A woman wearing a mask to curb the spread of coronavirus sits inside a bus in Jakarta, Indonesia on May 17, 2022. (DITA ALANGKARA / AP)
SINGAPORE / MANILA / YANGON / ISLAMABAD / HANOI / TOKYO / NEW DELHI / CANBERRA / KUALA LUMPUR / JAKARTA / SEOUL – Indonesia has approved its first domestically-produced COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use for people over 18, the chief of the country's food and drugs agency was quoted by news media as saying on Wednesday.
Bio Farma chief Honesti Basyir said earlier this month that the vaccines were intended to "help reduce the nation's dependency on imported vaccines," adding 80% of Indovac is locally-sourced
The Indovac vaccine has been developed by Indonesia's state-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma and the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
Penny Lukito, the head of BPOM, was cited by news portal CNN Indonesia as saying the approval was "given as a primary vaccine for adults."
Penny and a Bio Farma spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Bio Farma said this month it would produce 20 million doses of the vaccine in 2022 and 100 million doses by 2024. It has also said it has sought a halal certificate – which would make the vaccine permissible under Islam – from relevant authorities.
Indonesia is the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation.
Bio Farma chief Honesti Basyir said earlier this month that the vaccines were intended to "help reduce the nation's dependency on imported vaccines," adding 80% of Indovac is locally-sourced.
Indonesia, which reported one of the highest transmission rates of COVID-19 in the world last year, has used vaccines produced by China's Sinovac Biotech, Pfizer Inc and BioNTech as well as Moderna Inc.
Bio Farma has said it has also sought an emergency use approval from the World Health Organization.
Indonesia is also developing another home-grown vaccine called Inavac.
Australia
An official review of Australia's coronavirus vaccine program has called for continued campaigns to encourage booster uptake.
The review, which was commissioned by the federal government in June, on Tuesday published its report, making eight recommendations including an ongoing booster campaign.
It found that 96 percent of Australians aged 16 and older have received two COVID-19 vaccine doses and 70 percent have received a third.
However, only 40 percent of people who are eligible for a fourth dose have received it.
Jane Halton, the former Department of Health secretary who led the review, said the pandemic still posed a significant threat and that Australia's early success at keeping COVID-19 case and death numbers low "is beginning to wane."
"The need to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 is likely to remain," she said in the report.
"It is not possible to accurately predict the further evolution of the virus and Australia is likely to continue to be challenged, at least in the short term, by emerging variants and new waves of disease."
Australia has spent 8 billion Australian dollars ($5.14 billion) on vaccines.
India
India's daily COVID-19 caseload Wednesday increased to 3,615, officials said.
According to federal health ministry data, 3,615 new cases of COVID-19 were reported during the past 24 hours, taking the total tally to 44,579,088 in the country.
The country also logged 22 related deaths during the past 24 hours, pushing the overall death toll to 528,584 since the beginning of the pandemic, the ministry said.
According to the health ministry, the cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage in the country has exceeded 2 billion doses.
The Indian government is focusing on improving booster dose coverage as the uptake for the third dose has been low.
Japan
Isao Teshirogi, President and CEO at Shionogi & Co Ltd, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tokyo, Japan June 11, 2019. (ISSEI KATO / REUTERS)
Japan's Shionogi & Co Ltd said on Wednesday its oral treatment for COVID-19 demonstrated a significant reduction in symptoms compared with a placebo in a Phase III trial in Asia.
The drug, a protease inhibitor known as ensitrelvir, met its primary endpoint in a trial conducted among predominantly vaccinated patients with mild to moderate cases of COVID-19, the company said in a statement.
Ensitrelvir met the trial's goal in reducing five key symptoms of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 within 72 hours of onset, the company said.
Regulatory authorities in Japan previously denied emergency approval for use of the pill, saying they wanted to see more data on its effectiveness. There are also concerns the drug could pose risk to pregnancies, based on results from animal studies.
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Shionogi said it has shared top-line data from the Phase III study with Japanese regulators as part of deliberations on approval of the drug.
Shionogi has global aspirations for the drug, also known as S-217622 and by the brand name Xocova, which would compete with COVID-19 pills from Pfizer Inc and Merck & Co Inc that have already been approved in Japan and elsewhere.
The company has signed an agreement to sell about a million doses to the government, pending the drug's approval.
Chief Executive Isao Teshirogi has said annual production of the drug could reach 10 million doses. The firm has received US government support for a global Phase III trial.
Malaysia
Malaysia reported 1,552 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Tuesday, bringing the national total to 4,834,560, according to the health ministry.
There are five new imported cases, with 1,547 cases being local transmissions, data released on the ministry's website showed. Another six deaths have been reported, pushing the death toll to 36,363.
The country reported 86 percent of its population have received at least one dose, 84.2 percent are fully vaccinated and 49.7 percent have received the first booster and 1.5 percent have received the second booster.
Myanmar
Myanmar confirmed 356 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the tally to 622,042, according to the Ministry of Health on Tuesday.
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The death toll from COVID-19 in the country remained unchanged at 19,455 on Tuesday as no new deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, the ministry said.
Pakistan
Pakistan recorded 78 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the country's ministry of health said on Wednesday.
The overall tally of the infected people climbed to 1,572,493 with the fresh cases, according to the data released by the ministry.
A total of 30,612 people died of COVID-19 in Pakistan, with no new death for the fourth day in a row in the country, according to the ministry.
Republic of Korea
South Korea reported 36,159 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Tuesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections in the country to 24,709,789, the health authorities said Wednesday.
The daily caseload was down from 39,425 in the previous day and lower than 41,269 tallied a week earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
For the past week, the daily average number of confirmed cases was 29,569.
Among the new cases, 379 were imported from overseas, lifting the total to 66,720.
Forty-six more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 28,318. The total fatality rate was 0.11 percent.
Singapore
People wear face masks while shopping for groceries at a supermarket in Singapore on May 14, 2021. (ZEN SOO / AP)
Singapore reported 4,360 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total tally to 1,897,307.
Of the new cases, 269 cases were detected through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 4,091 through ART (antigen rapid test) tests, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health.
Among the PCR cases, 255 were local transmissions and 14 were imported cases. Among the ART cases with mild symptoms and assessed to be of low risk, there were 3,811 local transmissions and 280 imported cases, respectively.
Two deaths were reported from COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total death toll to 1,617, the ministry said.
The Philippines
The Philippines reported 1,555 new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 3,941,656.
The Department of Health said the number of active cases rose to 38,315, while 30 more patients died from COVID-19 complications, pushing the country's death toll to 62,849.
READ MORE: COVID: Philippine capital back to moderate risk
The country, with a population of around 110 million, has fully vaccinated over 73 million people.
Vietnam
Passengers wait to board a flight at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam on Oct 15, 2021. (HAU DINH / AP)
Vietnam recorded 1,585 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, up by 153 from Monday, according to its ministry of health.
All the new cases were locally transmitted, said the health ministry.
The newly reported infections brought the total tally to 11,475,321. The country reported a new death from the pandemic in the southern city of Can Tho on Tuesday, bringing the total fatalities to 43,147.
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As of Tuesday, there were 118 severe cases in need of assisted breathing in the Southeast Asian country, according to the ministry.
The country is accelerating the inoculation of its people with a fourth vaccine dose.