A health worker inoculates a woman with a third 'booster' dose of the COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine in a hospital in Amritsar on Jan 10, 2022. (NARINDER NANU / AFP)

YANGON / SINGAPORE / JAKARTA / HANOI / KUALA LUMPUR / WELLINGTON / SEOUL / NEW DELHI / ULAN BATOR - India is considering making all adults eligible for booster doses of COVID-19 vaccine, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Monday, as infections grow in some countries and some Indians find it hard to travel abroad without a third dose.

Only frontline workers and those older than 60 are now allowed to take booster doses in India, whether free in government centres or paid for in private hospitals.

The government is debating whether to provide boosters to other groups for free, said one of the sources, who both sought anonymity as the government has yet to make a decision.

Lawmakers in parliament have called for boosters to be authorized soon for all adults.

Last week, the health ministry urged Indian states to boost surveillance measures for the disease, citing a resurgence in some parts of Asia and Europe. 

Infections in India have fallen to their lowest in more than a year, however, with 1,549 new cases reported in the past 24 hours and 31 deaths.

Besides, as many as 31 deaths due to the pandemic since Sunday morning took the total death toll to 516,510.

Indonesia

Indonesia on Sunday confirmed 5,922 new COVID-19 cases, raising its tally of infections to 5,962,483, the country's Health Ministry said.

According to the ministry, the death toll from COVID-19 in the country rose by 139 to 153,738, while 15,829 more people recovered from the disease during the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to 5,589,057.

Malaysia

Malaysia reported 19,105 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Sunday, bringing the national total to 3,993,124, according to the health ministry.

There are 386 new imported cases, with 18,719 being local transmissions, data released on the ministry's website showed.

A further 71 deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 34,400.

This picture taken on Dec 13, 2021 shows a health worker preparing to vaccinate a herder with a coronavirus vaccine booster shot in Delgertsogt county, in Mongolia's Dundgobi province. (BYAMBASUREN BYAMBA-OCHIR / AFP)

Mongolia

Mongolia registered 35 new locally-transmitted COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the lowest daily number for two days in a row since March 6, 2021, raising its total caseload to 468,654, the country's health ministry said on Monday.

Meanwhile, no new deaths were reported in the past day, it said.

Mongolians have basically returned to normal daily life due to high vaccination coverage and declining daily infections. Notably, the Asian country has resumed in-person classes for all levels of educational institutions and fully opened its borders to foreign tourists, who will not be required to have a PCR test or to quarantine.

So far, 66.8 percent of the country's total population of 3.4 million has received two COVID-19 vaccine doses, 1,030,054 people have received a third dose, and 111,944 have received a fourth dose voluntarily.

A woman receives a shot of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Yangon, Myanmar, Aug 29, 2021. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

Myanmar

Myanmar has seen a decline in COVID-19 cases over the past week, with daily cases dropping from 487 on March 13 to 227 on Sunday, according to figures released by the Ministry of Health.

The ministry's data showed deaths from COVID-19 in the country did not exceed three per day in the past week.

The country recorded two new deaths from COVID-19 on Sunday, the release said.

As of Sunday, the country had recorded 608,990 COVID-19 cases and 19,425 deaths, it said.

New Zealand

New Zealand reported 14,463 new community cases of COVID-19 on Monday, said the Ministry of Health in a statement.

Among the new community infections, 3,279 were in the largest city Auckland. The rest of the cases were identified across the nation, including 2,267 in Canterbury, according to the ministry.

In addition, there were 32 new cases of COVID-19 detected at the New Zealand border, said the ministry.

Pakistan

Pakistan has reported 303 new COVID-19 cases over the last 24 hours, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said on Monday.

With the new infections, the overall number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has risen to 1,522,191 in the Asian country, said the NCOC, a department leading the country's campaign against the pandemic.

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 7,859 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total tally to 1,015,017.

Of the new cases, 1,241 cases were detected through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 6,618 through ART (antigen rapid test) tests, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health.

South Korea

South Korea has reached a deal to buy 10 million doses of the country's first experimental coronavirus vaccine, developed by SK Bioscience Co Ltd, authorities said on Monday.

The South Korean company has since August conducted Phase 3 trials of its vaccine candidate, codenamed "GBP510", jointly developed with the University of Washington's Institute for Protein Design and aided by global drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

"They aim to secure formal approval in the first half of this year, and public distribution is expected to begin in the latter half," Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) director Jeong Eun-kyeong told a briefing.

SK Bioscience said in a statement the deal is worth 200 billion won ($164.6 million) and that it would also supply its vaccine to the global vaccine sharing facility COVAX once authorised.

The drugmaker also produces COVID-19 vaccines developed by AstraZeneca Plc and Novavax Inc.

A man passes walks past a billboard on the coronavirus in Ho Chi Minh City on Dec 4, 2021. (NHAC NGUYEN / AFP)

Vietnam

Vietnam reported 141,151 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, down 9,467 cases from Saturday, according to its Ministry of Health.

The new infections, logged in 62 localities nationwide, included 141,149 domestically transmitted and two imported cases.

Vietnamese capital Hanoi remained the epidemic hotspot with 19,065 cases on Sunday, followed by central Nghe An province with 9,333 cases, and northern Phu Tho province with 5,747 cases.

On the same day, health authorities also documented 25,056 COVID-19 cases detected earlier in northern Vinh Phuc province.

The infections brought the total tally to 7,958,048, with 41,880 deaths.