COVID-19: Australian police urge protesters to leave capital

Police stand guard as people take part in a rally against COVID-19 coronavirus vaccinations, outside the main gates at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on Jan 22, 2022. (MARTIN
KEEP / AFP)

KUALA LUMPUR / GAZA  / SINGAPORE / HANOI / SEOUL – Australian police have given thousands of protesters until the end of Sunday to leave occupied areas of the country’s capital, as days-long rallies continue against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Several thousand protesters remained in place at Canberra's major showgrounds, while fewer than 100 demonstrators were gathered near the federal parliament building, an Australian Capital Territory police spokesperson told Reuters.

No protesters in Canberra had been arrested so far on Sunday after three were detained on Saturday.

Meanwhile, in New Zealand's Wellington, demonstrators protesting COVID-19 mandates gathered for a sixth day, despite heavy rain and strong winds lashing the city.

The storm on Sunday moved across New Zealand's North Island, causing heavy rain and gale-force winds in many parts, the country's weather bureau said on its website.

Anti-vaccine protests remain relatively small in highly vaccinated New Zealand and Australia, where most people support inoculations.

Australia logged 22,750 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, while the number of new cases in New Zealand almost doubled to a daily record of 810.

Malyasia

Malaysia reported 22,802 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Saturday, bringing the national total to 3,019,163, according to the health ministry.

A further 15 deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 32,114

There are 94 new imported cases and 22,708 local transmissions, data released on the ministry's website showed.

A further 15 deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 32,114.

The ministry reported 5,442 new recoveries, bringing the total number of cured and discharged to 2,846,713.

There are 140,336 active cases, 176 are being held in intensive care units and 98 of those are in need of assisted breathing.

The country administered a total of 142,800 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines on Saturday, and 80.3 percent of the population have received at least one dose, 78.8 percent have been fully vaccinated and 40.3 percent have received boosters.

People, wearing face masks as a preventive measure against the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus, walk past a closed retail mall along the Orchard Road shopping belt in Singapore on May 6, 2020. (ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP)

Singapore

Singapore reported 10,505 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, bringing the total tally to 460,075.

Of the new cases, 2,687 cases were detected through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 7,818 through ART (antigen rapid test) tests, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health.

Among the PCR cases, 2,549 were local transmissions and 138 were imported cases. Among the ART cases with mild symptoms and assessed to be of low risk, there were 7,776 local transmissions and 42 imported cases, respectively.

A total of 1,206 cases are currently warded in hospitals, with 22 cases in intensive care units.
Eight more patients have died from complications due to COVID-19 infection, bringing the death toll to 893, the MOH said.

A man waits to get coronavirus testing at a makeshift testing site in Seoul, South Korea on July 16, 2021. (AHN YOUNG-JOON / AP)

South Korea

South Korea's daily number of COVID-19 cases hit a record high amid the spread of the Omicron variant, the health authorities said Sunday.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country reported 56,431 more cases of COVID-19 for the past 24 hours, raising the total number of infections to 1,350,630.

The daily caseload was up from 54,941 in the previous day, hovering above 50,000 for the fourth consecutive day.

The recent resurgence was driven by infections in the Seoul metropolitan area amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, which became a dominant strain here.

Of the new cases, 11,777 were Seoul residents. The number of newly infected people living in Gyeonggi province and the western port city of Incheon was 17,065 and 4,469 respectively.

United Arab Emirates 

A new field hospital financed by the United Arab Emirates treating coronavirus patients was inaugurated on Saturday in the southern Gaza Strip, according to health officials

A new field hospital financed by the United Arab Emirates treating coronavirus patients was inaugurated on Saturday in the southern Gaza Strip, according to health officials.

Yousef Abu al-Reesh, the undersecretary of the Hamas-controlled health authority in Gaza, told reporters that the hospital was named after Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi of the UAE.

He added that the field hospital, built on eight dunums at the European Hospital in Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip, includes 216 beds, 56 of which are designated for critical and severe cases.

The opening of the hospital came as officials warned that there are obstacles facing the health ministry in Gaza to combat the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

"Opening the hospital shows part of the ongoing UAE support," Abu al-Reesh said, adding that the UAE had previously donated an oxygen station, ambulances, vaccines, and medicines to Gaza.

According to Jawad al-Tibi, director of the supervision committee to build the hospital, the Emirati field hospital comprises three Oxygen generation stations, electric generators, and medical equipment.

On Saturday, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported 13 fatalities and 1,871 new COVID-19 cases in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, adding that 5,979 recoveries were recorded.

Vietnam

Vietnam will remove its COVID-19 restrictions on international passenger flights with all markets starting Feb. 15, with no limitation on the number of flights, the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper reported on Sunday.

The Southeast Asian country imposed tight border controls at the start of the pandemic to keep out COVID-19, with some initial success, but that dealt a blow to its burgeoning tourism sector which accounted for about 10% of gross domestic product.