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Monday, May 03, 2021, 10:22
S. Korea eyes mid-May arrival of vaccines as stocks run down
By Agencies
Monday, May 03, 2021, 10:22 By Agencies

This handout photo taken on April 28, 2021 and provided by the South Korean Defence Ministry shows a South Korean soldier receiving the first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine at the Armed Forces Capital Hospital in Seongnam, south of Seoul. (HANDOUT / SOUTH KOREAN DEFENCE MINISTRY / AFP)

ANKARA / DUBAI / SEOUL / BISHKEK / KUALA LUMPUR / MANILA - South Korea is banking on the arrival of nearly 14 million doses of coronavirus vaccine by June, officials said on Monday, to boost an immunisation drive that could lose momentum due to dwindling supplies as result of shipment delays.

Nearly 3.4 million of the population of 52 million had received their first dose by Sunday in the campaign begun in February, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

A shipment of 8.9 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, including 1.67 million via the global COVAX sharing scheme, and 5 million doses of Pfizer's product will arrive by June, the agency's director Jeong Eun-kyeong said, without giving dates.

"The scale and speed of the shipment of vaccines are improving increasingly," Jeong told a briefing after an intra-agency meeting to combat the virus, hosted by President Moon Jae-in.

South Korea reported 488 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Sunday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 123,728.

The daily caseload was down from 606 in the previous day, falling below 500 in seven days due to fewer virus tests over the weekend.

The daily number of infections hovered in triple figures since Nov 8 last year due to small cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province as well as imported cases.

READ MORE: Australian foreign minister: India travel ban not racist

Australia

Western Australia state reported no new locally acquired COVID-19 cases for the second straight day on Monday, allaying fears of a second lockdown in two weeks after three new coronavirus cases were detected over the weekend.

The fresh cases forced officials to ban crowds at a local football match on Sunday and shut nightclubs until the end of this week in state capital Perth, which had emerged just days ago from a snap lockdown over a single case.

Fiji

Fiji's health authorities warned Fijians on Sunday not to lower their guard against COVID-19 after no reports of new cases in the island nation over the past 24 hours.

According to Fiji's Health Ministry, there are no new cases of COVID-19 in Fiji on Sunday, but the danger is not over.

"It doesn't mean there are no cases out there; it means none have been detected over the past 24 hours. We are certain there are more cases that will develop or -- worryingly -- that an unconfirmed case of the virus has already developed into a highly-contagious disease. Our biggest fear right now is that someone, with symptoms, has not reported to a screening clinic or called 158. This virus arrives in waves. A lull can often signal a surge. So let's not let one day of no new cases fool anyone into thinking this storm is over," said James Fong, permanent secretary for the health ministry.

India

The Narendra Modi-led federal government hasn’t placed an order larger than 110 million doses from the biggest local maker since sales started in December, according to a person familiar with the matter. That’s enough for just 4 percent of its population of 1.4 billion people.

The lack of a larger central stockpile, coupled with a devastating wave in the country, is now making local state governments scramble and compete with one another in placing orders with manufacturers after the federal government turned over the responsibility of procuring vaccines to them last month.

Serum Institute of India Ltd, the world’s largest vaccine maker, said it will deliver 220 million doses in the country over the next few months, which can cover 8 percent of the country’s population.

The head of the world’s largest vaccine maker blamed coming shortages in India on the failure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to anticipate a second viral wave, the Financial Times reported. Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer of India’s Serum Institute, told the newspaper that a severe vaccine shortage would persist through July.

He said the government “took it easy” after cases declined in January. “Everybody really felt that India had started to turn the tide on the pandemic,” Poonawalla said.

Pfizer is in discussions with the Indian government seeking an "expedited approval pathway" for its COVID-19 vaccine, its CEO Albert Bourla said on LinkedIn on Monday, announcing a donation of medicines worth more than US$70 million.

Britain will send another 1,000 ventilators to India, the government said on Sunday, stepping up its support as India's healthcare system struggles to cope with a huge surge in cases of COVID-19.

A total of 368,147 new COVID-19 cases were reported in India in the past 24 hours, taking the total tally to 19,925,604, according to the health ministry on Monday.

Besides, 3,417 more deaths were recorded since Sunday morning, bringing the death toll to 218,949.

Health officials conduct COVID-19 screening on migrant workers who arrived back from Malaysia and Singapore in Surabaya on April 28, 2021, before they are quarantined. (JUNI KRISWANTO / AFP)

Indonesia

The Indonesian government has extended its micro-scale community activities restriction (PPKM) and also expanded it to five other provinces to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, according to an official on Monday.

"We are extending the seventh micro-scale PPKM until May 17, 2021," said Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto.

Hartarto noted that the restriction succeeded in reducing the number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia to around 5,000 new daily cases this April from about 10,000 new daily cases this January.

Indonesia has recorded two cases of a highly infectious COVID-19 variant first identified in India in the capital Jakarta, the country's health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said on Monday. 

"There were two new mutations that entered. One from India, with two incidents in Jakarta and one from South Africa in Bali," Budi told a virtual conference. Another official confirmed the two cases were the B.1.617 variant, first detected in India.

The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 4,394 within one day to 1,677,274, with the death toll adding by 144 to 45,796, the Health Ministry said on Sunday.

According to the ministry, 3,740 more people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 1,530,718.

Iran

Iran on Monday reported 20,732 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's total infections to 2,555,587.

The pandemic has so far claimed 72,875 lives in Iran, up by 391 in the past 24 hours, Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman of the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said during her daily briefing on the state of the pandemic in the country.

ALSO READ: Modi trails in key state poll amid India's COVID-19 crisis

Iraq

Iraq on Sunday reported 4,564 new COVID-19 cases, raising the nationwide tally to 1,074,930.

According to a statement by the Iraqi Ministry of Health, 38 new COVID-19 deaths were reported during the past 24 hours, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 15,536, while the total recoveries in Iraq climbed by 7,859 to 957,200.

A total of 9,408,134 tests have been carried out across the country since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020, with 31,764 done during the day.

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan recorded 277 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, taking the nationwide tally to 96,337, according to the country's Republican Headquarters for Combating COVID-19.

Among the new cases, 212 were detected in the Kyrgyz capital, 49 in Chui Oblast and the rest in other regions of the country.

Meanwhile, 202 more have recovered from the virus, bringing the overall number of recoveries to 89,921, while the fatalities increased by three to 1,622.

Lebanon

Lebanon registered on Sunday 700 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections to 528,208, the Health Ministry reported.

Meanwhile, death toll from the virus increased by 22 to 7,324 in the country.

Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan urged on Sunday Lebanese citizens to take precautionary measures when traveling to countries in which the new deadly variant of COVID-19 was detected, adding that the COVID-19 ministerial committee will convene soon to discuss the necessity to adopt more measures to prevent the variant from arriving in Lebanon.

Malaysia

Malaysia will begin a parallel COVID-19 innoculation programme this week for people who chose to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine, after it was removed from an ongoing rollout due to public fears over its safety, a minister said on Monday.

Reports of possible links to very rare blood clots have dented confidence in the shot in Malaysia and elsewhere.

AstraZeneca has pointed to regulator recommendations that the vaccine is safe and effective, though some countries have suspended its use due to rising unease or limited it to certain age groups.

Malaysia reported 2,500 new COVID-19 infections, the Health Ministry said on Monday, bringing the national total to 417,512.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that four of the new cases are imported and 2,496 local transmissions.

Another 18 more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 1,551.

Myanmar

The number of COVID-19 cases in Myanmar has risen to 142,838 on Sunday after seven new cases were reported in the past 24 hours, according to a release from the Ministry of Health and Sports.

No new death was reported on Sunday, leaving the death toll at 3,209 in the country, the release said.

According to the ministry's figures, a total of 131,981 patients have been discharged from hospitals and over 2.57 million samples have been tested for COVID-19 so far, including 1,524 samples tested on Sunday.

Mongolia

Mongolia's COVID-19 tally rose to 39,381 after 911 new locally transmitted cases were recorded over the past 24 hours, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Monday.

Meanwhile, Mongolia registered two more deaths and 1,225 recoveries in the same period, bringing the respective national tallies to 128 and 22,932, said the NCCD.

The Asian country launched a national vaccination campaign against COVID-19 in late February with an aim to cover at least 60 percent of its population.

Nepal

The Nepali government Sunday decided to suspend domestic flights fully and international flights with India, South Africa and Brazil after the country reported record high COVID-19 cases on the same day, two Nepali cabinet ministers said.

"The cabinet decided to suspend all domestic flights starting from Monday midnight," Gauri Shankar Chaudhary, minister for labour, employment and social security, told Xinhua on Sunday evening. "International flights with India, South African and Brazil will be suspended from mid-night of May 5."

New Zealand

New Zealand will start quarantine free travel with Cook Islands on May 17, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at a press conference on Monday. "Two way quarantine-free travel is a significant step in both countries' COVID-19 recovery, and a direct result of both New Zealand and the Cook Islands' successful response to the pandemic," Ardern said at a news conference.

New Zealand reported four cases of COVID-19 in managed isolation and no new cases of COVID-19 in the community on Monday.

The newly imported cases came from Pakistan, India, the Philippines and Indonesia. They have remained in isolation and quarantine facilities in Auckland and Christchurch, according to the Ministry of Health.

Three previously reported cases have now recovered. The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 25, and the total number of confirmed cases is 2,266, said a ministry statement.

Oman

Oman will ban the movement of people and vehicles from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. from May 8 until May 15, the state news agency said on Sunday, citing the Supreme Committee for Combating Coronavirus.

The Omani health ministry on Sunday announced 2,554 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the sultanate to 195,807, the official Oman News Agency (ONA) reported.

Meanwhile, 3,710 people recovered, taking the overall recoveries to 176,833, while 33 deaths were reported, pushing the tally up to 2,043 since the pandemic broke out in the country, according to a ministry statement carried by ONA.

The ministry urged everyone to adhere to social distancing instructions issued by the supreme committee handling COVID-19 and the health ministry.

Pakistan

Special Assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister on Health Faisal Sultan said Monday that the local production of China's single-dose CanSino COVID-19 vaccine is about to commence in the country to facilitate its vaccination drive.

Thanking China for supporting Pakistan in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Sultan told local media that China remains a strong partner which had donated vaccines and other supplies and is also transferring technology of vaccine production to Pakistan.

Pakistan will suspend the entry of pedestrians from Afghanistan and Iran through land border terminals for over two weeks from May 5 in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19, according to an official notification released on Sunday.

The decision was taken at a special session on land border management at the country's National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) on Saturday, the NCOC notification said.

The revised land border management policy will be implemented from May 5 to May 20 and applicable only to inbound pedestrians without effect on existing cargo or trade movement, according to the statement.

PNG

Papua New Guinea (PNG) will launch national vaccine roll-out on Tuesday to combat rising cases of COVID-19.

Police Commissioner and Controller of the PNG COVID-19 National Pandemic Response David Manning said most of PNG's 22 provinces would have received their share of the AstraZeneca vaccine, and done their training in preparation for the national roll-out scheduled for Wednesday.

Qatar

The Qatari health ministry on Sunday announced 646 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 206,948, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.

Meanwhile, 1,480 more people recovered from the virus, bringing the overall recoveries to 192,551, while the fatalities increased by seven to 472, according to a ministry statement quoted by QNA.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia will allow citizens who have received both doses of the vaccine to travel from May 17, state-run SPA reported, citing the interior ministry. The country will also fully open its air, land and sea borders from May 17.

Citizens who have received one dose of the vaccine can only travel 14 days later, while those who have had COVID -19 are permitted to travel within 6 months of having had the virus, according to SPA. Citizens under 18 will be able to travel with health insurance and must quarantine on their return to Saudi.

Singapore

Singapore saw its first fatality due to complications from COVID-19 in nearly two months over the weekend, amid a flareup of cases in a country that’s been one of the world’s most successful in containing the virus.

An 88-year-old Singaporean woman with a history of cancer and cardiac failure passed away on Saturday after she was treated in a ward at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where a cluster of 27 cases has been identified since last week.

The cluster is Singapore’s first in a hospital and raises concern that the city’s hard-won success is slipping, potentially threatening efforts to open up a long-awaited travel bubble with Hong Kong and host major upcoming summits including the World Economic Forum and Shangri-la Dialogue.

“There will be many more” cases in the hospital as patients there are more susceptible given many hadn’t been vaccinated and were already sick with other illnesses, said Leong Hoe Nam, an infectious disease physician at Singapore’s Mount Elizabeth Hospital. “Unfortunately, they are easy targets for a Covid-19 super spreader, and in turn patients who have been infected can be new super spreaders,” he said, adding that he has no doubt the government will contain the cluster.

Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 39 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 61,218.

Of the new cases, 25 are imported cases and 14 are community cases.

Thailand

Thailand on Monday reported a new daily record of 31 coronavirus deaths, the health ministry said, as the country grapples with a third wave of infections. 

The ministry reported 2,041 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's total number of infections to 71,025 since the pandemic began last year. The total number of fatalities now stands at 276.

The Philippines

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte received his first dose of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine on Monday night, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.

"His first dose was covered by the compassionate use permit issued to the Presidential Security Group (PSG) hospital by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (of the Philippines)," Roque said in a brief statement.

Duterte's longtime aide and senator Christopher Bong Go posted on social media a video showing Health Secretary Francisco Duque administering the vaccine in Duterte's left arm. In the video, Duterte, 76, said he was feeling good.

A picture taken on May 1, 2021 shows benches in an empty park of Ankara, after Turkey entered a full lockdown from April 29 evening until May 17 in an attempt to halt the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. (ADEM ALTAN / AFP)

Turkey

Turkey will not require a negative COVID-19 PCR test result for passengers from 16 countries and regions, the Turkish health ministry said Sunday.

They include China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Britain, Latvia, Luxembourg, Ukraine, Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Israel, Japan and Estonia, according to the ministry.

The decision will be effective from May 15, semi-official Anadolu Agency reported. A total of 9,408,134 tests have been carried out across the country since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020, with 31,764 done during the day.

Turkey logged 340 coronavirus-related deaths and 25,980 new cases in the last 24 hours, Health Ministry data showed on Sunday, the third day of a nationwide lockdown, including curfews, closed schools and many shuttered businesses. 

Turkey ranks fourth globally in daily cases based on a seven-day average, according to a Reuters tally, down from second briefly last month. 

After easing measures in early March, President Tayyip Erdogan's government reversed course as infections surged to record highs. Turkey had a record 394 virus-related deaths on Friday, though new cases have dropped since April 21.

Vietnam

Vietnam, which has among the lowest number of infections in Southeast Asia, has ordered non-essential venues like clubs, gaming sites and karaoke parlors to shut to prevent the coronavirus from spreading after new local cases last week for the first time in a month.

The government also ordered the suspension of events that will attract crowds, the health ministry said but didn’t disclose details on the timing of the curbs.

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