Healthcare workers administer a dose of Bharat Biotech Ltd Covaxin vaccine for coronavirus at Sanjeevan Hospital in Daryaganj, New Delhi. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)

NEW DELHI / SEOUL / BAGHDAD / JERUSALEM / AMMAN / KUWAIT CITY / VIENTIANE / ULAN BATOR / WELLINGTON / SINGAPORE / ISTANBUL / MOSCOW - India’s government opened up one of the world’s biggest coronavirus immunization campaigns to everyone over the age of 45 as the nation of nearly 1.4 billion people grapples with a resurgence of infections amid tensions over delayed vaccine supplies to other countries.

Anyone above that age can receive their jabs across government and private hospitals starting from April 1, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. So far, 48.5 million people have been injected including frontline and medical workers, those over the age of 65 and those at risk who are 45 years or older, he said.

The move to widen India’s immunization net came amid widespread calls to expand the drive as fresh infections shot up in recent weeks to more than 40,000 a day from about a quarter of that number in February. While India has been reluctant to reimpose lockdowns after a hastily drawn up one last year failed to halt the rampant spread of the disease and inflicted deep economic damage, there are increased concerns that national and state governments may need to tighten movement restrictions.

India’s eastern state of Odisha might have to stop its coronavirus vaccination drive for four days because of a shortage of doses, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters, even as overall inoculations hit a record on Tuesday.

India’s COVID-19 case load has risen to 11.69 million amid a second surge of infections, leading many states to ask the government to replenish vaccine stocks so they can cover more people faster. India has reported the third-highest total of coronavirus cases after the United States and Brazil.

Australia

When the coronavirus pandemic first hit last year, the remoteness of Outback communities helped protect Indigenous Australians. Now that isolation is making the Covid-19 vaccine rollout the biggest logistical challenge in a generation.

Fleets of trucks, planes and helicopters are setting off this week to reach communities from the remote deserts of Western Australia to the tropical rainforests and islands of Far North Queensland. More than 30 health teams operated by Aboriginal communities are involved in the effort that’s initially targeting Indigenous people aged over 55.

Marcia Langton, associate provost at the University of Melbourne and descendant of the Yiman and Bidjara nations, is one of the people involved in spreading awareness about vaccination. “Our community will be healthier by having as many people vaccinated as possible,” she said in a broadcast to social media.

Indigenous Australians are among the nation’s most vulnerable people due to higher rates of underlying health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. The rollout is being made all the more urgent by an outbreak in neighboring Papua New Guinea -- which is just a four-kilometer (2.5 mile) boat ride away and visible to the naked eye from the nearest populated Torres Strait island of Saibai, one of 274 islands between the northern tip of Australia and Papua New Guinea.

It is an effort being replicated in other nations such as Canada, which is also rushing to vaccinate its vulnerable Indigenous population. The nation has the second-slowest vaccine rollout of the Group of Seven, behind only Japan, according to Bloomberg’s Vaccine Tracker, but is vaccinating areas with large Indigenous populations at more than five times the rate of the rest of the country according to a government spokesperson.

Malaysia 

Malaysia and Singapore are working toward reciprocal vaccination certification as the Southeast Asian neighbors plan to restore cross-border travel.

Operational details, including the application process involved for entry and exit between the two nations will be discussed further, Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and his Malaysian counterpart Hishammudin Tun Hussein said in a joint statement.

Malaysia and Singapore join countries backing vaccine certificates as a way to restart travel while also preventing a surge in the spread of the coronavirus. Indonesia has added Batam and Bintan to a travel corridor arrangement with Singapore that would see overseas visitors back in the resort islands from late April, while Thailand has decided to shorten a mandatory quarantine period for foreign travelers from April.

Singapore and Malaysia also reaffirmed their commitment to continue to vaccinate long-term residents, including Malaysians residing in Singapore and Singaporeans residing in Malaysia, according to the statement on Tuesday.

The countries also agreed to allow “compassionate travel” for citizens with relatives on either side of the border and hope to operationalize the plan in April, Balakrishan said.

Malaysia reported 1,384 new COVID-19 infections, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday, bringing the national total to 335,540.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that nine of the new cases are imported and 1,375 are locally transmitted cases.

Six more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 1,244.

ALSO READ: India records highest daily spike in COVID-19 cases this year

SaNOtize

Israel and New Zealand have given interim approval for the sale of biotech firm SaNOtize Research and Development’s Nitric Oxide Nasal Spray (NONS) which could help prevent transmission of the COVID-19 virus, the company said on Monday.

Manufacturing of NONS, under the brand name Enovid, has begun in Israel with SaNOtize’s partner Nextar Chempharma Solutions Ltd and it is expected to be on sale there this summer.

In New Zealand, SaNOtize has registered its nasal spray with the New Zealand Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Authority, which permits the company to distribute and sell NONS over the counter immediately, the Vancouver-based company said.

However, New Zealand’s health ministry said it has not approved the product for use as an anti-viral nasal spray.

The approval referred to by the company may relate to a notification made to the New Zealand Web-Assisted Notification Database (WAND) operated by Medsafe, where medical devices for supply in New Zealand are required to be notified. This is not an application or approval process, the health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

People spend their vacation at Teri Mangrove Beach in Batam, Indonesia. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)

Indonesia

Indonesia has added Batam and Bintan to a travel corridor arrangement with Singapore that would allow foreign visitors back in the resort islands for the first time during the pandemic, according to Tourism Minister Sandiaga Uno.

Tourism sites in Nongsa in Batam and Lagoi in Bintan will be reopened on April 21, under very strict health protocols, Uno said in a March 20 statement on the ministry’s website. Travelers will have to produce a negative PCR test prior to departure to prove that they are free of Covid-19 infection and undergo another test upon arrival to confirm the result. Eligible overseas visitors may be issued a special travel visa to join the program, Uno said.

Southeast Asia’s largest economy has started to ease restrictions to spur the economy after gross domestic product shrank last year for the first time in two decades due to the coronavirus pandemic. The outbreak has infected nearly 1.5 million Indonesians and killed around 40,000 in the country, the worst in Southeast Asia. The corridor arrangement is the second after Bali, which the minister said could be reopened as soon as June.

Iraq

The Iraqi Ministry of Health reported on Monday 4,655 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total nationwide number to 798,547.

The new cases included 2,093 in the capital Baghdad, 727 in Basra, 264 in Najaf, 239 in Wasit, and 200 in Maysan, the ministry said in a statement.

It also reported 29 new deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 14,036, while the total recoveries in Iraq climbed by 4,088 to 719,161.

Israel

Israel's Ministry of Health reported 974 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, raising the tally of confirmed cases in the country to 828,672.

The death toll from the virus reached 6,102 with 15 new fatalities, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 548 to 504, out of 774 hospitalized patients.

Jordan

Jordan reported 109 new deaths from COVID-19 on Monday, the highest daily death toll since the pandemic surfaced in the Middle Eastern kingdom a year ago, the health ministry said.

The ministry also reported 9,269 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, taking the cumulative total to 544,724 cases.

The government, which says there are 3,277 COVID-19 patients being treated in hospitals, is facing a crisis with some hospitals reaching capacity, especially in the capital where over four million people live.

The surge in the last two months, blamed on the fast spread of the variant first identified in Britain, has put Jordan’s infection numbers above those of most of its Middle East neighbours and reverses months of success in containing the outbreak.

People queue as they wait their turn to receive a dose of COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine at the make-shift vaccination centre at the Kuwait International Fairground in the Mishref suburb south of Kuwait City on March 21, 2021. (YASSER AL-ZAYYAT / AFP)

Kuwait

The Kuwaiti Health Ministry reported on Monday 1,330 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 220,455.

The ministry also announced seven more deaths, taking the death toll to 1,233, while the tally of recoveries rose by 1,439 to 204,978. A total of 14,244 coronavirus patients are receiving treatment, including 246 in the intensive care units.

The Kuwaiti government announced on Monday that passengers who have received coronavirus vaccine will be exempted from institutional quarantine after arriving in Kuwait.

Laos

The Lao authorities are urging everyone in Laos to have COVID-19 vaccinations when they are made available in order to prevent the spread of the virus.

The second round of vaccinations is planned in April, when 150,000 medical workers around the country will be offered the vaccines, local daily Vientiane Times reported Tuesday.

Director General of the Department of Communicable Disease Control under the Lao Ministry of Health Rattanaxay Phetsouvanh warned people not to be convinced by rumours spread on social media and television about the harmful side effects of COVID-19 vaccines.

Laos' National Taskforce Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control on Tuesday said it has been monitoring 3,418 people across the country over COVID-19 concerns.

Deputy Director General of the Department of Communicable Disease Control under the Lao Ministry of Health Latsamy Vongkhamsao, told a press conference in Lao capital Vientiane on Tuesday that some 2,022 people entered Laos through international border checkpoints on Monday.

Mongolia

Mongolia on Tuesday reported 206 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the national tally to 5,392, said the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD).

Meanwhile, 152 more patients have recovered from the disease, raising the total to 3,722. The country has registered nine COVID-19-related deaths so far.

New Zealand

New Zealand reported three new cases of COVID-19 in managed isolation and one historical case on Tuesday, with the seven-day rolling average of new cases detected at the border being five.

The new imported cases came from India and Pakistan, and the historical case was from the United States, according to the Ministry of Health. Historical cases are not considered to be infectious. The reporting delay of this case is due to awaiting reporting confirmation from overseas health authorities.

Singapore

Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 12 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 60,208.

All of the new cases are imported cases, who had already been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in (left) receives a dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine at a public health centre in Seoul on March 23, 2021. (YONHAP / AFP)

South Korea

South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in received AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday as he prepared to visit the United Kingdom for a G7 summit in June, his office said.

Moon, 68, attended a community clinic near his office in downtown Seoul with his wife and nine senior officials who will accompany him on the trip, including National Security Advisor Suh Hoon, the presidential Blue House said in a statement.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has invited South Korea, India and Australia to attend the summit as guests.

South Korea reported 346 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Monday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 99,421.

The daily caseload was down from 415 in the previous day, falling below 400 in seven days.

The daily number of infections hovered above 100 since Nov 8 owing to small cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province as well as imported cases.

Seven more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 1,704. The total fatality rate stood at 1.71 percent.

Thailand

Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Tuesday received his second shot of COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's Sinovac, and reaffirmed the safety of the vaccine.

"I always feel strong and energetic. We take the shots because we want to save ourselves and save others as well," Anutin said when being asked how he felt after the injection.

The deputy PM was the first Thai receiving the jab on Feb. 28 as the Southeast Asian country began its roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccination program.

Thailand approved the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use last month and has so far received two batches of the vaccine.

"We have our Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to make sure that all registered vaccines have already been well certified and tested," Anutin said, adding that the vaccine is considered to be safe as long as the FDA approves that vaccine.

As of March 19, more than 62,000 people in the country had been vaccinated, according to the government spokesperson Anucha Burapachaisri.

Thailand's total caseload has risen to 28,277 as of Tuesday, with a total death toll of 92. 

The Philippines

The Philippines may sign a supply deal this week with Johnson & Johnson, from which the nation plans to buy 5 million doses, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez said Monday night. Talks with Russia’s Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology will also start this week for the supply of as many as 15 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine.

The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported on Tuesday 5,867 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 677,653.

The death toll climbed to 12,992 after 20 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH added.

READ MORE: India infections hit 4 month high, some lockdowns return

A waiter serves coffees as customers sit in restaurant in Ankara, Turkey, on March 2, 2021. (ADEM ALTAN / AFP)

Turkey

Turkey recorded 22,216 new coronavirus cases in a period of 24 hours, the highest daily number since mid-December, health ministry data showed on Monday, as cases continue to rise after coronavirus-control measures were eased earlier this month.

The cumulative number of cases stood at 3,035,338, data also showed, while the death toll rose by 117 to 30,178.

Daily cases have roughly doubled since the beginning of March, when Turkey eased restrictions against the pandemic.

Vietnam

Vietnam has approved Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine for use against COVID-19, Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund, which promotes the shot globally, said on Tuesday in a statement on the Sputnik V website.

The Russian vaccine has now been approved in 56 countries, it said.

Vietnam’s health ministry said last month that a medical panel had recommended Sputnik V and Moderna’s vaccine for use.

Brunei 

Brunei reported one more recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 189.

According to Brunei's Ministry of Health, no more confirmed COVID-19 cases were recorded, with the national tally unchanged at 206. There are 14 active cases still being treated at the National Isolation Center.

Oman

The Omani health ministry on Tuesday announced 836 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 152,364, the official Oman News Agency reported.

Meanwhile, 404 people recovered during the past 24 hours, taking the overall recoveries to 139,846 while four deaths were reported, pushing the death toll up to 1,633, according to a ministry statement quoted by ONA.