A worker walks past a mural as he sprays disinfectant amid fears of another wave of the coronavirus outbreak at a low income neighborhood in Jakarta, Indonesia, Feb 5, 2022. (DITA ALANGKARA / AP)

JAKARTA / HANOI / SINGAPORE / SEOUL / ISLAMABAD / WELLINGTON - The Indonesian government has opened special visa on arrival services for international travelers from 23 countries to restore the tourism sector, the Directorate General of Immigration said on Monday.

The 23 countries include Australia, the United States, the Netherlands, Brunei, the Philippines, Britain, Italy, Japan, Germany, Cambodia, Canada, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, France, Qatar, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam.

"The special tourist visas can be obtained in Bali's I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport, but foreign tourists can leave the Indonesian territory through other immigration offices," the directorate's spokesman Arya Pradhana Anggakara told Xinhua.

International travelers are only required to bring passports valid at least for six months, return or onward tickets to continue their journeys to other countries, proofs of hotel room reservation in Indonesia, health insurance, and certificates showing negative results of COVID-19.

With the special visa, foreign travelers are allowed to stay in Indonesia for a maximum of 30 days and the permit can be extended once. 

Indonesia on Monday confirmed 21,380 new COVID-19 cases, raising its tally of infections to 5,770,105, the country's Health Ministry said.

New Zealand

New Zealand reported 23,894 new community cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

Among the new community infections, 9,881 were in the largest city Auckland. Nineteen new cases of COVID-19 were detected at the New Zealand border, said the ministry.

Pakistan

Pakistan's daily new COVID-19 cases have dropped below 500 after more than two months, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said on Tuesday.

The data from the NCOC showed that the country registered 378 cases on Monday, the first time since Dec. 29, 2021, when 482 patients were confirmed.

A notice warning people not to gather in groups larger than five persons as part of restrictions to hald the spread of the coronavirus is displayed at Raffles Place financial business district in Singapore on Jan 4, 2022. (ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP)

Singapore

Singapore reported 13,520 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the total tally to 846,341.

Of the new cases, 2,578 cases were detected through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 10,942 through ART (antigen rapid test) tests, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health.

South Korea

South Korea reported 202,721 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Monday, raising the total number of infections to 4,869,691, health authorities said Tuesday.

The daily caseload was down from 210,716 in the prior day, but it was 1.5 times higher than a week earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

Vanuatu

The number of COVID-19 community active cases on Efate, part of the Shefa Province in Vanuatu, has increased to 10 since last Saturday with seven cases recorded in the last 24 hours alone.

According to Vanuatu's newspaper Daily Post Tuesday, Vanuatu's Minister of Health Bruno Leingkone said contact tracing has shown that the case came into contact with 120 people, of which 48 are already in quarantine since Monday.

He said the Ministry of Health (MOH) is still tracing and moving the other close contacts to quarantine.

"Vanuatu has recorded 58 cases of COVID-19 so far since the Alert Level 1 was announced. This includes both border and community cases," he said.

Alert Level for Efate and its offshore islands has been upgraded to 3, which means the risk is high.

Under this level, non-essential services and schools are still closed, all church gathering, social events and public gatherings are strongly prohibited.

All essential services that operate must enforce strict physical distancing of at least one meter and observe all COVID-19 protocols at all times.

Vietnam

Daily COVID-19 tally in Vietnam rose to a new record of 147,358 cases on Monday, up 5,222 cases from Sunday, according to its Ministry of Health.

The new infections, logged in 63 localities nationwide, included 147,335 domestically transmitted and 23 imported cases.

Vietnamese capital Hanoi remained the epidemic hotspot with 32,317 cases on Monday, also its new daily high, followed by central Nghe An province with 10,153 cases, and northern Bac Ninh province with 7,873 cases.