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Tuesday, July 06, 2021, 10:29
Indonesia prepares for worst-case COVID-19 scenario
By Agencies
Tuesday, July 06, 2021, 10:29 By Agencies

A health worker gives a shot of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine to a man during a mass vaccination in Jakarta, Indonesia, June 21, 2021. (DITA ALANGKARA / AP)

ANKARA / TEHRAN / ISTANBUL / SUVA / JERUSALEM / CANBERRA / JAKARTA / NEW DELHI / KABUL / PHNOM PENH / HANOI / KUALA LUMPUR / DHAKA / BANGKOK / SINGAPORE / COLOMBO / JAKARTA - Indonesia has prepared backup medical facilities for a worst-case scenario where daily coronavirus infections reach 40,000 to 50,000, an official said on Tuesday, as the country reported another day of record fatalities from its worst outbreak so far.

Just 1.6 percent of its more than 270 million population have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Senior Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said the government has plans to increase oxygen supplies and has identified accommodation infrastructure that can be converted into isolation facilities in the worst-case scenario.

Health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the government was adding nearly 8,000 new beds in Greater Jakarta, and was closely watching Sumatra and Kalimantan, which were seeing a rise in cases of the Delta variant.

Another senior minister said Indonesia plans to seek help from a number of foreign countries if the daily COVID-19 cases surpass 40,000.

At a virtual press conference on Tuesday, Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that the Indonesian government has been contacting foreign countries on international aid.

Indonesia on Tuesday recorded 31,189 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, marking the highest daily spike and bringing the total tally to 2,345,018, the Health Ministry said.

The ministry also reported that the COVID-19-related death toll added by 728, the biggest daily rise since the pandemic hit the country in March 2020, to 61,868.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan on Tuesday recorded 1,556 new COVID-19 cases after the health authorities conducted 4,245 tests within a day, bringing the number of total cases to 129,021, the country's Ministry of Public Health said.

People queue to receive a vaccination at the NSW Vaccine Centre at Homebush Olympic Park in Sydney, Australia on July 1, 2021.  (MICK TSIKAS / AAP IMAGE VIA AP)

Australia

Australia needs to vaccinate at least 85 percent of the population to achieve herd immunity, a James Cook University researcher said in a statement Monday.

“Herd immunity has become more difficult to achieve with the delta variant, as it is both more infectious and less amenable to vaccination,” said Emma McBryde, professor of infectious diseases epidemiology and modelling.

If vaccine coverage was directed at the most infectious age groups, Australia could achieve herd immunity by vaccinating 75 percent of the population. However this may not be realistic, because it would require nearly 100 percent uptake in the 20-to-60-year age groups, she said. “We have also shown that even without herd immunity, vaccinated people are protected against severe disease and much less likely to be hospitalized or die,” McBryde said.

Australia has administered 8.2 million vaccines doses, according to data collected by Bloomberg News and Johns Hopkins University.

The average rate is estimated at 125,007 doses a day. At this pace, it will take a projected 7 months to cover 75 percent of the population with a two-dose vaccine. Immunizations there started about 19 weeks ago.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh reported 11,525 new cases of COVID-19 as of 8:00 am local time Tuesday, the highest daily spike, bringing the tally to 966,406, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said Tuesday evening.

The official data also showed 163 more deaths were recorded Tuesday, raising the death toll to 15,392, and 36,631 samples were tested in the last 24 hours across the country.

Cambodia

Cambodia's COVID-19 vaccination drive has got another boost after the Southeast Asian nation received a new batch of COVID-19 vaccine from China on Tuesday, a health official said.

The vaccine, purchased from Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm, arrived in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, by a flight, health ministry's secretary of state Yok Sambath said.

A nurse stands outside Tamara Twomey hospital in Suva, Fiji, Friday, June 25, 2021. A growing coronavirus outbreak in Fiji is stretching the health system and devastating the economy. It has even prompted the government to offer jobless people tools and cash to become farmers. (AILEEN TORRES-BENNETT / AP)

Fiji 

Struggling to contain an outbreak of the highly-transmissible COVID-19 Delta variant, Fiji reported a record 636 COVID-19 infections and six deaths on Tuesday, with the mortuary at Pacific island's main hospital already filled to capacity.

Since the pandemic began, Fiji has reported a total 39 deaths, but most have come since the emergence of the Delta variant in April.

Located some 2,000 km north of New Zealand, and with a population of less than a million people, mostly concentrated on two islands in the archipelago, Fiji had initially succeeded in keeping the coronavirus at bay.

The government has resisted calls for a national lockdown.

The infections that erupted in the past few months were suspected to have been caused by someone breaching quarantine.

On Monday, the government said many patients were seeking treatment too late, and the hospital's mortuary was full, even though some victims were dying at home.

"Sadly we are seeing people with the severe disease die at home or on the way to the hospital before our medical teams have a chance to administer what could potentially be life-saving treatment," Fiji's Ministry for Health said in an emailed statement.

India

India's COVID-19 deaths relative to infections hit a record high in June after cases peaked in early May, an analysis of government data shows, amid pressure on authorities to accurately report deaths from a second wave of the virus.

A big rise in infections in April and May, driven largely by the more infectious and dangerous Delta variant, brought India's health system to its knees.

India has officially reported 403,281 deaths out of 29.75 million people who have contracted the virus.

While the country of 1.35 billion people has reported fewer deaths than the United States and Brazil some experts believe its actual case and fatality numbers are several times higher.

Local government in India's northeastern state of Assam Tuesday announced a complete lockdown in seven districts of the state in wake of the spike in COVID-19 cases, officials said.

The lockdown will come into force from Wednesday morning and remain in place until further orders in both rural and urban areas of these districts.

ALSO READ: Vietnam reports highest daily tally, total surpasses 20,000

Iran

Iran on Tuesday reported 16,080 new COVID-19 cases, raising the country's total infections to 3,286,923.

The pandemic has so far claimed 85,095 lives in Iran, up by 146 in the past 24 hours, the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education said.

An Israeli girl receives a dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from the Magen David Adom during a campaign by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality to encourage the vaccination of teenagers, on July 5, 2021. (PHOTO / AFP)

Israel 

Israel will deliver about 700,000 expiring doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine to South Korea later this month, and South Korea will give Israel back the same number, already on order from Pfizer, in September and October.

South Korea has quickly distributed the COVID-19 vaccines it has, but has struggled to obtain enough doses in a timely manner amid tight global supplies, particularly in Asia.

"This is a win-win deal," Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement announcing the deal on Tuesday. "Together we will beat the pandemic."

After a stellar roll-out, Israel has administered both shots to around 55 percent of its population and seen turnout plateau.

Israel has vaccinated  131,000 teenagers aged 12 to 15, or 23.1 percent of the age band, against coronavirus since June 6, the Health Ministry said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, 88 percent of people aged 50 and over in Israel, or about 2.16 million in this age band, have been vaccinated. To date, 5.66 million in Israel have received the Pfizer vaccine, accounting for 60.7 percent of the total population, according to the ministry.

Kuwait

Kuwait registered on Monday 1,977 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total infections in the country to 365,649, the Kuwaiti Health Ministry said.

The ministry also announced 12 more fatalities, taking the death toll in Kuwait to 2,029, while the tally of recoveries rose by 1,841 to 345,106.

A total of 18,514 COVID-19 patients were receiving treatment, including 303 in the intensive care units, it said.

Earlier in the day, the ministry said that the average occupancy rate of COVID-19 wards in hospitals increased to 9 percent during last week, calling on the public to abide by health precautions and register for COVID-19 vaccination.

Lebanon

Lebanon's Health Ministry reported on Monday that around half of the country's COVID-19 cases recorded in the last 24 hours were caused by the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

The ministry said that among 101 new cases, 46 were detected as being infected with the Delta variant imported from 10 different countries.

The ministry also reported two deaths from coronavirus in the past 24 hours.

Lebanon has reported 545,671 infections and 7,863 coronavirus-related deaths since the virus was first detected in the country in February 2020.

Malaysia

Malaysia reported 7,654 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the Health Ministry said, bringing the national total to 792,693.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that 11 of the new cases are imported and 7,643 are local transmissions.

Another 103 more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 5,677.

Singapore

Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 10 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the total tally to 62,640.

The new infections include two locally transmitted cases, both of whom are currently unlinked.

The remaining eight were imported cases, who have already been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) or isolated upon arrival in Singapore. Seven of them were detected upon arrival in Singapore, while one developed symptoms during SHN or isolation.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Tuesday directed the Health Ministry to administer the Pfizer vaccines on those who had received the AstraZeneca as their first jabs in capital Colombo.

Sri Lanka's Health Ministry received 26,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccines on Monday after the State Pharmaceutical Corporation purchased it from the United States.

The president said out of the total 26,000 doses received, 25,000 doses should be administered as the second jabs for those who received the AstraZeneca as their first doses in capital Colombo.

Following the president's directive, Colombo Mayor Rosy Senanayake was quoted by local media as saying the vaccine will be administered on Colombo residents between 55 and 69, who obtained the Astrazeneca vaccine as the first dose.

Senanayake said the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) had already inoculated 88 percent of Colombo residents who are 70 years and above with the Astrazeneca vaccine as the second dose.

The Philippines

Several cities in the Philippine capital region have halted their first-dose vaccination programs as supply from the national government runs out.

Makati City, home to the nation’s main financial district, said the scheduled inoculation of frontline workers receiving the Covid-19 vaccine for the first time won’t push through on Tuesday. It also shut several vaccination sites in malls and schools, the city government said on Facebook.

Paranaque, Caloocan and Valenzuela cities have also stopped first-dose vaccinations as they await for additional supplies, while Malabon and Muntinlupa announced they will no longer entertain walk-ins.

Metro Manila and adjacent provinces account for about two-thirds of the Southeast Asian nation’s economic output. With over a quarter of the nation’s population, vaccination in the capital region is key to boosting domestic demand and reviving the economy after last year’s record slump.

The Philippines will receive about a million AstraZeneca Plc doses from Japan and 170,000 Sputnik V vaccines it ordered from Russia this week, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said on Monday. About 2.87 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated, less than 3 percent of its population.

READ MORE: Tokyo sees most COVID-19 cases since May

Thailand

Thailand on Tuesday approved plans to purchase more COVID-19 vaccines, including Pfizer, Sinovac and Moderna, as the country tried to contain a months-long surge in infections.

The cabinet of ministers approved a plan to purchase 20 million doses of Pfizer vaccines from the United States, with delivery scheduled within the fourth quarter of this year, said Udom Khachinthorn, an adviser to the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), the country's COVID-19 task force.

The country planned to give Pfizer vaccine as the third shot to medical workers and those having to make contact with infected patients at work, he said.

The cabinet also endorsed the planned purchase of five million doses of Moderna vaccine from the United States and more Sinovac vaccines from China.

Young women wearing face masks walk along a street in the Turkish capital, Ankara, Friday, July 2, 2021. (BURHAN OZBILICI / AP)

Turkey

Turkey has identified three cases of the new Delta Plus COVID-19 variant in three provinces, its health minister said on Monday, adding that the separate Delta variant had also been identified in some 284 cases across 30 provinces.

"The Delta Plus (variant) was seen in three people in three separate provinces (including) one in Istanbul," Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Monday. "These people are in good condition."

Koca said Turkey currently had some 8 million shots and would receive another 26 million Pfizer-BioNtech doses this month, and 1.5 million doses of Sinovac next week.

He said Turkey aimed to administer the first dose of a vaccine to some 43 million people by the Eid al-Adha holiday on July 20, accounting for 70% of the country's adult population.

Vietnam

Vietnam has halted dozens of flights in and out of its biggest city on Tuesday to try to contain the spread of the coronavirus, after reporting more than 1,000 new cases for a second successive day.

Ho Chi Minh City has ramped up its testing in recent days and the southern economic hub accounted for more than two-thirds of the 1,029 new cases reported on Tuesday.

The government said 9 cities and provinces have suspended flights to and from the city of 9 million people, with record new infections reported in three of the past six days.

City authorities on Monday said controls on entry into and out of the city would be imposed and advised people to stay indoors.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at a meeting on Tuesday urged Ho Chi Minh City to take stronger measures and focus its resources on the pandemic.

Chinh said the restrictions could affect business activities and disrupt supply chains, but “when needed, especially now, people’s lives and health must be prioritised.”

Vietnam reported 1,029 coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the second straight day of infections of more than 1,000.

Most of the cases were in the southern economic hub Ho Chi Minh City, the Ministry of Health said.

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