After 2 years, hermit kingdom Western Australia to open border

Staff check a client at a drive-through COVID-19 testing clinic at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia on Jan 8, 2022. (MARK BAKER / AP)

JAKARTA / SEOUL / SUVA / HANOI / BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN / PHNOM PENH / SINGAPORE / ANKARA / TOKYO / SYDNEY / WELLINGTON – Western Australia, the mining-heavy state that has held firm on strict borders controls for two years, said it will be reopening to triple vaccinated visitors after deciding it can cope with the Omicron outbreak.

Widely labelled the hermit kingdom, Western Australia has stood out for its "hard border", while other Australian states have adjusted their border policies depending on the severity of the pandemic.

By comparison, the country's two most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria that are home to Sydney and Melbourne, relaxed their borders in November.

"We have the right systems in place to deal with the faster spreading Omicron, with the right close contact rules, public health measures and rapid antigen test supplies," Western Australia state Premier Mark McGowan told reporters as he announced a March 3 reopening.

McGowan's tough border stance had proven popular with voters in his home state but a growing number of other state and federal leaders, unions and business groups had expressed concern about the economic impact of isolating Western Australia without a clear end date.

Under Western Australia's current border controls, people have to apply for permission to enter the state from elsewhere in the country, usually based on urgent family or business matters. If granted permission to enter, they are required to do seven days of quarantine and a series of rapid antigen tests – effectively keeping out most travellers.

The decision to reopen came as Western Australia logged a record 194 locally transmitted coronavirus cases, still far lower than most other states which are preparing to welcome overseas arrivals from Monday.

In Sydney and Melbourne, authorities on Friday lifted curbs on singing and dancing in nightclubs as well as most other remaining COVID-19 restrictions amid a steady fall in hospital cases. Mandatory QR check-ins at buildings were also scrapped.

From Feb 25, masks will be needed only on public transport and indoors at airports and hospitals.

More than 23,000 new cases and 38 deaths were reported in the country on Friday. Most of Australia's pandemic total of around 2.7 million confirmed cases have been detected since the emergence of the Omicron variant in late November. Total deaths stand at 4,836.

Workers wearing protective suits spray disinfectant at Suri Seri Begawan Raja Pengiran Anak Damit Mosque in an effort to counter the spread of the COVID-19 in Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei on March 17, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

Brunei

Brunei reported 2,015 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the national tally to 27,599, according to the country's health ministry.

As a country of 420,000 population, Brunei saw its daily cases exceeding the 2,000 mark for the first time on Thursday – also the latest in a series of record-breaking days for infections, after 1,477 cases and 1,125 cases reported on Monday and last Saturday separately in the Southeast Asian country.

The newly recorded cases were all local infections, the country's health ministry said.

The ministry also said earlier that the country is going through the third wave of COVID-19 and the number of cases is expected to increase beyond the total reported during the second wave, with the Omicron variant replacing the Delta variant as the dominant variant.

As of Feb 16, more than 94 percent of Brunei's population have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines, while 49.1 percent have received three doses.

This handout photo taken and released by the Cambodia National Assembly on Oct 25, 2021 shows Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen sits during a parliament session in Phnom Penh. (HANDOUT / CAMBODIA NATIONAL ASSEMBLY / AFP)

Cambodia

Cambodia will begin inoculating children from three to five years old amid a rise in daily cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said on Thursday.

In an audio message released publicly, Hun Sen said since the Omicron hit the kingdom in mid-December last year, over 20 percent of the infected have been children aged five or younger.

He said even his 21st grandchild, aged less than two years old, had also been infected with the Omicron variant.

"So, it's necessary to vaccinate children aged from three to under five years old in order to protect them against the Omicron variant," he said.

Hun Sen advised health authorities nationwide to provide vaccines to the children as soon as possible, and urged parents and legal guardians to bring their kids for the vaccines at their nearest vaccination sites.

The kingdom registered 444 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, 14 of which were imported and all were confirmed to be the Omicron variant.

A worker walks past a mural as he sprays disinfectant amid fears of another wave of the coronavirus outbreak at a low income neighborhood in Jakarta, Indonesia, Feb 5, 2022. (DITA ALANGKARA / AP)

Indonesia

Indonesia has registered more than 5 million cases of COVID-19 since the first case was confirmed in the country in March, 2020.

On Thursday, the country's health ministry reported that the coronavirus cases across the archipelago rose by 63,956 within the past 24 hours to 5,030,002, with the death toll adding by 206 to 145,828.

Indonesia, which has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the Southeast Asia region, is now battling with the third wave triggered by the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

As the country is accelerating its national vaccination programs to curb the spread of the virus, more than 189.06 million people have received their first doses of vaccines, while over 138.28 million have taken the second doses.

Aiming to fully vaccinate 208.2 million people in the country, the government has administered over 335.07 million doses, including the third booster jabs. 

People wearing protective masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walk on the street in snow on Feb 10, 2022, in Tokyo. (EUGENE HOSHIKO / AP)

Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's plan to relax the strictest COVID-19 border controls among wealthy nations has pleased nobody, with businesses and student groups worried it might not be enough while online critics blast his change of tack.

Kishida said on Thursday that from March the number of people allowed to enter Japan will increase to 5,000 a day from 3,500 now, while quarantine would be shortened or eliminated entirely.

Opinion polls have shown widespread public support for the travel curbs, and people on social media expressed dismay over the lifting of the restrictions while infection controls remain in place over much of the country.

An Omicron-fueled wave of cases in Japan has shown signs of peaking out, but fatalities have spiked to records this month, particularly among the vulnerable elderly population, amid a slow roll-out of vaccine booster shots.

"This small easing just makes things murky, they say Omicron has peaked but the number of deaths are rising," a poster named kaz09101 said on Twitter. "Boosters….are not increasing. What the heck can this government actually do?"

With the Omicron coronavirus variant now widespread in Japan, business leaders and some politicians have said the border measures no longer made sense. 

"Japan's reputation as a stable and reliable partner is at stake," said Marcus Schuermann, delegate of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan, citing a survey of member companies that reported losses during the border closure.

Kishida's announcement is a "positive development," he added, but a roadmap on how people will be allowed into the country is still missing.

A Japanese government official told reporters on Friday there was no estimate on how long it would take to let in all the waiting foreign nationals.

Police arrest people protesting against coronavirus mandates at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand on Feb 10, 2022. (MARK MITCHEEL / NZ HERALD VIA AP)

New Zealand

New Zealand police on Friday ruled out forcefully clearing vehicles blocking roads outside parliament in a protest against coronavirus vaccine mandates, saying that would risk "wider harm".

Taking inspiration from truckers' demonstrations in Canada, hundreds of protesters have used vehicles to block several roads around the Beehive, as Wellington's distinctive parliament building is known, for 11 days, and camped out on its front lawn.

"Any enforcement action by police runs a serious risk of much wider harm than the protest is presently creating," Police Commissioner Andrew Coster told a media briefing.

Coster said negotiations and de-escalation were the only safe ways to resolve the protest and he would continue to talk to the protesters. Police say there are about 800 protesters but numbers could rise over the weekend.

Coster said any forceful police action would risk injuries to the public and could turn a largely peaceful protest violent, and could increase the number of protesters.

A country of five million people, New Zealand has reported just over 10,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 53 deaths since the pandemic began. Fuelled by the Omicron variant, New Zealand reported 1,929 new local cases on Friday, up from the previous one-day high of 1,573 on Thursday.

About 94 percent of eligible people are vaccinated, with shots mandatory for some staff in front-line jobs.

The protest began as a stand against vaccine mandates but were later joined by groups calling for an end to all pandemic restrictions.

Singapore

Singapore reported 18,545 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the total tally to 533,425.

Of the new cases, 3,320 cases were detected through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 15,225 through ART (antigen rapid test) tests, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health.

People wearing face masks pass by a poster reminding precautions against the coronavirus at a subway station in Seoul, South Korea on Feb 16, 2022. (AHN YOUNG-JOON / AP)

South Korea

South Korea's new daily COVID-19 cases topped 100,000 for the first time amid an Omicron outbreak, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said on Friday, though deaths have remained relatively low in the highly vaccinated country.

Authorities announced on Friday they would slightly ease a curfew on businesses from 9 pm to 10 pm, but retain other measures such as a six-person cap on private gatherings, a seven-day quarantine for international arrivals, mask mandates in public spaces, and vaccine passes for a range of businesses.

The measures would be in place until at least March 13, officials said, after the March 9 presidential election.

As cases have surged, South Korea has scaled back the tracking, tracing, and quarantining strategy that helped it keep earlier waves in check.

Now people with few or no symptoms are being treated at home rather than health facilities, and only people in priority groups get immediate access to free PCR tests.

Others must first take a rapid antigen test for faster initial diagnosis.

More than 58 percent of the country's 52 million population has received vaccine booster shots. Overall more than 44 million people, accounting for 86.2 percent of the population, are fully vaccinated.

The KDCA said 109,831 new COVID-19 cases had been reported as of midnight on Thursday, bringing the country's total to 1,755,809. An additional 45 deaths were reported, for a total of 7,283.

A woman (center) carries a refilled gas container in the center of the capital Nuku'alofa ahead of the country's first lockdown on Feb 2, 2022, after COVID-19 was detected in the previously virus-free Pacific kingdom as it struggles to recover from the deadly Jan 15 volcanic eruption and tsunami. (MARY LYN FONUA / MATANGI TONGA / AFP)

Tonga

Tonga reported 69 new positive COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the total number of active cases in the South Pacific island nation to 195.

According to Tonga's news website Matangi Tonga Online, Tonga's Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni said the new cases include 30 people in the Hu'atolitoli Prison in Tonga's main island of Tongatapu, 25 among the newly arrived repatriates in the managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ), and 14 in the community.

The majority of the new positive cases have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic.

A man wearing a mask to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 walks along an alley in a commercial area in Istanbul, Turkey on Jan 18, 2022. (FRANCISCO SECO / AP)

Turkey

Turkey said on Thursday that a significant decrease in COVID-19 infections is expected in the next two weeks, as the daily cases have been falling since the beginning of last week.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said that the number of COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant had been highest in the biggest city Istanbul, but now the infections in the city have dropped by 62 percent in the last 10 days.

The situation is similar in other Turkish cities, Koca said in a written statement after a meeting of the coronavirus science board. 

Stating that hospitalizations due to the virus have declined by 28 percent in the last week, Koca said that the health capacity in the country was not strained.

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

Vietnam

Vietnam registered a new record daily number of 36,200 COVID-19 infections on Thursday, an increase of 1,463 from Wednesday, according to its Ministry of Health.

The new infections, including 36,190 domestically transmitted and 10 imported, were logged in 62 localities nationwide.

The Vietnamese capital Hanoi remained the locality with the highest number of infections on Thursday with 3,893 cases, followed by the northern Thai Nguyen province with 2,478 cases and the northern Quang Ninh province with 2,477 cases.

The infections brought the total tally to 2,643,024 with 39,278 deaths.