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Tuesday, June 22, 2021, 10:34
Tokyo governor resting due to fatigue, reportedly hospitalized
By Agencies
Tuesday, June 22, 2021, 10:34 By Agencies

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike (on screen) and Tamayo Marukawa, minister for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, speak during a five-party meeting at Harumi Island Triton Square Tower Y in Tokyo on June 21, 2021. (RODRIGO REYES MARIN / POOL / AFP)

MANILA / ISTANBUL / JERUSALEM / SINGAPORE / YANGON / TEHRAN / KUWAIT CITY / HANOI / SYDNEY / NEW DELHI / SEOUL / SUVA / TASHKENT / ULAN BATOR / ISLAMABAD / DUBAI / BENGALURU / ALMATY / BANGKOK - Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is taking a break from official duties this week and resting due to fatigue, a metropolitan government official said on Tuesday, confirming a report by public broadcaster NHK.

"A deputy governor will serve official duties on her behalf this week as Governor Koike needs a rest due to excess fatigue," a metropolitan government spokeswoman told Reuters.

Kyodo News cited sources as saying that Koike had checked in to a hospital in the city.

The announcement comes as preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics ramp up amid public concerns about coronavirus infections.

Polls have shown most Japanese people remain wary about the possibility that the Games will spread infections, with 435 cases reported on Tuesday.

Australia

Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales (NSW), on Tuesday reported its biggest rise in new locally acquired COVID-19 cases in nearly a week, prompting authorities to extend a mask mandate in Sydney for a week.

Ten new locally acquired cases were reported in NSW on Tuesday, as officials fight to contain a latest cluster of the highly infectious Delta virus variant. Eight of the 10 are household contacts of previous cases in isolation.

"There is no doubt there is an increased level of concern, given the additional numbers of cases, but ... given how absolutely contagious the virus is, we expected household contacts already in isolation were likely to get the virus," NSW state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.

Masks will be mandatory indoors in Sydney, Australia's largest city, for another week from Thursday morning although officials stopped short of announcing further curbs as the cluster increased to 21 infections in six days.

Tuesday's data includes seven cases recorded after the 8 pm cut-off deadline, which will be included in Wednesday's numbers.

Authorities say the latest outbreak, the first in the state in more than a month, is linked to a driver who transports overseas airline crew members and then later visited several venues, including a shopping centre in Bondi, a popular tourist hotspot.

Also, Australian scientists expect to run clinical trials for a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine within the coming months, in a project aimed at ensuring the nation can ultimately produce its own version of a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.

Acting Premier for the state of Victoria James Merlino announced this week that the government was allocating 5 million Australian dollars (US$3.76 million) to help the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Melbourne to manufacture vaccine doses for the trials.

Health experts believe that the public's concerns about AstraZeneca, due to its links to cases of blood clots, is one of the reasons for the nation's comparatively slow vaccine rollout.

Bangladesh

Seven districts surrounding Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka have been locked down following a spike in cases, according to a government notice.

The curbs will remain in place until June 30. Bangladesh on Monday reported 4,636 new cases, the most in a day since mid-April, raising its total to 851,668. The reported death toll is 13,626.

Fiji

Fiji has upgraded restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19 as the country continued to witness growing COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Fiji recorded 126 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, taking the total tally to 2,090, and the recovered patients reached 532, while the death toll stood at seven, according to the health ministry.

An elderly woman (left) holds the arm of her domestic helper as she receives Covishield vaccine against the coronavirus at a vaccination center in Mumbai, India, on June 22, 2021. (RAFIQ MAQBOOL / AP)

India

India's vaccine maker Bharat Biotech's Covaxin has shown 77.8 percent efficacy in phase III trials, multiple local media reported on Tuesday.

"Bharat Biotech's Covaxin is 77.8 percent effective in protecting against COVID-19, according to data from phase III trials conducted on 25,800 participants across India," a report said.

India’s vaccinations over the next few weeks could fall short of the blistering pace set on the first day of a federal campaign, unless it makes inroads in a vast hinterland and bridges a shortage of doses, experts said on Tuesday.

The 8.6 million doses injected on Monday represented a record two-fold jump as India kicked off free inoculation for all adults, reversing a policy for individual states and hospitals to buy vaccines for those aged 18 to 44.

The inoculation effort in the world's second most populous nation had covered just about 5.5 percent of all the 950 million people eligible, even though India is the world's largest producer of vaccines.

Particularly in the countryside, where two-thirds of a population of 1.4 billion lives and the healthcare system is often overstretched, the drive has faltered, experts say.

Maintaining the pace of the vaccination effort will prove particularly challenging when it comes to injecting the younger population in such "underserved" areas, said Delhi-based epidemiologist Rajib Dasgupta.

India's COVID-19 tally rose to 29,977,861 Tuesday, with 42,640 new cases recorded in the past 24 hours, said the federal health ministry.

This was the first time that less than 50,000 daily cases were reported in a day after 91 days, according to the ministry.

Besides, 1,167 COVID-19 deaths have been recorded since Monday morning, taking the country's death toll to 389,302.

Iran

The Iranian health ministry reported on Monday 10,485 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's total infections to 3,105,620.

The pandemic has so far claimed 83,101 lives in Iran, up by 136 in the past 24 hours, the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education said in a briefing published on the ministry's official website.

By Monday, 4,399,403 people have received coronavirus vaccines in the country, and 936,350 have taken both doses.

Later in the day, state TV reported that the vaccination of elderly people over 70 with the second doses started again on Sunday, after a "short interruption" due to vaccine shortage.

ALSO READ: Israel to give Palestinians 1m virus shots in exchange deal

Israel

The Israeli Ministry of Health on Monday announced that it "strongly recommends" that teenagers aged 12 to 15 be vaccinated against coronavirus.

The decision was made following a rise in coronavirus morbidity among children in recent days, mainly in schools in the central city of Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut and in the town of Binyamina, caused by several variants.

The ministry noted that the side effects caused by the vaccine are rare and non-serious.

On June 6, Israel started vaccinating teenagers aged between 12 and 15, but until now there has been no recommendation to do so.

Also, Israeli researchers have found that pre-infection deficiency of vitamin D is associated with increased COVID-19 severity and mortality, Bar Ilan University (BIU) said Monday.

The study conducted by BIU and the Galilee Medical Center (GMC) assessed the correlation using low levels of vitamin D measured prior to infection and focused on disease severity.

In the study, the records of COVID-19 patients who were admitted to GMC were searched for vitamin D levels measured 14 to 730 days prior to the positive test.

It was found that compared with mildly or moderately diseased patients, those with severe or critical COVID-19 disease were more likely to have severe pre-infection vitamin D deficiency with levels less than 20 ng/mL.

"Vitamin D is often associated with bone health, which may also play an important role in other disease processes, such as infection," the researchers said.

A man receives a dose of the Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus at a vaccination point in the Abylkhan Kasteyev State Museum of Arts of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Almaty on April 17, 2021. (RUSLAN PRYANIKOV / AFP)

Kazakhstan 

Kazakhstan warned on Tuesday that the more infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus had reached its capital as other Central Asian countries saw fresh spikes in COVID-19 cases. .

The number of fresh cases in Kazakhstan’s capital, Nur-Sultan, jumped 40 percent last week compared to the previous week, healthcare minister Alexei Tsoi told a government meeting on Tuesday.

Tsoi said tests had shown that the Delta variant of COVID-19, first detected in India, was present in the city and urged provincial governments to prepare for a spike in cases requiring hospitalisation and lung ventilation.

Neighbouring Kyrgyzstan has this month reported daily fresh cases at levels not seen for almost a year, prompting the authorities to recommend that half of all employees in the capital switch to working from home.

Uzbekistan, which also saw daily cases climb this month, said on Tuesday it was closing its border with neighbour Afghanistan due to the deteriorating COVID-19 situation there.

Tajikistan said this week it registered its first COVID-19 cases since January. Blaming the population’s “nonchalance”, the government said it would strictly enforce social distancing and tighten controls over flight arrivals.

The region, with a total population of 70 million, is particularly vulnerable to a new wave of infections due to its low vaccination rates. Kazakhstan, the wealthiest country in Central Asia, reported on Tuesday it has fully vaccinated about 9 percent of its population.

Uzbekistan is estimated to have fully vaccinated 3-4 percent of its population, while in impoverished Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, the rate is less than 1 percent.

Kuwait

Kuwait registered on Monday 1,935 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total infections in the country to 340,967, the Kuwaiti Health Ministry reported.

The ministry also announced seven more fatalities, taking the coronavirus death toll in Kuwait to 1,877, while the tally of recoveries rose by 1,408 to 321,293.

The ministry announced on Monday the launch of the fourth phase of mobile vaccination for personnel of consumer services, workers of fuel stations, security companies, guards and workers in public transportation.

Meanwhile, the ministry has launched the registration platform for breastfeeding mothers, the pregnant and other females desiring to be vaccinated.

Mongolia

Mongolia reported 2,231 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, raising the national caseload to 98,050, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

Fourteen more fatalities were reported in the past day, bringing the nationwide death toll to 477, according to the ministry's statement.

Myanmar

Myanmar reported 595 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total cases in the country to 148,617, according to a release from the Ministry of Health and Sports.

Three more deaths were reported on Monday, bringing the death toll to 3,265 in the country, the release said.

Pakistan

Pakistan on Monday recorded a COVID-19 positivity rate of 1.7 percent, the lowest over the last eight months, official statistics revealed on Tuesday.

According to the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), the country's nerve center against the pandemic, a total of 663 new COVID-19 cases from 39,017 tests were detected in Pakistan on Monday.

The tally of confirmed cases rose to 949,838 in the country, the NCOC said, adding that 27 people died of the disease on Monday, raising the death toll to 22,034.

Pakistan has made an agreement to procure 13 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer, the country’s health minister said on Tuesday.

An exact timeline was not yet available, health minister Faisal Sultan told Reuters, but said the doses would arrive by the end of 2021, under an agreement the government has made with the manufacturer.

The country faced initial vaccination hesitancy and a shortage of vaccine supply but it started a mass vaccination campaign late last month that is now open to all adults. It has relied heavily on ally China for vaccine supplies.

On May 29, Pakistan received 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine through the COVAX facility, but authorities have only administered those to people who are immunocompromised and not suitable for other vaccines.

Nearly 13 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the country of 220 million people so far, with about 3.5 million people fully vaccinated, according to the National Command Operation Center, which is overseeing the pandemic response.

People walk along Marina Bay promenade in Singapore on March 17, 2021. (PHOTO / AFP)

Singapore

Singaporean authorities identified two more coronavirus clusters in a large neighborhood outside the city center where the government widened mandatory testing in response to an outbreak from mid-June.

More residents and housing blocks in the Redhill neighborhood will have to get tested as viral fragments were found in waste water samples collected from the area, raising concerns of a fast-moving, undetected spread. Some of the 13 cases detected on Monday were part of the new clusters that have emerged, the government said in an update on Monday, while three of the infections were untraceable.

Singapore has been pursuing a strategy of ringfencing clusters with aggressive testing as the authorities remain cautious over the loosening of restrictions. The government has said vaccination rates are still not high enough to warrant a faster reopening in Singapore, although it has achieved a key threshold of inoculating more than half of its population with a first dose.

The first cluster that emerged from the market and food center in the Redhill area in mid-June is now the largest in Singapore with 78 infections, according to updated data. The government said on Friday that about half of the people found to be infected at the time were not vaccinated.

“We are adjusting our reopening plans in light of the latest outbreak,” Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, who co-leads the country’s virus taskforce, said in a recent Facebook post. Singapore is “treading a careful way forward” so as to “to buy us time to speed up vaccinations,” he added.

Since Monday, dining-in has resumed in groups of up to two people - instead of five as previously planned. Group sizes will likely be raised to five from mid-July, barring any superspreader events or big clusters.

Singapore reported one death linked to the virus, bringing the total to 35. Singapore has one of the lowest case fatality rates in the world at 0.06 percent, in part due to quick contact tracing and mandatory mask-wearing as well as the majority of the covid patients being young migrant workers who were less affected.

ALSO READ: South Korea to ease virus curbs as more people get vaccinated

South Korea

South Korea reported 261 more cases of COVID-19 variants for the past week, bringing the total number of such cases to 2,225, the health authorities said Tuesday.

Among the new cases spotted since June 13, 34 were imported from overseas while the remaining 227 were locally transmitted, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The far higher number of local transmissions caused worry about the variant spread in the local communities.

In the latest tally, South Korea reported 395 more cases of COVID-19 for the past 24 hours, raising the total number of infections to 151,901.

Among the new cases, 44 were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 9,611.

Thailand

A Thai medical committee has agreed to narrow the gap between doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to eight weeks from 10-12 weeks previously in places where there has been outbreaks of the Delta variant, an official said on Tuesday.

Areas where the more contagious Delta variant, first identified in India, had been detected could "adjust the timing for the second dose," said Kiatiphum Wongrajit, permanent secretary at the public health ministry.

The move comes after Thailand last week abandoned plans for a 16-week gap between AstraZeneca doses in a bid to stretch vaccine supplies to reach more people.

Thailand reported the first instance of the Delta variant in Bangkok last month and up to now it has spread to 20 provinces with over 660 cases recorded.

Thailand's vaccination drive, which uses a mix of Sinovac and AstraZeneca shots, faced delays a week after it started in June due to limited supplies. About 2.2 million people are fully vaccinated from a population of over 66 million.

Thailand reported 4,059 new infections on Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases to 225,365 and 1,693 fatalities, with more than 85 percent infections and 95 percent of deaths coming since April.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte receives his first dose of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine on May 3. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

The Philippines

President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to jail people who refuse to be vaccinated against the coronavirus as the Philippines battles one of Asia's worst outbreaks, with over 1.3 million cases and more than 23,000 deaths.

"You choose, vaccine or I will have you jailed," Duterte said in a televised address on Monday following reports of low turnouts at several vaccination sites in the capital Manila.

Duterte's remarks contradict those of his health officials who have said that while people are urged to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, it was voluntary.

"Don't get me wrong, there is a crisis in this country," Duterte said. "I'm just exasperated by Filipinos not heeding the government."

As of June 20, Philippine authorities had fully vaccinated 2.1 million people, making slow progress towards the government's target to immunise up to 70 million people this year in a country of 110 million.

Also, a community in the Philippines has been raffling off huge sacks of rice in exchange for getting vaccinated against COVID-19, after finding it hard to persuade people to get their shots.

Twenty weekly winners who get their shots in Sucat on the outskirts of the capital Manila have been taking home a 25 kg sack of rice each.

Local official Jeramel Mendoza said the initiative was targeting mainly poorer residents, who were not so keen on vaccinations.

Sucat village officials said since starting the initiative at end-May, they have been administering their daily quota of vaccines of up to 2,000 doses, whereas before they were giving only about 400 doses a day.

"It's a nice initiative and I feel safer after being vaccinated. I'm happy I got vaccinated while winning some rice," said Almond Gregorio, a firefighter and holder of a winning raffle ticket.

The UAE

Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, is offering tourists free COVID-19 vaccinations that were previously restricted to UAE citizens and residency visa holders.

There is no indication that the change applies to Dubai, the most populous emirate, or the other five emirates that make up the UAE.

Visitors with visas issued by Abu Dhabi and passport holders eligible for tourist visas when they arrive in the UAE through Abu Dhabi can book free vaccines, according to information provided by the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), which operates the emirate's public health infrastructure.

Holders of expired residency or entry visas are also eligible for free vaccinations, Abu Dhabi Media Office said on June 11.

UAE Health authorities said this month nearly 85 percent of the eligible population had received at least one vaccine dose, but did not say how many had had two doses.

Infections have risen in the UAE in the past month, and Abu Dhabi still has restrictions on entry, including home quarantine and PCR testing at intervals after arrival. People driving from other emirates are tested to show they are not infected.

Travellers from 27 countries including China, Germany and the United States can enter without quarantine on arrival.

SEHA offers COVID-19 vaccines by China's state-owned drugmaker Sinopharm and by Pfizer/BioNTech in Abu Dhabi.

Turkey

Turkey will further relax restrictions imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19 from next month, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday after the number of daily coronavirus cases in the country fell to around 5,000.

Lockdowns that had been imposed on Sundays and curfews from 1900 GMT on weekdays would be lifted from July 1, Erdogan said after a government cabinet meeting.

"Public transportation restrictions will also be lifted and public institutions will return to normal working hours," Erdogan said.

Turkey began easing curbs in recent weeks, limiting the lockdown to Sunday and opening restaurants to a limited number of guests, after daily cases began to fall from a peak above 60,000 in April.

The sharp rise in inoculation levels has also raised hopes of a strong economic performance in the second half of the year, with JP Morgan last week revising its full-year economic growth forecast up to 6.8 percent, citing the pace of vaccinations.

Turkey's daily COVID-19 cases were 5,294 on Monday, when the number of recorded deaths was 51, health ministry data showed.

Uzbekistan 

Uzbekistan has temporarily suspended the movement of citizens across the Uzbek-Afghan border amid the aggravating epidemic situation in Afghanistan, the Uzbek Health Ministry said Tuesday.

The country will keep its only cross-border checkpoint open for diplomats, employees of consulates and international organizations and their families, as well as for drivers of international cargo freight companies, the ministry said.

Uzbek and Afghan citizens returning to their home country will also be allowed to cross the border, but foreign citizens will not be allowed to enter Uzbekistan.

New confirmed cases in Uzbekistan also doubled in recent days, reaching 427 on Monday. So far, Uzbekistan has registered a total of 106,452 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 718 related deaths.

Vietnam

One million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine will be transferred to Vietnam weekly starting next month to fulfil its order of 30 million doses within this year, state media reported on Tuesday.

Vietnam, which has so far received about 4.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, has relied heavily on the AstraZeneca brand for its inoculation programme, which started in March.

Its vaccines have come via donations, the COVAX vaccine sharing scheme and government procurements.

Vietnam’s mass immunization drive and vaccine procurement has lagged behind many countries, with only 121,681 of its 98 million people fully vaccinated so far. About 2.5 million people have received one dose.

The Vietnamese capital Hanoi has allowed local restaurants, cafes and hair salons to reopen in-store services, as the latest wave of COVID-19 infections in the city had subsided.

According to a circular released by the Hanoi Municipal People's Committee on Monday evening, in-store services of the venues can be resumed from Tuesday with strict prevention and control measures in place.

However, all bars, including local beer gardens, can still only provide takeaway services until further notice, according to the circular.

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