationed in South Korea received the first doses of coronavirus vaccine to be administered in the country on Tuesday, as health officials in Seoul reported a daily record of 40 deaths amid a surge in new cases.

US Forces Korea (USFK), which includes around 28,500 American military personnel as well as thousands of other workers and family members, gave the first doses to “frontline health workers and first responders” in the force, a USFK official said.

The vaccinations are voluntary, and will be provided to the rest of the military command as supplies are provided, USFK’s commander said in a letter announcing the plans last week.

A medical staff member wearing protective gear takes a swab from a visitor to test for the COVID-19 coronavirus at a temporary testing station outside the City Hall in Seoul on Dec 28, 2020. (PHOTO/ AFP)

Malaysia

Malaysia reported 1,925 new COVID-19 infections, the health ministry said on Tuesday, bringing the national total to 108,615.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that 10 of the new cases are imported and 1,915 are local transmissions.

Two new deaths have been reported, pushing the death toll to 457.

Japan 

Japan on Monday detected a coronavirus variant found in South Africa, the government said, the first such discovery in a nation that has already identified more than a dozen cases of another variant that is spreading rapidly in Britain.

A woman in her 30s who arrived in Japan on Dec. 19 was found to be infected with the new virus variant, the health ministry said. South Africa’s health authorities have said the variant might be responsible for a recent surge in infections there.

The announcement of the detection of the South Africa-linked variant comes after the Japanese government on Monday started banning the entry of non-resident foreign nationals following the discovery of the UK variant in Japan.

Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga urged calm ahead of the New Year holidays, when hospitals tend to be understaffed, and instructed ministers to remain alert.

“They say that no evidence is showing the vaccines that are already being administered overseas are not effective against this variant, and anti-infection steps for it are unchanged from those for the conventional virus,” Suga said, referring to the new, fast-spreading UK variant.

He spoke ahead of the announcement of the detection of the South Africa-linked variant.

The United States military has begun its first wave of COVID-19 vaccinations in Japan, prioritising frontline medical workers.

Inoculations began on Monday at the Yokota Air Base, Lt. Stuart Thrift confirmed to Reuters. US Forces Japan last week took delivery of just under 8,000 doses, a military spokesman said during a FaceBook Live event on Tuesday.

The US government and its partners will distribute 4.67 million doses of Pfizer Inc vaccine and that of Moderna Inc, US Army General Gustave Perna said last week.

The Tokyo metropolitan government reported 856 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours on Tuesday, bringing the Japanese capital city's cumulative total to 57,896 infections.

The daily tally is the highest for a Tuesday since the outbreak began, with the figure usually lower owing to many medical facilities being closed on weekends.

Indonesia

Indonesia will sign vaccine procurement deals with Pfizer Inc. and AstraZeneca Plc as it braces for a flare-up in COVID-19 infections after the year-end holiday.

The government will sign an agreement with Pfizer in the first week of January for 50 million doses, after state-owned vaccine producer PT Bio Farma signs a separate deal for the same amount with AstraZeneca this week, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said in a briefing. Both deals will include the option to procure an additional 50 million doses from each company.

According to an Indonesian COVID-19 mitigation watch, as many as 507 health workers in Indonesia have died of COVID-19 since March. 

The average bed occupancy rate (BOR) for COVID-19 patients in Indonesia has reached 64.10 percent, above the WHO standard of 60 percent, amid fears of a spike in COVID-19 cases after the Christmas and year-end holiday seasons, the Ministry of Health said on Monday.

The ministry's Director General of Health Services, Abdul Kadir, said there are eight provinces that have the BOR above the national average, namely Banten 85 percent, Jakarta 84 percent, West Java 83 percent, Yogyakarta 82 percent, Central Kalimantan 79 percent, East Java 77 percent, Central Java 76 percent, and South Sulawesi 69 percent.

"If there are even a few more patients in these provinces, hospitals would be overwhelmed, services would not be optimal, and eventually, the death rate would increase," Kadir told a virtual conference on Monday.

In anticipation of the collapse of hospitals and medical services, the government has asked the provincial health offices and hospital directors to add 30-40 percent more of the total existing beds.

The government has also added 1,297 more beds for 34 public hospitals that handle COVID-19 patients.

The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 7,903 within one day to 727,122, with the death toll adding by 251 to 21,703, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

Turkey

Turkey's health authorities said the death toll caused by COVID-19 increased on Monday by 257 to 20,135.

Turkey also reported 15,197 COVID-19 new cases, including 2,816 symptomatic patients, raising the total number in the country to 2,162,775. The total recoveries climbed to 2,037,433.

ALSO READ: Indonesia bans foreign visitors for 2 weeks over new variant

Israel 

Israel entered on Sunday the third nationwide lockdown as the country's COVID-19 tally surpassed the 400,000 mark.

The Israeli government on Sunday announced the enforcement of a two-week nationwide lockdown as the country gears up a vaccination drive to curb a resurging wave of COVID-19 infections. This is the third national lockdown in Israel since the outbreak of the pandemic.

From 5 pm local time (1500 GMT), all people are required to stay within 1,000 meters of their home, except for commuting to workplaces that have been defined as "essential," seeking medical care, attending legal proceedings, and exercising.

Restaurants and shops were closed, except for deliveries.

Some 495,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have been administered in Israel to date, the health ministry said on Tuesday. Israel is one of the countries that’s vaccinated the most so far, with the US., China and the UK.

The vaccination drive, which began on Dec. 20, comes amid a surge in cases. Close to 5,450 new cases were confirmed on Monday, bringing the total since the beginning of the pandemic to almost 409,000, including 3,256 deaths.

Commuters wearing face masks walk along a concourse at Shinagawa station in Tokyo on Dec 10, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

Lebanon

Lebanon has secured about 2 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, which will cover 20 percent of the country’s nationals, the health minister said on Monday.

Hamad Hassan told Reuters two weeks ago the country was about to sign a deal for supplies and that the first batch would arrive eight weeks later.

“We have reserved about 2 million doses of the vaccine and that will be enough for 20 percent of Lebanese living in the country,” he said at the presidential palace on Monday.

Lebanon’s hospitals are under pressure as infections surge. Doctors warn ICU beds are filling up fast.

The medical system has also been battered by the country’s financial crisis, which caused supply shortages, and August’s port explosion, which damaged major Beirut hospitals.

The COVID-19 outbreak has killed nearly 1,400 people in Lebanon, which has an estimated population of 6 million including more than 1 million Syrian refugees.

Lebanon had also detected its first case of a new more transmissible variant of the coronavirus on a flight arriving from London, Hassan said last week.

Iraq

The Iraqi Ministry of Health reported 931 new COVID-19 cases in the country, bringing the total nationwide infections to 592,528.

It is the third successive day that Iraq has reported fewer than 1,000 new cases in the country since June, as the ministry recorded between 1,000 and 5,000 single-day cases during the period.

The ministry also reported 11 more deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 12,791, and 1,511 more recovered cases, bringing the total recoveries to 533,314. 

"Iraq is applying coexistence with the coronavirus pandemic, but by adhering to health-protective measures. Coexistence with the coronavirus without complying with preventive measures would multiply infections," said Ghaiyb al-Omairi, a member of the parliamentary health committee, in a press release.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia reported 119 new cases, taking the tally to 362,339, and 11 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 6,196, while the total recoveries in the kingdom reached 353,353.

The Gulf Arab state also announced the extension of the suspension of international commercial flights and land and sea entry to the kingdom for an additional week.

Saudi Arabia decided on Dec 20 to suspend international flights for travellers for a week, excluding exceptional cases.

The decision was parts of precautional measures against COVID-19 after the spread of a new strain of the virus in some countries. The decision also excludes the movement of goods, commodities and supply chains.

Saudi Arabia expects to receive 3 million doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine by the end of May 2021, al-Arabiya reported, citing unidentified officials at the country’s health ministry.

The country is also expected to approve other vaccines after conducting tests, according to the report. Pfizer will supply Saudi Arabia 1 million doses of the vaccine by the end of February.

Oman

Omani authorities decided on Dec. 22 to close the Gulf country's borders over fears of a new coronavirus strain for a week.

EgyptAir urged the passengers to provide a negative PCR test certificate for COVID-19 issued from the country of departure at most 72 hours before take-off.

The free COVID-19 vaccination campaign launched in Oman on Sunday is continuing across the country.

"The vaccine is distributed to all governorates in accordance with the priorities of the eligible groups set by the technical team," said Oman's Minister of Health Ahmed Al-Saidi.

January will see the arrival of another 28,000 doses, he added.

Oman said the total COVID-19 infections reached 128,563 with 91 new cases added on Monday.

Qatar

The Qatari health ministry announced 160 new COVID-19 infections on Monday, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 143,222, 

It said 149 more recovered from the virus, bringing the overall recoveries to 141,015. 

READ MORE: Virus: Sydney awaits verdict on New Year's Eve festivities

Australia

Australia’s most populous state of New South Wales (NSW) maintained its downward trend of new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday but authorities asked people to be on “high alert” after cases were detected outside the current virus cluster.

A cluster detected in Sydney’s northern beachside suburbs in mid-December has now grown to 129 cases and about a quarter of a million residents have been put under lockdown until Jan. 9 as authorities battle to stamp out the virus.

NSW reported three cases, all linked to the Sydney cluster, in the 24 hours to 8 pm on Monday - its lowest daily rise in coronavirus infections in nearly two weeks.

Three cases were detected after the 2000 daily deadline, which are under investigation, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters.

New Zealand

New Zealand detected seven cases of COVID-19 in recent returnees in managed isolation in two days since the Ministry of Health's last media update on Dec 27.

There are no new cases in the community.

The new border cases came from the United States, India and Britain, and have been transferred to quarantine in facilities in Christchurch and Auckland, according to the Ministry of Health.

Eight previously reported cases have now recovered. The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 49, and the total number of confirmed cases is 1,795, said a ministry statement.  

India 

India added 16,432 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, the federal Health Ministry reported Tuesday, the lowest number in more than six months. The country is the world’s second-most affected nation after the US with over 10.2 million recorded infections. As many as 148,153 people have died from the virus in the country, which hopes to start rolling out vaccinations as soon as one is cleared for early use by its regulators.

India has found six people who returned from Britain in recent weeks with a more infectious strain of the novel coronavirus that has prompted border closures around the world, even as its daily increase in cases fell to a six-month low.

All six patients have been kept in isolation, the health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that their fellow travellers were being tracked down.

“Their close contacts have also been put under quarantine,” the ministry said.

India has suspended all flights from Britain until the end of the month but about 33,000 passengers had flown in from late November, before the ban, the ministry said.

Of those arrivals, 114 people were found positive for the coronavirus and their samples were being checked for the new variant, which has been detected across parts of Europe and Asia, the ministry said.

Fiji 

Inbound passenger flights to Fiji will resume on Tuesday with new adaptations to border quarantine protocols, according to the COVID-19 Risk Mitigation Taskforce.

The Fiji Broadcasting Corporation reported that in light of the discovery of a potentially more contagious strain of coronavirus in Britain, Fiji's Health Ministry has completed its extensive review of its border quarantine processes.

The Health Ministry said the entry swab test will be conducted over day three and four as this will reduce the risk of a false negative result and improve the ability to identify cases of inflight transmission.

Stricter in-room quarantine protocols will be enforced, with no outdoor activity for new arrivals until a negative entry swab test result is received and heightened COVID-safe measures will be implemented for all border health unit personnel and hospital isolation unit frontline staff. 

The Philippines

The Philippines has decided to ban travelers from 20 regions with the new COVID-19 strain, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said Tuesday.

The travel ban covers the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and the UK. The ban will be effective from Dec 30 to Jan 15.

The country also said it approved Johnson & Johnson’s application to conduct a clinical trial of its coronavirus vaccine in the Southeast Asian nation. The trial applications of Chinese firms Sinovac Biotech Ltd. and Sichuan Clover Biopharmaceuticals Inc. are still under review, while Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine is under review for emergency use.

The Department of Health (DOH) of the Philippines reported 886 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country on Tuesday, bringing its total tally to 471,526.

The daily caseload has been less than 1,000 for three straight days since Sunday partly due to reduced submissions of COVID-19 laboratory reports along with fewer number of people tested during the holiday season.

The COVID-19-related death toll rose to 9,162 after 38 more patients died from the coronavirus epidemic, the DOH said. It added that 253 more patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 439,016.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday extended partial coronavirus restrictions in the capital, Manila, until the end of January to prevent the spread of COVID-19 following Christmas and holiday festivities

Pakistan 

Pakistan found three coronavirus cases with the new strain after testing people returning from the U.K. The South Asian nation is currently undergoing a second wave of infections. It has reported 475,000 cases and about 10,000 deaths.

Vietnam

Vietnam reported three new cases of COVID-19 infection on Tuesday, bringing its total confirmed cases to 1,454 with 35 deaths from the disease so far, according to its Ministry of Health.

Among the new cases who are all Vietnamese citizens, two illegally crossed the border into Vietnam from Myanmar. The other case is an 8-year-old girl who recently returned to the country from abroad and was quarantined upon arrival, said the ministry.