A medical worker inoculates a man with the Covaxin Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine at a health centre in New Delhi on March 25, 2021. (PHOTO / AFP)

KUWAIT CITY /  BEIRUT / JERUSALEM / BAGHDAD - Several Asian countries sought alternative sources for COVID-19 inoculations on Tuesday after export restrictions by manufacturer India left a World Health Organization-backed global vaccine sharing programme short of supplies.

The export curb deepens the problems facing the COVAX scheme, relied on by 64 poorer countries, and adds to previous setbacks that include production glitches and a lack of funding contribution from wealthy nations.

The shortage could leave poor countries further behind in inoculations, increasing the vaccine inequity, complicating global efforts to tame the coronavirus including more infectious variants, and exposing fresh pleas for a global treaty on pandemics as rather hollow.

South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam are among countries to be hit by shipment delays to vaccines they have been promised under the COVAX programme, which was created mainly to ensure supplies for poorer countries.

“Our planned increase in daily vaccinations will be affected,” Carlito Galvez, Philippines’ vaccination chief, told reporters.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday COVAX needed 10 million doses immediately as a stop-gap measure.

Data from UNICEF showed on Tuesday that India itself had received more than a third of the nearly 28 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines from COVAX so far, the most of any country. News that the largest allocation of the program’s Indian-made vaccines had never actually left India could add to criticism of New Delhi and COVAX.

Bangladesh

Passengers arriving from European countries including Britain must be institutionally quarantined for 14 days as a measure to contain the spread of the second of wave of COVID-19 in Bangladesh.

Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) made the announcement on Tuesday which will take effect from zero hour on March 31 until further notice, saying the passengers have to be in quarantine at government facilities or government approved hotels at their own expense.

Bangladesh, struggling against a new wave of infection, on Monday stepped up its COVID-19 combating measures after the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) reported 5,181 new COVID-19 infections, the highest increase in a single day since the pandemic started in the country.

Also on Tuesday, the DGHS reported 5,042 new COVID-19 infections, the second highest daily increase since the pandemic started in the country.

Mayalsia

Malaysia reported 1,133 new COVID-19 infections, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday, bringing the national total to 344,018.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that eight of the new cases are imported and the remaining 1,125 are local transmissions.

Indonesia

The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 4,682 within one day to 1,505,775, with the death toll adding by 173 to 40,754, the Health Ministry said Tuesday.

According to the ministry, 5,877 more people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 1,342,695.

Japan

Japan’s health minister apologized on Tuesday after media reported ministry employees had gathered at a restaurant late at night in Tokyo in violation of the government’s COVID-19 contagion protocols.

Norihisa Tamura confirmed that 23 ministry employees ate dinner together on March 24 and that he would investigate the matter quickly, Kyodo reported.

Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures emerged from a state of emergency over COVID-19 infections on March 21, but the government has continued to ask restaurants to close early at 9 pm and for the public to limit gatherings.

According to a separate report in the Yomiuri Newspaper, the health ministry staffers gathered for a farewell party at a pub in the Ginza district of Tokyo, with some staying until midnight.

All Nippon Airways Co on Monday conducted a trial of digital certificates for coronavirus test results and vaccination status at Haneda airport in Tokyo, as part of a global effort to make travel safer backed by the World Economic Forum.

The "CommonPass" app was used by two passengers in the trial who used their smartphones to show their negative COVID-19 test results.

The test on Monday was the first in Japan of a digital health passport and the app is one of a number being tested around the world as the global travel industry and authorities eye the digitalization of passengers' coronavirus test results and vaccination status to help the pandemic-battered industry to be rebooted.

Vietnam 

A court in Vietnam handed a two-year suspended jail term to a Vietnam Airlines flight attendant on Tuesday after finding him guilty of breaking COVID-19 quarantine rules and spreading the virus to others, police said.

Duong Tan Hau, 29, was convicted of “spreading dangerous infectious diseases” at the one-day trial at the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security said in a statement.

Vietnam has been praised for its efforts to contain the virus through mass testing and tracing and strict centralised quarantining. It has recorded fewer than 2,600 COVID-19 infections and only 35 deaths due to the disease.

Hau breached the country’s 14-day quarantine regulations and met 46 other people following his flight from Japan in November, according to the indictment posted on a police ministry website.

Syria

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma have recovered from COVID-19 and have tested negative for the disease, the Syrian presidency said on Tuesday.

“After the end of the quarantine period, symptoms of COVID-19 and negative PCR results, President Bashar al-Assad and Mrs Asma al-Assad have resumed their work normally,” the presidency said in a statement.

The Syrian presidency had announced that Assad and his wife, who announced her recovery from breast cancer in 2019, had tested positive on March 8.

Syria has seen a sharp rise in infections since mid-February, a member of the government’s coronavirus advisory committee told Reuters last week as the country kicked off its vaccination campaign.

The Philippines

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he will allow private companies to import vaccines “at will” to boost inoculations amid a global supply crunch and to help speed up the reopening of the economy. Businesses can choose where to source and import vaccines.

The move comes amid the Philippines’ vaccination campaign lagging behind its Southeast Asian neighbors as the country faces a new surge in infections and an economic recession that’s seen persisting into this quarter.

The Philippines' Department of Health reported on Tuesday 9,296 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the country's total tally to 741,181.

The COVID-19 related death toll rose to 13,191 after five more patients died from the coronavirus epidemic, the DOH said.

India

Indian Health Minister Harsh Vardhan Tuesday said seven more COVID-19 vaccines are in the clinical trial stage in the country.

"Around seven more COVID-19 vaccine candidates are in clinical trials. Some of them are in the advanced phase of the trials," Vardhan said. "Around two dozen vaccines are in pre-clinical trials."

Vardhan was talking to the media after taking the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at New Delhi's heart and lung institute.

India’s drug regulator has allowed the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to be used for up to nine months from its manufacture date, as opposed to the prescribed six months, according to a document reviewed by Reuters and a source.

The approval, given to a licensed version of the drug made by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and exported to dozens of countries, could help health authorities minimise vaccine wastage and better plan their inoculation programmes.

India's COVID-19 tally rose to 12,095,855 on Tuesday as 56,211 new cases were reported from across the country, according to the latest figures released by the federal health ministry.

Besides, 271 more deaths were reported, taking the death toll to 162,114.

There are 540,720 active cases in the country, while 11,393,021 people have been discharged from hospitals after medical treatment.

Palestine

China on Monday handed over a batch of donated Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines to Palestine to support its nationwide fight against the pandemic.

This is "(China's) latest move to implement both the important consensus reached between the two heads of state and the solemn commitment by Chinese President Xi Jinping to provide COVID-19 vaccines as a global public good," said Guo Wei, head of the Office of the People's Republic of China to the State of Palestine, during the handover ceremony.

China has been helping Palestine in its anti-coronavirus fight since the outbreak of the disease in the country in March last year. China has donated several batches of medical supplies to Palestine in 2020, and a Chinese team of medical experts was sent to Palestine last June to support its fight against the pandemic.

On Monday, Palestine recorded 1,786 new COVID-19 cases, 18 deaths and 1,181 recoveries in the past 24 hours. A total of 266,720 infections have been registered in Palestine so far. 

A Palestinian man prepares to unload the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines in Ramallah, on March 29, 2021. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

Singapore

Scientists from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University have developed a COVID-19 rapid test that detects variants in the virus, The Straits Times reported.

The results are produced within 30 minutes and are about 10 times more accurate than rapid antigen tests currently in use, according to the report.

Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 21 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing its total tally to 60,321.

All of the new infections were imported cases.

Kuwait

The Kuwaiti Health Ministry reported on Monday 1,251 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total infections in the country to 229,550.

The ministry also announced 12 more deaths, taking the death toll to 1,298, while the tally of recoveries rose by 1,346 to 213,942. A total of 14,310 coronavirus patients are receiving treatment, including 244 in the intensive care units.

ALSO READ: Indonesia's virus cases top 1.5 million, toll exceeds 40,000

Lebanon

Lebanon registered on Monday 1,277 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections to 462,339, the Health Ministry said.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the virus went up by 40 to 6,136.

Earlier in the day, caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan said Lebanon has started using AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in 17 centers in the country, adding all vaccines proved to be safe.

Israel

Israel plans to buy millions of additional doses of coronavirus vaccine that may be used once its initial inoculation drive is complete, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

While the country has enough to finish vaccinating residents over the age of 16 under its current plan, it is seeking to buy enough doses to inoculate children aged 12 to 16 pending successful completion of clinical trials and approval from the Food and Drug Administration, the ministry said.

It also wants to buy enough doses to be able to administer booster shots, should they be needed, as well as purchasing future vaccines that are able overcome new variants of the virus.

Israel's Ministry of Health reported 162 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, raising the total confirmed tally in the country to 832,068.

The death toll from the virus reached 6,196 with 13 new fatalities, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 468 to 441, out of 659 hospitalized patients.

This is the lowest number of COVID-19 patients in serious condition in the country since Dec. 17, 2020 when the figure stood at 426.

Iran

Iran recorded 10,250 new cases, its biggest jump in daily infections since Dec. 10 and the fifth straight day of rising daily cases. The death toll rose by 91 overnight, reaching a total of 62,569.

With more than 1.8 million infections so far and some 62,000 deaths, Iran has the Middle East’s worst outbreak of coronavirus.

Iranian officials say U.S. sanctions have hampered their ability to tackle the disease and procure vaccines, yet the government only banned travel to towns with very high infection rates and millions of people still flocked to other areas during the current Persian new year break, according to state media.

Iraq

The Iraqi Ministry of Health reported on Monday 5,837 new coronavirus cases, raising the total nationwide infections to 838,265.

The ministry also reported 37 new deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 14,249, while the total recoveries in Iraq climbed by 4,500 to 750,435.

A total of 7,950,275 tests have been carried out across the country since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020, with 41,897 done during the day.

Meanwhile, member of the parliamentary health committee Ghaiyb al-Omairi told the official Iraqi News Agency that there are concerns that the country will reach a dangerous stage and the health system could collapse if non-compliance with health-protective measures continues.

Pakistan

Pakistan’s outgoing finance minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has tested positive for COVID-19, the third senior government official to do so in 24 hours, a week after Prime Minister Imran Khan announced he himself had contracted the virus.

“Just found out that Dr Hafeez [Shaikh] has tested positive for COVID-19. I pray for his swift recovery and good health,” Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar wrote on Twitter.

Shaikh was removed from his post as finance minister on Monday, over concerns about rising inflation in the country. Also on Monday, President Arif Alvi as well as Defence Minister Pervez Khattak announced they had both tested positive for COVID-19.

Pakistani President Arif Alvi has tested positive of COVID-19, Alvi confirmed in a tweet on Monday.

The president said that he received one dose of COVID-19 vaccine "but antibodies start developing after 2nd dose that was due in a week," advising the public to remain careful amid the virus spread in the country.

Pakistan is currently facing a serious third wave of the virus and the national positivity rate on Monday was recorded over 11 percent whereas individual positivity rate of some of the districts was recorded higher than 20 percent, according to the country's National Command and Operation Center (NCOC).

UAE

Abu Dhabi is looking to transform itself into a pharmaceutical hub, with a goal to help distribute billions of vaccine doses, Abu Dhabi Ports Chairman Falah Mohammed Al Ahbabi said at a virtual event on Monday.

The comments come after the United Arab Emirates, of which Abu Dhabi is the capital, became the first nation in the US-allied Gulf to set up a coronavirus vaccine production facility.

READ MORE: New double mutant COVID-19 variant found in India

Australia

Australia’s Queensland state warned on Tuesday that more cases of COVID-19 were expected to emerge as authorities scrambled to contain an outbreak linked to the virulent UK variant, throwing Easter travel plans into disarray.

Officials reported eight new locally acquired cases on Tuesday, taking the total in the latest outbreak to 15 so far. All of the cases were linked to two distinct virus clusters, one related to a doctor and the second to a nurse, authorities said.

Australians with working-from-home arrangements appear to be on a permanent foothold, with the popularity of the arrangement rising even as workplaces reopen, global jobs website Indeed Inc. said.

The trend dovetails with Australians opting to rebase to regional areas during the pandemic as remote working arrangements allowed them to tap more affordable housing or enjoy a better lifestyle.

Australia is a "long way short" of its coronavirus vaccine target, a health expert has warned.

Stephen Duckett, a health economist from think tank the Grattan Institute, said that health authorities must learn from the failings of the initial phases of the vaccine rollout to achieve the government's goals.

The government initially promised that four million Australians would receive vaccines by the end of March and that the entire population would be vaccinated by the end of October.

As of Monday 541,761 vaccines had been administered.

Qatar

The Qatari Health ministry on Monday announced 690 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 178,464, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.

Meanwhile, 362 more recovered from the virus, bringing the overall recoveries to 163,272, while the fatalities increased by two to 286, according to a ministry statement quoted by QNA.

Myanmar

The number of COVID-19 cases in Myanmar has increased to 142,393 as of Monday, according to a release from the Ministry of Health and Sports.

A total of eight new COVID-19 cases were reported in the country on Monday, with no new death reported, leaving the death toll at 3,206.

According to the ministry's figures, a total of 131,790 patients have been discharged from the hospitals and over 2.53 million samples have been tested for COVID-19.

Cambodia 

Cambodia on Tuesday confirmed 105 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 2,377, said a Ministry of Health (MoH) statement.

The new infections included 104 local cases -- 46 in capital Phnom Penh, 34 in Preah Sihanouk province, 20 in Svay Rieng province, two in Kampong Cham province, one each in Prey Veng and Tboung Khmum provinces, and one imported case, the statement said.

The imported case was detected on a 36-year-old Indonesian man traveling from Indonesia on March 16 via a connecting flight in Singapore, it said, adding that he was found positive for the virus on the 13th day of quarantine.

New Zealand

New Zealand reported two new cases of COVID-19 in managed isolation on Tuesday.

The two came from India and have remained in managed isolation and quarantine facilities in Auckland, according to the Ministry of Health.

Mongolia 

Mongolia registered 481 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 8,070, the country's health ministry said Tuesday.

Of the latest cases, 404 were detected in Ulan Bator, the country's capital and the hardest-hit city, and the remaining 77 were detected in 10 provinces, the ministry said in a statement.

Domestic transmissions of the virus have been reported in the capital city and 15 of all 21 provinces of the country.

The number of COVID-19 patients in serious condition is increasing in the country day by day, the ministry said, urging the public to avoid crowded places as much as possible and maintain good personal hygiene habits to prevent the spread of the disease.

The Asian country has so far recorded 10 COVID-19-related deaths and 4,835 recoveries from the disease since the country confirmed its first case in March last year.

Mongolia's State Emergency Commission is supporting the health ministry's proposal to impose a strict 14-day lockdown starting on Saturday here in the country's capital to curb a resurging wave of COVID-19 infections.

Thailand 

Thailand confirmed 48 cases of coronavirus infection on Tuesday, according to a report of the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

Of Tuesday's new cases, 27 were domestic infections while 21 others referred to imported cases, the CCSA report said.

Afghanistan 

The death toll of COVID-19 in Afghanistan has increased to 2,484 after eight patients lost their lives within the past 24 hours, the country's Ministry of Public Health reported Tuesday.

The ministry also confirmed 70 new cases during the cited period, bringing the number of infected people across the country to 56,454 including 2,597 active cases, the ministry said in a statement.