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Monday, November 29, 2021, 10:27
Singapore, Malaysia reopen border despite Omicron variant
By Agencies
Monday, November 29, 2021, 10:27 By Agencies

Travelers have their documents processed at the Woodlands temporary bus interchange before boarding a bus that will transport them to Malaysia from Singapore, Nov 29, 2021. (TOH EE MING / AP)

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN / ISLAMABAD / MALE / MANILA / NEW DELHI / SEOUL / SINGAPORE / SYDNEY / WELLINGTON / ULAN BATOR - Singapore and Malaysia reopened one of the world's busiest land borders on Monday, allowing vaccinated travelers to cross after nearly two years of being shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As many as 300,000 Malaysians commuted daily to Singapore before the pandemic. The sudden closing of the border in March 2020 left tens of thousands stranded on both sides, separated from families and fearing for their jobs.

Travelers must test negative for COVID-19 before departure, and also take an on-arrival test.

Under the latest arrangement, up to 1,440 travelers from Singapore or Malaysia can cross the land border per day without quarantine, if they hold citizenship, permanent residency or long-term visas in the destination country

Malaysia's health minister Khairy Jamaluddin said on Monday one traveler had tested positive to a rapid antigen test, noting some COVID-19 cases were inevitable.

Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob was welcomed by Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at one of the land border crossings on Monday, his first official visit as premier to Singapore.

Under the latest arrangement, up to 1,440 travelers from either side can cross the land border per day without quarantine, if they hold citizenship, permanent residency or long-term visas in the destination country.

The first flights operating under an air travel lane for vaccinated passengers between the two countries also arrived in both countries on Monday.

Australia

Australia will review its plans to reopen borders to skilled migrants and students from Dec 1, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday, after the country reported its first cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

Two people who arrived in Sydney from southern Africa tested positive on Sunday for the newly identified variant as officials ordered 14-day quarantine for citizens returning from nine African countries.

Morrison said "it is a bit too early" to reinstate two-week mandatory hotel quarantine for foreign travelers, urging people to remain calm as data had not yet fully determined the severity, transmissibility and vaccine resistance of the Omicron strain.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said he had asked the country's immunization advisory group to review the time frame for COVID-19 booster shots. About 87 percent of Australia's population above 16 years of age have been fully vaccinated, above the rates seen in the United States, Britain and many countries in Western Europe.

Australia has so far recorded about 209,000 coronavirus cases and 1,997 deaths since the pandemic began.

Brunei

Brunei reported 74 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, bringing the total tally to 14,992.

According to Brunei's Ministry of Health, all the newly recorded cases were local infections.

While the source of 15 local infections was still under investigation, four new clusters have been detected and two clusters were closed following no new cases in the clusters for 28 days, bringing the total number of active clusters to 135.

There are a total of 14,367 recoveries and 526 active cases still being treated and monitored in Brunei. Ninety-nine patients have passed away so far in the country.

India

India will make on-arrival COVID-19 testing mandatory for flyers from more than a dozen countries, including South Africa and Britain where the Omicron variant has been detected, the health ministry said on Monday.

The decision will be effective from Dec 1 and comes after a man who recently returned from South Africa tested positive for COVID-19, though it is not yet clear which strain of the coronavirus he contracted.

The federal health ministry said all arrivals from Europe, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore and Israel will be tested at the airport using the RT-PCR method.

Additionally, 5 percent of all travelers from other countries will be randomly tested, the ministry added.

India reported 8,309 new coronavirus infections on Monday, taking the total to 34.58 million - only behind the tally of the United States. Deaths rose by 236 to 468,790, health ministry data showed.

People cross a street at Tokyo's shipping district Ginza on Apr 26, 2021, during a new coronavirus state of emergency covering Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo regions. (KAZUHIRO NOGI / AFP)

Japan

Japan will close its borders to foreign visitors from Tuesday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters.

“These are unusual emergency measures that will be in place until we have a certain amount of information about omicron,” Kishida said Monday. “We must be as cautious as possible about an unknown risk — that is the way we are managing the government,” he added. 

He gave few details about the move, and did not specify whether the measures would apply to foreigners who already reside in Japan. 

Japanese citizens will be instructed to quarantine at a government-designated facility when arriving from countries where the variant has been found, Kishida said. 

Broadcaster NTV said earlier Japan would ban new foreign businesspeople and students from entry. Foreign tourists are already banned from visiting. 

Japan has seen a sharp fall in its infections. It recorded 61 new virus cases on Nov 28, compared with figures over 25,000 daily in mid-August. No new deaths were reported. 

The clampdown comes about three weeks after Japan began lifting its pandemic border restrictions, which were some of the strictest in the developed world. 

While the government has said there have been no omicron variant cases recorded in Japan, there are concerns that a person who arrived from Namibia may have been infected with the variant. Analysis is continuing, Kishida said.

Maldives

Maldivian President Ibrahim Solih has said that his country will begin administering COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for the general population starting December, state-owned PSM News reported here Sunday.

COVID-19 booster shots are currently being administered to individuals over the age of 50, but will expand to include frontline staff in healthcare, tourism, and airports next week, Solih said on his official Twitter account on Saturday.

He added that the booster program would be made available to the general public in December.

Solih also tweeted that news of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus was of great concern and that officials would decide on possible precautionary measures.

According to data from Maldives' Health Protection Agency, 395,586 people have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 363,150 people have received two doses, and 9,058 peopled have received a booster shot.

Mongolia

Mongolia reported 190 new local infections of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the lowest number since Mar 21 when 170 daily cases were reported, the health ministry said on Monday.

With the latest confirmed cases, the country's COVID-19 tally increased to 382,323, the ministry said in a statement.

Currently, 6,043 COVID-19 patients are being treated in hospitals across the country, while 11,736 are receiving home-based care, according to the ministry.

So far, over 66 percent of Mongolia's population of 3.4 million have received two COVID-19 vaccine doses, while 640,074 people over 18 years of age have received a booster dose.

A traveler crosses a road at Auckland International Airport in Auckland, New Zealand, on Apr 19, 2021. Australia and New Zealand on Monday started their first quarantine-free flights since the pandemic began, after they successfully halted COVID-19 transmissions from spreading through their nations. (BRENDON O'HAGAN / BLOOMBERG)

New Zealand

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday the country will move into a system of living with the COVID-19 virus later this week despite the new Omicron variant posing a fresh health threat to the world.

There were no cases of the Omicron variant in New Zealand at this stage but the developing global situation showed why a cautious approach was needed at the borders, she said.

New Zealand also introduced fresh border measures for travelers from nine southern African nation on the weekend, announcing that only citizens from these countries can travel to New Zealand and will have to stay in state quarantine for 14 days

"Omicron is a reminder of the risk that still exists at our borders," Ardern said at the news conference.

New Zealand has some of the toughest border controls in the world and plans to keep borders closed to most international travelers for a further five months.

It also introduced fresh border measures for travelers from nine southern African nation on the weekend, announcing that only citizens from these countries can travel to New Zealand and will have to stay in state quarantine for 14 days.

Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said authorities were looking at whether more needed to be done at the borders to keep Omicron away.

New Zealand moves into a new "traffic light" system from Friday that rates regions as red, orange or green depending on their level of exposure to COVID-19 and vaccination rates. Auckland, the epicenter of the country's Delta outbreak, will start at red, making face masks mandatory and putting limits on gatherings at public places.

New Zealand has had about 11,000 cases so far and 43 related deaths.

A health worker inoculates a student with a dose of the CanSino Biologics' COVID-19 vaccine at Jamia Naeemia seminary in Lahore, Pakistan, on July 12, 2021. (Arif ALI / AFP)

Pakistan 

Pakistan added 303 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the National Command and Operation Center said on Sunday.

The country's number of overall confirmed cases has risen to 1,284,189, according to the NCOC, the department leading Pakistan's campaign against the pandemic.

Another five people died from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours in Pakistan, taking the death toll to 28,709, while 946 people are in critical condition, according to the NCOC.

To stop the spread of the new COVID-19 variant Omicron, the NCOC announced to ban direct or indirect inbound travel from some countries and regions including South Africa, Botswana and Namibia, among others, with immediate effect in a statement released on Saturday.

The Philippines

The Philippines on Sunday further tightened border controls to keep out the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus, adding seven European countries to a travel ban that initially covered seven African nations.

The Philippines coronavirus task force placed Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium and Italy under its so-called "red list" until Dec 15, banning the entry of travelers from these countries.

The ban initially covered South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, and Mozambique.

The government also backpedalled on a plan to allow the entry of some vaccinated foreign tourists starting Dec 1.

"Inbound international travel of all persons, regardless of vaccination status, coming from or who have been to red list countries/jurisdictions/territories within the last 14 days prior to arrival to any port of the Philippines, shall not be allowed," acting Presidential Spokesperson Karlo Nograles said in a statement.

Its new daily case count dropped to 838 on Sunday, the lowest since December 2020-compared with a record peak of more than 26,000 in September - after having fully inoculated more than 35 million Filipinos, or 46 percent of the targeted population.

ALSO READ: Philippines to open vaccinations to general public

South Korea

South Korea reported 3,309 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Sunday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 444,200.

The daily caseload was down from 3,928 in the previous day owing to fewer tests over the weekend, but it marked the country's highest Sunday figure since the first case was found in January last year.

The recent resurgence was attributable to cluster infections in the Seoul metropolitan area.

Of the new cases, 1,386 were Seoul residents. The number of the newly infected people living in Gyeonggi province and the western port city of Incheon was 905 and 233.

The virus spread also raged in the non-metropolitan region. The number of new infections in the non-capital areas was 762, or 23.2 percent of the total local transmission.

The number of the fully vaccinated people was 40,902,753, or 79.7 percent of the population, while 2,845,397 people received booster shots.


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