A nurse prepares a PCR test on a passenger at an on-site pre-departure testing clinic for COVID-19 outside the departures hall at Sydney Airport on Nov 23, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. (JAMES D. MORGAN / GETTY IMAGES / BLOOMBERG)
MANILA / SEOUL / CAIRO / TOKYO / MUMBAI – Australia and New Zealand have introduced new COVID-19 border security measures to protect against the new Omicron variant.
Direct flights from nine southern African countries will be suspended immediately, Health Minister Greg Hunt said in a press conference on Saturday. The countries are South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Losoto, Eswatini, the Seychelles, Malawi and Mozambique.
Returning Australian citizens and their dependents who have been in any of those countries in the past 14 days must enter supervised quarantine on arrival. Other travelers from those locations will not be allowed to enter Australia.
Hunt said that people who have arrived in Australia in the past 14 days from the nine countries under travel restrictions must get tested immediately and isolated for two weeks.
No cases of the Omicron variant have been identified in Australia, Hunt said. He added that one person who recently arrived from South Africa and tested positive for COVID-19 is currently in quarantine in the Northern Territory, but that the strain of their infection is not known.
The health minister said the government would “reserve the right” to strengthen or ease restrictions, “if the medical evidence shows that further actions are required.”
In New Zealand, other than returning citizens travelers from nine Southern African countries will be barred from entry starting from next week.
“The government is taking a precautionary approach in treating South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Seychelles, Malawi and Mozambique as very high-risk countries to reduce the chance of Omicron entering New Zealand,” COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said in a statement on Saturday.
“This means that from 11:59 pm Sunday 28 November only New Zealand citizens from these countries will be able to come here,” the minister said.
New Zealanders returning from those nine African counties will be required to undergo testing and a 14-day managed isolation period, he said.
The new COVID-19 variant hasn’t entered New Zealand yet, Hipkins said.
Japan
Japan will tighten border controls for the southern African nations of Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia, requiring a 10-day quarantine for any entrants, the Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
The new rules will take effect from midnight and come a day after Japan tightened border controls for those arriving from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Lesotho.
Oman
Oman has suspended entry to travelers from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho and Eswatini starting from Nov 28 due to the spread of the new variant of COVID-19 discovered in South Africa, the country's state news agency said in a tweet on Saturday.
Philippines
The Philippines has immediately suspended flights from South Africa and six other countries until December 15 over concerns about the new coronavirus variant..
Travel restrictions are in effect immediately and also cover Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, and Mozambique, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said in a statement Friday night. Passengers who have visited any of these countries in the 14 days before their arrival will also be temporarily barred from entry, he said.
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In another development, the Philippines has slashed its inoculation target for an ambitious three-day national vaccination push due to a shortage of supplies and other logistical challenges, authorities said on Saturday.
The Southeast Asian nation is facing the region's second-highest COVID-19 infections and deaths, and officials tagged vaccination as key to a sustainable economic recovery in what was one of the region's fastest-growing economies before the pandemic.
Target vaccination output for the Nov 29 to Dec 1 "National Vaccination Days" was cut to nine million from 15 million, the national task force said in a statement. The targeted three million shots a day is nearly four times the country's 829,000 average daily doses for November.
"There is currently a shortage in ancillary supplies, particularly syringes for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines and other logistical challenges," the task force said.
While 95 percent of the capital region's eligible population were already fully vaccinated, barely half of residents in the provinces have completed their inoculation, government data show. The Philippines has so far fully inoculated roughly 35 million or 45 percent of its eligible population.
To achieve its goal of inoculating 54 million Filipinos by year-end, the government will hold another three-day national inoculation event on Dec 15 to 17.
The national vaccination days aim to increase the Philippines' first-dose coverage to 70% from 58% and increase the booster jabs, while the Dec 15 to 17 activities will focus on second doses and boosters.
Since the start of the pandemic, the Philippines has reported 2.83 million infections and 48,017 coronavirus-related deaths, as it remains on alert for Omicron, which the World Health Organization has described as a "variant of concern".
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka said on Saturday it was barring travelers from six Southern African countries on Saturday over concerns about the new Omicron variant of COVID-19.
From Monday, travelers will not be allowed into the country from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini, Colombo said in a statement.
Travelers who arrived from these six countries over the past two days will have to undergo mandatory 14 days quarantine.
South Korea
South Korea reported 4,068 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Friday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 436,968.
The daily caseload was up from 3,901 in the previous day, rising above 4,000 in three days. It marked the country's second-highest daily 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, 1,881 were Seoul residents. The number of the newly infected people living in Gyeonggi province and the western port city of Incheon was 1,105 and 287.
The virus spread also raged in the non-metropolitan region. The number of new infections in the non-capital areas was 772, or 19.1 percent of the total local transmission.
Schoolchildren and their parents wait in an observation area after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination drive for 12 to 18-year-olds with preexisting conditions ahead of the re-opening of schools, at the Vachira Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept. 21, 2021. (ANDREW MALERBA / BLOOMBERG)
Thailand
Thailand will ban arrivals from eight southern African nations from Dec 1 after Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha ordered agencies to step up vigilance against the new Omicron variant.
Arrivals from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe are forbidden from next month, Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Disease Control Department, said during a webcast briefing Saturday afternoon. Any travelers from those countries who had already received approval will be subject to 14 days of quarantine.
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Thailand has yet to detect any infection among arrivals from South Africa, Opas said.
“If there’s any urgent need for the government to adjust control measures against this new variant, I will order agencies to act immediately,” Prayuth said in a Facebook post Saturday morning. “We will closely monitor how this new strain will impact Thailand.”