Health workers collect nasal swabs from local residents for coronavirus testing at a market in Bangkok, Thailand, June 11, 2021. (SAKCHAI LALIT / AP)
SYDNEY / SUVA / TOKYO / BISHKEK / NEW DELHI / TEHRAN / KUWAIT CITY / VIENTIANE / YANGON / ULAN BATOR / WELLINGTON / ISLAMABAD / ANKARA / SEOUL / PHNOM PENH / MANILA / JAKARTA / TEHRAN / DHAKA / KABUL – Thailand plans to fully reopen to foreign visitors in 120 days and give at least one dose of vaccine to the majority of residents by Oct 1 to revive the tourism-reliant nation’s economy, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said.
Some tourist destinations should be ready for fully vaccinated visitors without any quarantine requirement sooner than the wider reopening, with Phuket as the “pilot,” Prayut said in prepared comments for a national address on Wednesday. The country aims to vaccinate 10 million people a month from July and has ordered 105.5 million doses of vaccines, more than the country needs, he said.
He said the risk was necessary and the country could not afford to wait to complete all of its vaccinations and for the spread of the virus to halt.
The country will start with a pilot reopening from July 1 on its most popular island, Phuket, which has been vaccinating most of its local population.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan on Wednesday reported 94 more deaths from COVID-19 for the first time, taking the coronavirus toll to 3,842 in the country, the Ministry of Public Health said.
The ministry also reported 1,722 new cases, bringing the tally to 96,531.
Another 391 recovered patients were discharged from hospitals, according to the ministry.
Pedestrian walk through the streets of the central business district of Sydney on June 15, 2021. (SAEED KHAN / AFP)
Australia
Australia’s most populous city Sydney has recorded its first locally acquired case of COVID-19 in more than a month, stoking concerns of a fresh wave of infections on Wednesday.
New South Wales (NSW) state said it is not clear how the unnamed man in his 60s acquired the virus, but he was a driver who occasionally transported overseas airline crew.
While authorities urgently try and determine the source of the infection, NSW warned the unnamed man went to the cinema and more than a dozen cafes and shops in Sydney's eastern suburbs, which include Bondi Beach, while potentially infectious.
Australia’s second largest city will allow its five millions residents to travel more than 25 kms from home and end mandatory masks wearing outdoors from Friday, despite the city fighting a stubborn COVID-19 outbreak.
Melbourne exited a two-week hard lockdown late last week, its fourth since the pandemic began, after an outbreak that has seen about 100 cases since May 24.
"Victoria is at its best when we are all together … the state will come back together from tomorrow night", Victoria state Acting Premier James Merlino told reporters on Wednesday.
Although cases linked to a fresh cluster in a residential townhouse complex rose slightly on Wednesday, Melbourne will gradually ease restrictions.
Public gatherings will increased to 20 people while the ban on home gatherings will be lifted. Gyms can open across Melbourne but must comply to strict distancing rules and salon services can operate without masks during service.
Victoria reported five new local cases on Wednesday, all linked to the townhouse cluster, taking total infections there to eight. Wednesday's data includes two cases announced on Tuesday which were recorded after the midnight cut-off deadline.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh reported 3,956 new COVID-19 cases and 60 more deaths, the highest daily toll since May 4, taking the cumulative caseload to 837,247 with 13,282 fatalities, according to health authorities on Wednesday.
The total number of patients who have recovered stood at 773,752 after 2,679 new recoveries were reported on Wednesday, said the DGHS.
Cambodia
Cambodia's COVID-19 case tally rose to 40,157 on Wednesday after 693 new cases were reported across the country in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
Seven more fatalities were confirmed, taking the death toll to 368, the ministry said, adding that 754 more patients have recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 34,325.
To date, some 3.07 million out of the 10-million targeted adult population have received the first COVID-19 vaccine dose, MoH's secretary of state and spokeswoman Or Vandine said, adding that 2.6 million of them have been fully vaccinated with both shots.
Fiji
Fiji reported the fifth death from COVID-19 while the Ministry of Health Wednesday pleaded with the public to adhere to the protocols as the country moves into day 59 of the second COVID-19 wave.
The deceased was a 73-year-old patient who tested positive 12 days ago after he was admitted at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva, capital of Fiji, for almost a month for a severe non-COVID related illness.
A total of 116 new COVID-19 cases with one death were recorded in the last 24 hours. Of the 116 new cases, 93 are connected to existing clusters.
India
India's COVID-19 tally rose to 29,633,105 on Wednesday, with as many as 62,224 new cases recorded in the past 24 hours, said the health ministry.
Besides, 2,542 COVID-19 patients died since Tuesday morning, taking the death toll to 379,573.
This was the ninth consecutive day when less than 100,000 cases were registered across the country, after peaking to over 400,000 for several days in April-May which is the pandemic's second wave in India.
India's vaccine maker Serum Institute of India (SII) hopes to launch its second COVID-19 vaccine, Covovax, in the country in September, local media reported Wednesday.
The new vaccine is being developed in partnership with US vaccine developer Novavax, according to local television business news channel CNBC-TV18, which added that the information was shared by SII's Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla during an interview.
At present, the trials for the vaccine are in an advanced stage of completion.
The pharma company is also planning to start clinical trials of Covovax for children in July.
Indonesia
The Indonesian government has temporarily closed houses of worship in areas with high risk of COVID-19 transmission, or red zones, amid surging cases, Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas said on Wednesday.
The minister said the rule will be in place until local administrations declare that their areas are safe from COVID-19.
Worship activities in religious edifices outside the red zones are still allowed only for local residents under strict health protocols, Qoumas added.
Indonesia on Wednesday recorded 9,944 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, marking the highest daily increase since Feb 22 and bringing the total tally to 1,937,652, the health ministry said.
The death toll rose by 196 to 53,476, the ministry said.
Iran
Iran on Wednesday reported 10,487 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's caseload to 3,060,135.
The death toll went up by 129 to 82,480, the Ministry of Health and Medical Education said.
A total of 2,696,434 people have recovered from the disease or been discharged from hospitals across the country, while 3,346 remain in intensive care units, according to the ministry.
By Wednesday, 4,364,228 people have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine while 878,694 have received both doses.
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Japan
Osaka will ask the Japanese government to keep a quasi-state of coronavirus emergency should the current state of emergency be lifted on June 20, the governor of the country’s major western prefecture said on Wednesday.
Although fresh cases are declining, the prefecture should prevent the virus infection from “rebounding”, Osaka governor Hirofumi Yoshimura told reporters.
Japan is slated to start inoculating people aged between 18 and 64 at state-run mass COVID-19 vaccination centers on Thursday, the government said Tuesday.
Established last month by the Defense Ministry, the centers in Tokyo and Osaka originally gave shots to people aged 65 and older living in seven prefectures in the metropolitan and Kansai areas.
The ministry expanded the scope last week to accept people from nationwide and also decided Tuesday to remove the age restrictions in an effort to speed up vaccination.
The ministry said it will start accepting reservation requests for vacant slots available at the venues from midnight Tuesday.
The centers, which can inoculate up to 10,000 people a day in Tokyo and 5,000 at the Osaka venue, will vaccinate people with US pharmaceutical company Moderna Inc's two-dose vaccine.
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan reported on Wednesday 647 new COVID-19 cases, raising the national tally of infections to 111,990.
According to the Republican Headquarters for Combating COVID-19, total recoveries reached 103,565 after 308 more recoveries were reported in the past 24 hours, while the death toll from the virus rose to 1,912.
Kuwait
Kuwait registered on Tuesday 1,487 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total infections in the country to 331,013, the Kuwaiti Health Ministry reported.
The ministry also announced three more fatalities, taking the death toll in Kuwait to 1,831, while the tally of recoveries rose by 1,291 to 312,850.
Lao
Lao health authorities are rolling out the second round of vaccination program, aiming to immunize hundreds of thousands of people against COVID-19.
Inoculations of the first doses of Pfizer vaccine and Sinopharm vaccine began on Tuesday.
The second doses will be given 21-28 days later, local daily Vientiane Times on Wednesday quoted Phonepaseuth Ounaphom, director general of the Department of Hygiene and Health Promotion under the Lao Ministry of Health, as saying.
The Pfizer vaccine is provided by the World Health Organization-led COVAX Facility.
A new batch of Sinopharm vaccine provided by the Chinese government arrived in Laos on Monday.
Maldives
The Indian Ocean nation of Maldives eased a curfew in its capital, as new coronavirus infections continued to decline. Residents, who’d previously been confined to their homes for 16 hours a day, will be allowed out between 4 am and 8 am to exercise as of Wednesday and from 8 am to 4 pm provided they get a household permit or special police authorization, according to the state news agency Public Service Media News. Maldives, a country of roughly 540,000, has about 8,155 active COVID-19 cases.
Volunteers wearing protective suits bury the body of a COVID-19 coronavirus victim at the Raudhatul Sakinah Muslim cemetery in Kuala Lumpur on June 15, 2021. (MOHD RASFAN / AFP)
Malaysia
Malaysia's King Al-Sultan Abdullah said on Wednesday the country's parliament should reconvene as soon as possible, to allow emergency ordinances and a coronavirus recovery plan to be debated by lawmakers.
The king's remarks come a day after Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said parliament could reopen by September at the earliest, providing that the average number of daily coronavirus infections fall below 2,000.
The king in a statement on Wednesday said parliament plays an important role in discussing steps taken by the government to deal with the health and economic crises caused by the coronavirus.
The king also stressed on the need for a "stable and secure government administration" capable of effectively handling the epidemic and restoring the economy.
Malaysia on Wednesday reported 5,150 new COVID-19 infection, the health ministry said, bringing the total to 673,026.
The death toll went up by 73 to 4,142.
Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said earlier in the day that China had agreed to contribute 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines made by its drugmaker Sinovac BioTech to the Southeast Asian country.
Mongolia
Mongolia reported 2,395 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the highest daily count since the start of the pandemic
the country's health ministry said Wednesday.
This is the seventh straight day of record new infections, bringing the national tally to 83,128, the ministry said.
Of the latest confirmed cases, 561 are children aged 17 or under, the ministry said, urging citizens to avoid crowded places and maintain good personal hygiene habits to keep themselves and their loved ones safe.
Meanwhile, nine fatalities and 827 recoveries from the coronavirus were reported in the past day, taking the national counts to 403 and 58,649 respectively, the ministry said.
Myanmar
Myanmar reported 355 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the tally to 146,406 on Wednesday, according to a release from the Health and Sports Ministry.
The death toll rose to 3,250 after two more COVID-19 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, according to the release.
An additional 112 patients have been discharged from hospitals, bringing the number of recoveries to 133,216.
Myanmar has recently detected 11 cases of COVID-19 variants for the first time, according to a release issued by the ministry on Tuesday.
Two cases of Alpha variant, five cases of Delta variant and four cases of Kappa variant were found in Kale and Tamu towns of Sagaing region, Myiek town of Taninthayi region and Mandalay and Yangon regions after samples were tested on June 3, according to the release.
New Zealand
New Zealand reported two new cases of COVID-19 in managed isolation and no new cases in the community on Wednesday.
The two newly imported cases came from the Philippines and the United States, and they have remained in managed isolation and quarantine facilities in Christchurch and Auckland, respectively, according to the Ministry of Health.
The seven-day rolling average of new cases detected at the border is two, said a ministry statement.
The total number of confirmed cases is 2,355, and the total number of active cases in New Zealand today is 23, it said.
Pakistan
Pakistan on Tuesday confirmed 1,038 new COVID-19 cases, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said Wednesday.
The NCOC, a department leading Pakistan's campaign against the pandemic, said that the country's number of overall cases has risen to 944,065, including 882,332 recoveries.
There are 39,905 active cases under treatment across the country, including 2,490 in critical condition.
According to the NCOC, the pandemic killed 46 people on Tuesday, raising the overall death toll to 21,828.
This photograph taken on June 14, 2021 shows motorists driving along the central expressway in Singapore. (ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP)
Singapore
Singaporean authorities found 14 new locally-transmitted coronavirus cases on Tuesday, including five untraceable infections, potentially threatening the easing of restrictions pegged to June 21.
Singapore has been pursuing a strategy of aggressively testing and quickly ring-fencing clusters as it moves toward a loosening of restrictions. Over the weekend, a spike in cases from a shopping mall and food center prompted government officials to shut down the locations as well as test and quarantine staff and tenants.
The government loosened restrictions on gatherings as of Monday and is slated to resume dining-in at restaurants and the opening of fitness classes from June 21.
South Korea
South Korea has inoculated 25 percent of its population with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine two weeks ahead of schedule, authorities said on Wednesday, putting the country on track to meet a target of 70 percent by September.
The milestone follows a stepped-up drive that injected a daily average of 650,000 doses, rising to a record 850,000 on one day, boosted by increased supply and people’s growing willingness in the wake of a slow start with limited supplies.
“With active participation and smooth vaccination, we expect to reach the first-dose vaccination for 36 million people by September,” health ministry official Yoon Tae-ho told a briefing.
South Korea reported 545 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Tuesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 149,191.
Of the new cases, 199 were Seoul residents and 184 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.
Twenty-three cases were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 9,413.
One more death was confirmed, leaving the death toll at 1,993. The total fatality rate stood at 1.34 percent.
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The Philippines
The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported Wednesday 5,414 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the caseload to 1,332,832.
The death toll climbed to 23,121 after 158 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH said.
The Philippines' labor minister said on the same day he will ask for government approval to allow 5,000 more healthcare workers to be deployed abroad, double the annual cap in a country that is one of the world's biggest sources of nurses.
Turkey
Turkey on Tuesday expanded its COVID-19 vaccination campaign to cover its workers and civil servants registered with the state-run Social Security Institution.
Turkey on Tuesday reported 5,955 new COVID-19 cases, including 532 symptomatic patients, raising the total number of cases in the country to 5,342,028, according to the Turkish Health Ministry.
The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 84 to 48,879, while the total recoveries climbed to 5,211,022 after 4,186 more people recovered in the last 24 hours, it said.