Israeli boy Itamar, 5, receives a dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Meuhedet Healthcare Services Organisation in Tel Aviv on Nov 22, 2021, as Israel begins ITS vaccination campaign for 5 to 11-year-olds. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)
ANKARA / CANBERRA / HANOI / JAKARTA / SEOUL / SINGAPORE / ULAN BATOR / WELLINGTON / JERUSALEM – Israel, which is totally dependent on imported vaccines, called on Monday for proposals for a locally-based vaccine production facility to provide itself with independent capability to take counter-measures to any new pathogens.
The country is "completely dependent on imported vaccines for any epidemics or pandemics", a government gazette said, adding that proposals for Israeli-based manufacturing on behalf of an international pharmacological company could be considered.
Israel rolled out COVID-19 vaccinations at a world-beating rate and has championed booster shots as a means of staving off resurgences of the virus. In March, it pledged joint production of COVID-19 vaccines with Austria and Denmark.
The gazette described the initiative as a feasibility study by an Israeli inter-ministerial taskforce.
"The purpose .. is to enable the team to examine the possible processes and commercial frameworks for the realization of independent ability to produce vaccines routinely, and the ability to adapt producing vaccines in the future," said Accountant-General Yali Rothenberg, who heads the team.
People walk past a COVID-19 public health order sign for social distancing on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, July 4, 2021. (BRENDON THORNE / BLOOMBERG)
Australia
Australia will allow fully vaccinated eligible visa holders to enter the nation from Dec 1 without needing to apply for a travel exemption.
Eligible visa holders include skilled workers and students, refugee visa holders, temporary working holiday makers and people with provisional family visa holidays. Australia will also allow fully vaccinated citizens from Japan and Korea to enter.
“The return of skilled workers and students to Australia is a major milestone in our pathway back, it’s a major milestone about what Australians have been able to achieve,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
More Australians than ever think they will contract COVID-19 in the short-term future despite the high vaccination rate, a survey has found.
Researchers from Australian National University recently published the latest edition of their study on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic across the country.
The study found that 40 percent of Australians think they are likely or very likely to catch COVID-19 in the next six months
It found that 40 percent of Australians think they are likely or very likely to catch COVID-19 in the next six months — the highest rate during the pandemic.
Nicholas Biddle, the co-author of the study from ANU's Center for Social Research, said fear of infection was four times higher than in April 2021.
Visitors exit the United Arab Emirates pavilion during the opening day of the Expo 2020 exhibition in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Oct 1, 2021. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)
Dubai
The United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a part, has so far avoided a new wave. About 90 percent of its population is fully vaccinated and high-risk individuals are being offered boosters. The economy’s been open for months but new cases have held below 100 a day since October. Deaths are rare, helped by a relatively young population and well-equipped health system.
As infection rates in Europe explode and governments tighten restrictions once more, Dubai’s economy is rebounding faster than expected. Property sales are at decade highs, and streets so choked with traffic it’s hard to find an empty taxi.
“The recovery has been faster than we expected,” said Scott Livermore, chief economist for Oxford Economics Middle East in Dubai, who’s raised his growth forecast by about 1 percentage point to 5 percent for 2021. “Expo has played a role in that but also the success Dubai has had in avoiding a Delta wave that has allowed the domestic economy to pretty much get back to normal.”
India
India is not considering authorizing booster COVID-19 doses yet as many in the country have been naturally infected and the government believes two doses of a vaccine offers sufficient protection for now, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.
As vaccine supplies have increased, some doctors and public health experts in India have urged the government to start a booster program for the most vulnerable like many Western nations have done.
But authorities will instead concentrate on having most of India's 944 million adults complete a two-dose vaccination by January before shifting their focus to a big expansion in exports, said the sources who are involved in vaccine-policy discussions.
So far, 81 percent of India's adults have received at least one dose while 43 percent have had two doses. Vaccination for people under 18 has not yet begun.
"The priority is to fully immunize the adult population," said one of the sources. The sources declined to be named as the matter was still being discussed by policy makers.
"A big majority has been naturally infected, and for them two doses are enough. That's why we are seeing that even after recent festivals, cases are not rising."
The source said that once most adults have had two vaccine doses, the government could make boosters optional.
The health ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
India reported the most COVID-19 case and death figures in the world in April and May and government surveys have shown that nearly 70 percent of Indians were naturally infected by July. The country has so far logged 34.5 million infections – the most after the United States – with more than 465,000 deaths.
Although India celebrated two of its biggest festivals, Diwali and Durga Puja in October and November, infections have fallen to multi-month lows.
Many Western countries are expanding their booster programs, even for people without compromised immunity – a policy which the World Health Organization has heavily criticized.
Indian vaccine companies like the Serum Institute of India, which produces licensed versions of the AstraZeneca and Novavax shots, expect the government to allow boosters some time early next year.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories says it is in talks with India's drug regulator to sell Russia's Sputnik Light as a booster dose.
Indian states had more than 216 million vaccine doses in stock as of early Monday. India's vaccine output has more than tripled since April to around 300 million doses a month.
Indonesia
Indonesia on Sunday confirmed 314 new COVID-19 cases, raising its tally of infections to 4,253,412, according to the country's Health Ministry.
The ministry reported that the death toll from the virus in the country rose by 11 to 143,739, while 331 more people recovered during the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to 4,101,547.
Indonesia started mass COVID-19 vaccinations on Jan 13 after the authorities approved the emergency use of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine.
More than 134.41 million people have received their first doses of vaccines, while over 89.22 million have taken the second doses.
Indonesia has so far administered over 224.84 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including the third booster jabs.
The Indonesian government aims to vaccinate 208.2 million people in the country.
ALSO READ: Indonesia to distribute boosters after 50% of public vaccinated
Iran
Iran’s daily deaths fell below 100 for the first time in more than seven months, the latest health ministry data showed.
The country reported 97 fatalities from the disease over the last 24 hours, the lowest since April 1. The number of cases rose by 5,427 to more than 6 million while the total death toll reached 129,053.
Mongolia
Mongolia reported 509 new local infections of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, raising the national caseload to 378,575, according to a statement by the country's health ministry on Sunday.
More than half of the latest confirmed cases were detected in the capital Ulan Bator, it said.
Meanwhile, the country's COVID-19 death toll increased to 1,867 after seven more patients died in the past day.
So far, around 2.24 million people, or 66 percent of the country's population, have received two COVID-19 vaccine doses, with 561,338 people aged over 18 having got another booster dose.
The health ministry said at least half of the population is supposed to receive a booster.
New Zealand
New Zealand will adopt a new system of living with the coronavirus virus from Dec 3, which will end tough restrictions and allow businesses to operate in its biggest city, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday.
New Zealand remained largely COVID-19 free until August but has been unable to beat an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant, forcing Ardern to abandon an elimination strategy and switch to treating the virus as endemic.
Its biggest city Auckland has been in lockdown for over 90 days, although some measures were eased recently.
The new system adopted by New Zealand will rate regions as red, orange or green depending on their level of exposure to COVID-19 and vaccination rates
"The hard truth is that Delta is here and not going away, but New Zealand is well set to tackle it because of our high vaccination rates and our latest safety measures including the traffic light system and Vaccine Pass," Ardern said in a statement.
The new system will rate regions as red, orange or green depending on their level of exposure to COVID-19 and vaccination rates. Auckland, the epicentre of the Delta outbreak, will start at red, making face masks mandatory and putting limits on gatherings at public places.
Ardern said about 83 percent of eligible New Zealanders are fully vaccinated, while 88 percent have had their first shot.
The government previously said the country would drop lockdown measures and move to the traffic-light system to manage outbreaks after 90 percent of the eligible population was fully vaccinated.
New Zealand reported 205 new Delta variant cases of COVID-19 in the community on Monday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country's community outbreak to 7,054.
Among the new infections, 175 were recorded in the largest city of Auckland, 20 in nearby Waikato, four in Northland, five in Bay of Plenty, and one in the Lakes District Health Board area, according to the Ministry of Health.
New Zealand's largest city Auckland is at COVID-19 Alert Level Three restrictions. The rest of the country is at Alert Level Two restrictions with indoor activities limited to 100 people.
The Philippines
The Philippines on Monday started giving vaccine booster doses to senior citizens.
Anyone who is 60 or older as well as those with weak immune systems, people living with HIV and cancer patients are eligible for a third dose. The Southeast Asian nation has enough shots for these priority groups, which could require up to 8 million doses, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez said. Booster shots were earlier rolled out for health workers.
Department of Health reported 2,227 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total tally to 2,826,410.
The DOH also reported that 175 more people have died from COVID-19 complications in the Southeast Asian country, bringing the coronavirus related death toll to 47,074.
The Philippines, which has around 110 million population, has tested more than 22 million people for COVID-19 since being hit by the pandemic.
Singapore
Singapore health minister says return to strict COVID-19 curbs a last resort
A return to stricter COVID-19 curbs in Singapore will be a "last resort", Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said on Monday, as the city-state partially eased limits on social gatherings and dining out under its calibrated reopening approach.
Ong also said the international travel and tourism hub would continue to open "travel lanes" with more countries for vaccinated visitors.
Singapore is gradually granting small groups of vaccinated people increased liberties, resuming in-person business events and permitting quarantine-free travel from select countries as it ramps up its vaccine booster program.
Singapore has vacillated between tightening and easing restrictions for its population of 5.45 million in recent months as, like many countries, it was hit by a fresh wave of infections fuelled by the Delta variant.
Ong said it was too difficult to put a timeframe on when Singapore would reach a "new normal", but he hoped the country's high vaccination rates and the current roll-out of booster shots meant it would continue to ease restrictions.
Among Singapore’s latest easing measures, limits on social gatherings and dining out were eased from two to five people, still restrictive compared to many other countries.
Singapore reported fewer total cases and community infections were below 2,000 for the fourth straight day as the country moves to relax some restrictions.
The city-state reported 1,670 new cases as of noon on Nov 21, compared to 1,931 a day earlier, according to the Ministry of Health. Community infections were 1,577 with the other 80 found in immigrant worker dormitories. The weekly community infection rate in the city state has stayed below 1 in 18 out of the past 19 days.
Singapore will allow five people from different households to sit together at restaurants from Monday as it also increases the limit on social gatherings to five people from two.
Singapore reported 1,670 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total tally to 252,188.
South Korean students wait for the start of the College Scholastic Ability Test at a high school in Seoul, Nov 18, 2021. (CHUNG SUNG-JUN / POOL PHOTO VIA AP)
South Korea
For the first time since South Korea began battling its coronavirus outbreak in early 2020, all schools across the country resumed full-time in-person classes on Monday.
Widespread testing, intensive contact tracing and tracking apps have enabled South Korea to limit the spread of the virus without the extensive lockdowns seen in other countries, but previous efforts at fully opening schools have been hampered by new waves of infections.
The fully reopened schools come as part of South Korea's "living with COVID-19" plan, adopted after it reached its vaccination goals last month. Overall 78.8 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, though that number drops to 12.8 percent for those ages 12-17.
"It is true that many concerns remain," South Korean education minister Yoo Eun-hye said during a visit to an elementary school in Seoul on Monday.
Even as it eased social distancing amid high vaccination rates, the country has battled some of the highest daily case numbers yet, including a record number of severe cases.
South Korea reported 2,827 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Sunday, down slightly from nearly a week of daily totals over 3,000, including a record high 3,292 new cases on Thursday.
Most worrisome for health officials is an uptick in serious cases requiring hospitalization, which have lingered near record highs of more than 500.
In this file photo taken on Jul 27, 2021, people walk along Istiklal Street, the main shopping street in Istanbul. (MUCAHID YAPICI / AP)
Turkey
The rate of two-dose COVID-19 vaccination among people aged 18 and older has reached 80.5 percent in Turkey, the Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Saturday.
The number of two-dose vaccinated people exceeded 50 million, or 60 percent of the total population in Turkey, Koca tweeted, but warned that this figure is not enough to cope with the pandemic.
More than 56 million people have received their first doses of vaccines, and over 50 million had taken their second doses. Turkey has so far administered 119.27 million doses, including the booster jabs.
Turkey on Sunday reported 21,177 new COVID-19 cases, raising its total tally of infections to 8,571,554, according to its health ministry.
Vietnam
Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh directed local officials to accelerate COVID-19 shots in order to fully vaccinate all adults age 18 and older this year, surpassing the nation’s inoculation target, the cabinet’s news portal reported.
The nation will have enough vaccine doses this month to administer two shots to its entire adult population against the virus by the end of the year, according to the report, which also cited Deputy Premier Vu Duc Dam. Vietnam had targeted fully vaccinating at least half of people age 18 and older by the end of December and 70 percent of its entire population by the end of March, 2022.
Vietnam reported 9,889 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, including 9,882 locally transmitted and seven imported, according to the country's Ministry of Health.
Most of the community cases were detected in southern localities, including 1,265 in Ho Chi Minh City, 683 in Binh Duong province, and 604 in Dong Nai province.
The infections brought the total tally to 1,094,514 with 23,761 deaths, said the ministry. Nationwide, as many as 905,500 COVID-19 patients have so far recovered, up 5,163 from Saturday.
As of Sunday, Vietnam has registered nearly 1,089,000 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases since the start of the current wave in late April, the ministry said.