Gan Kim Yong, Singapore's trade minister, speaks during the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore, on Nov 17, 2021. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)
NEW DELHI / ISTANBUL / ANKARA / TEHRAN / JAKARTA / HANOI / MANILA / NEW DELHI / TOKYO – Singapore officials still need “a few more days” before they can decide whether to relax strict virus curbs that have lasted for nearly two months, Singapore’s trade minister said Friday in a virtual interview on the sidelines of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum.
Asked about the likelihood of restrictions continuing past Nov 21, when they are due to lapse, Singapore Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong replied that “It’s really difficult to say, because it is still too early.” Gan is also a co-chair of the government task force overseeing virus measures in the city-state.
The latest round of COVID-19 curbs were imposed on Sept 27 amid the city-state’s worst virus surge yet, which includes making work from home the default, and capping social gatherings at two. The limits were then extended by a month in October.
However, virus case numbers this week are showing some evidence of slowing.
While daily infections can vary owing to fluctuations in the number of tests run, cases on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday were the lowest levels for each respective day in at least in a month, according to data reported by the Ministry of Health.
There were 113 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units as of Thursday, near the number last seen on Oct 12. Singapore has also moved to increase ICU beds, and the drop in cases plus rise in beds means more than 40 percent of such beds in the city-state are currently unoccupied.
The government began incrementally easing restrictions from last week, such as allowing five people from the same residence to dine at restaurants, and announcing some pilot programs where social distancing measures could be reduced.
“We are hoping that we’ll be able to make some review and see whether there will be opportunity for us to make some adjustments,” Gan told Bloomberg TV’s Haslinda Amin.
This picture taken on Aug 13, 2021, shows residents wearing face masks walking through the quiet streets near a shopping mall in Canberra, Australia during the lockdown. (JAMILA TODERAS / AFP)
Australia
Almost all eligible citizens in Australia’s “Bush Capital” have had at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and it is expected to reach full inoculation next month, a milestone that shows just how fast the nation has overcome a slow start to its vaccination rollout.
Canberra, one of a number of highly vaccinated cities in the Asia-Pacific region, achieved the feat by relying on education and access to get its citizens to embrace the rollout, according to Andrew Barr, the chief minister of the Australian Capital Territory which oversees the city.
Data show the city’s vaccination rate is at 96.8 percent for eligible people aged 12 and over. In terms of first doses, it’s given more than its population size as estimated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Barr says the real figure is likely to be around 99.9 percent, with just a few hundred people remaining unvaccinated. He expects a similar threshold for full inoculation to be reached by mid-December.
Only 14 people in the territory of about 450,000 people, which sits about 286.46 km south of Sydney, have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
A tardy start to Australia’s vaccine roll-out earlier this year saw its inoculation rates trail the US and UK, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison accused of being too slow to sign contracts with vaccine-makers.
Still, New South Wales state – home to Sydney – has reached 91 percent double dose for those 16 and over.
In Victoria, where Melbourne is located, that measure is at 88 percent for those aged 12 and over.
Like Canberra, those cities have removed lockdowns and other restrictions in recent weeks as life in most regions Down Under get back to normal.
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This file photo taken on Nov 17, 2020 shows vials with COVID-19 Vaccine stickers attached and syringes with the logo of US biotech company Novavax. (JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)
India
Local government in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand has announced that it will end all state-wide COVID-19 restrictions.
According to a government directive issued Thursday evening, the order to end restrictions will be enforced from Saturday.
However, the order issued by the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority has made the wearing of masks mandatory in public places, workplaces and public transport.
In another development, India has approved the export of 20 million doses of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India (SII) to Indonesia, according to a government document seen by Reuters and a government source.
The shot, which SII calls Covovax, has an emergency-use authorization in Indonesia but not in India. SII told Reuters last month it could produce up to 100 million Covovax doses by December.
The government has also decided to allow the export of 10 million doses of a licensed version of the AstraZeneca shot made by SII, branded Covishield, to the global vaccine-sharing programme COVAX, two sources said.
Shipments will start next month, one of the sources said, for the first time since April.
One of the sources said the government first wanted to make sure it had enough doses to fully inoculate nearly all of India's 944 million adults, likely by January. The tentative target is to have some 1.7 billion doses in total.
Indonesia
Indonesia on Thursday confirmed 400 new COVID-19 cases, raising its tally of infections to 4,252,345, according to the country's Health Ministry.
The ministry reported that the death toll from the virus in the country rose by 11 to 143,709.
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Iran
The Iranian Health Ministry reported on Thursday 5,882 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's total infections to 6,063,775.
According to a briefing published on the ministry's official website, the pandemic has claimed 128,634 lives in the country so far, after 103 new deaths were registered in the past 24 hours.
Japan
Japan will formally decide Friday to remove an existing spectator cap on attendance at large-scale events and relax rules on food establishments, mostly relating to any future COVID-19 state of emergency, local media reported.
According to the new plan approved by a government panel of experts in the morning, full attendance at venues will be allowed under certain conditions even during future emergency measures, requiring having a system in place to check whether visitors have been vaccinated or hold a negative test result for the virus.
"We will take every possible steps to protect the lives and health of people even under the next wave of infections so people can continue to lead safe and secure everyday lives," said economic revitalization minister Daishiro Yamagiwa, in charge of the government's coronavirus response, at the panel's meeting.
Currently, attendance at large-scale events such as professional sports games and concerts has been capped at 5,000 spectators or 50 percent of venue capacity, whichever is larger. However, such limits would be lifted if event organizers could both check vaccination and test results as well as submit to prefectural governments their own anti-virus plans.
This photo taken on July 17, 2018 shows a Cebu Pacific plane (top) preparing to land past a Philippine Airlines (PAL) plane (right) at Manila International Airport. (TED ALJIBE / AFP)
Philippines
The Philippines has approved a plan to allow entry soon to foreign tourists vaccinated against COVID-19, its tourism ministry said on Friday, following moves by other Southeast Asian countries to relax travel curbs.
The coronavirus task force "approved in principle the entry of fully vaccinated tourists" from countries with low COVID-19 cases, the ministry said, adding that guidelines must be finalised.
The Philippines, known for its diving and thousands of tropical islands, saw an 83 percent drop in foreign arrivals last year, receiving nearly 1.4 million visitors, compared to nearly 8.2 million in 2019. Japan, South Korea and China are its biggest tourism markets.
"Allowing tourists from green countries or territories that have the majority of its population vaccinated and with low infection rate, will greatly help in our recovery efforts," tourism minister, Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, said in the statement.
The Philippines includes on its "green" list of approved countries Japan, China, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and India, among others.
A healthcare worker administers a dose of COVID-19 vaccine to a man at Kizilay Square in Ankara, on July 11, 2021. (ADEM ALTAN / AFP)
Turkey
Over 60 percent of Turkey's population has been vaccinated with at least two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, the Health Ministry's data revealed on Thursday.
Nearly 50 million citizens have taken two doses in the country of 83 million people, the ministry said on its website, adding that more than 11.7 million of them have taken their booster jabs.
Turkey's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca urged citizens on his Twitter account to immediately complete their vaccinations and comply strictly with the COVID-19 rules.
Turkey confirmed 22,234 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, raising its tally of infections to 8,503,220, while yhe death toll from the virus rose by 226 to 74,428.
Vietnam
The Vietnamese capital Hanoi is implementing drastic measures to counter the surge of locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, which have hit records in the past few days.
On Thursday, Hanoi's health authority confirmed 277 new COVID-19 infections in 25 districts, including 114 cases detected in communities outside quarantine zones, the city's highest daily number.
Since early November, Hanoi's total COVID-19 cases have been increasing at a rapid pace, with over 150 new infections reported per day on average.
According to local health authorities, the number of transmissions will keep rising in the coming days due to the existing sources of infection in the community, and many people returning from hotspots without strictly implementing epidemic prevention and control measures.
As a trial, Hanoi has allowed close contacts of COVID-19 patients to be quarantined at home with strict supervision by authorities. The move is said to prepare for more complicated developments that may cause the health system to be overloaded.
Nationwide, Vietnam reported 10,223 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, including 10,209 locally transmitted and 14 imported, according to its Ministry of Health.
Most of the community cases were detected in southern localities. The infections brought the total tally to 1,065,469, with 23,476 deaths, said the ministry