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)
SYDNEY / HO CHI MINH CITY / BANGKOK / SINGAPORE / JAKARTA / WELLINGTON / KUALA LUMPUR / SEOUL / TOKYO / COLOMBO – The Japanese government is considering appointing its economic revitalization minister to double as vaccination chief, in a bid to accelerate its sluggish COVID-19 booster shot rollout, sources close to the matter said Thursday.
The potential new appointment, which is eyed to happen by the end of March, could see Japan's current vaccination minister Noriko Horiuchi replaced amid staunch criticism from opposition parties and the public about the slow rollout of booster shots ostensibly, which has allowed the Omicron variant of the coronavirus to run rampant nationwide.
The potential appointment of economic revitalization minister Daishiro Yamagiwa into the role is based on his handling of the COVID-19 quasi-state of emergency measures implemented recently.
Horiuchi, a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) faction led by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, took over the role from Taro Kono as vaccination chief last year, while also doubling as minister for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics held last summer, the latter a role that will become defunct in late March.
If she is replaced by Yamagiwa, she will likely be left without a cabinet position, sources close to the matter said.
Shigeyuki Goto, minister of health, labor and welfare, meanwhile, is another candidate being floated for the job of vaccination chief, although some concerns have been expressed about the extra workload this would add to his ministerial duties.
Students wait for their turn to receive their first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Sydney on Aug 9, 2021. (DEAN LEWINS / POOL / AFP)
Australia
As active cases in the state of Western Australia tip past 2,000, the nation's last COVID-19 stronghold has begun to ponder living with the virus as it plans to open its borders from March 3.
WA recorded 617 new cases in the 24 hours till 8:00 pm Wednesday night (1200 GMT). It came after the daily caseload ballooned to 645 cases on Tuesday, almost tripling the 263 cases reported on Monday.
Throughout the pandemic, the state has remained relatively unscathed as it has maintained hard borders to the rest of the country. Currently there are 2,272 active cases in the state, near half of the 5,164 total cases recorded since the start of the pandemic.
Previously, the state's border reopening date had been pushed back "indefinitely" from Feb 5 as the premier cited high transmission of the Omicron variant in Australia's eastern states.
The state's hard border restrictions are set to be lifted to the rest of the country from March 3, when fully vaccinated arrivals will not be required to quarantine.
Meanwhile, New South Wales has decided to scrap mask mandate rules for students at schools while the COVID-19 infections continue to increase in the state.
From Feb 28, masks will no longer be required in high schools for students or staff in NSW. Schools will be able to welcome more visitors onto campuses, including parents, and will resume activities such as assemblies and school camps.
The mandatory mask-wearing requirement will also be lifted for teachers and staff at primary schools and childcare centers from March 7.
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 on Wednesday confirmed 61,488 new COVID-19 cases, raising its tally of infections to 5,350,902, the country's Health Ministry said.
According to the ministry, the death toll from the pandemic in the country rose by 227 to 147,025, while 39,170 more people recovered during the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to 4,632,355.
Malaysia
Malaysia reported 31,199 new COVID-19 infections in the highest daily spike as of midnight Wednesday, bringing the national total to 3,305,157, according to the health ministry.
There are 119 new imported cases, with 31,080 being local transmissions, the ministry's data showed.
A further 55 deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 32,488.
Police and protesters clash in Wellington, New Zealand on Feb 22, 2022, as police tightened a cordon around a protest convoy that has been camped outside Parliament for two weeks. (GEORGE HEARD / NEW ZEALAND HERALD VIA AP)
New Zealand
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was rushed out of a school event in Christchurch on Thursday after protesters opposed to COVID-19 restrictive measures thronged the venue and chased her car, while daily infection numbers hit record levels.
New Zealand reported over 6,000 new cases of COVID-19, with 250 hospitalizations, and the government expects the outbreak to peak in mid-March.
Demonstrations against her leadership that began in the capital, Wellington, have now spread to other parts of the North and South Islands.
In Christchurch, angry protesters surrounded her car as she left a school event, with some chasing the car down a long driveway and screaming abuse about mandates and pandemic restrictions, state broadcaster TVNZ reported.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announces the country will move to red traffic light setting as part of new COVID-19 restrictions during a press conference in Wellington on Jan 23, 2022. (MARK MITCHELL / NEW ZEALAND HERALD VIA AP)
Speaking on the incident later, Ardern said: "I'm choosing not to focus on ultimately what was two people," adding that a majority of New Zealanders agreed with the level of restrictions she imposed to contain Omicron.
Relaxing its pandemic rules, the government announced on Thursday that only individuals confirmed to have COVID-19 and their household contacts would need to isolate. It also said it would make rapid antigen tests (RATS) more widely available.
The changes that start from midnight on Thursday are meant to take pressure off testing and contact tracing services, and also to ensure critical services and supply chains remain operational.
Though the restrictive measures are now being gradually eased, frustration among the public has led to protests.
About 1,000 protesters have occupied the lawn and streets around the parliament building in Wellington for three weeks, calling for an end to vaccine mandates and pandemic restrictions.
Singapore
Singapore reported a new record high of 26,032 confirmed daily cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total tally to 622,293.
Of the new cases, 3,327 cases were detected through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 22,705 through ARTs (antigen rapid tests), according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health.
South Korea
South Korea reported 170,016 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Wednesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 2,499,188, the health authorities said Thursday.
The daily caseload was slightly down from a record high of 171,451 in the previous day, but it stayed above 170,000 for the second straight day, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka's health authorities have urged citizens to get their COVID-19 vaccines as 900,000 locals were yet to receive their doses due to an anti-vaccination movement spreading across the country, local media reported here Thursday.
Epidemiology Unit Director of the Health Ministry, Samitha Ginige quoted in the Daily Mirror said that 17.6 million people above 12 years of age were eligible to get the vaccines in Sri Lanka, but the total number administered with the first dose stood at 16.7 million as of Wednesday.
He said those who were hesitant to take the vaccines were misguided and were believing myths and misconceptions.
Sri Lanka is rolling out the booster shots to all those aged above 20, however, Ginige said over 1.1 million people aged above 60 had not taken the booster despite constant reminder, which was worrying as they were more vulnerable to succumb to COVID-19.
Sri Lanka has, in recent weeks, recorded a rise in COVID-19 infections due to a spread of the Omicron variant with over 1000 new infections being reported daily.
Passengers look at the flight schedule screen at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok on Feb 1, 2022, as Thailand resumes its quarantine free-travel scheme for vaccinated travelers.
(JACK TAYLOR / AFP)
Thailand
Thailand reported on Thursday a record daily increase of 23,557 new coronavirus infections, as the country deals with an outbreak driven by the Omicron variant.
The Southeast Asian country also reported 38 new deaths, according to the country's COVID-19 centre.
The daily death toll from the virus, however, was well below the 184 fatalities reported on Aug 13 last year, when Thailand recorded its previous daily record of 23,418 infections.
Up to now, about 69 percent of people in Thailand have been fully vaccinated, compared with about 12 percent at the end of August.
Despite rising infections, the CCSA said the kingdom would further ease entry requirements for vaccinated inbound visitors next month.
Starting from March 1, vaccinated visitors would not need to undergo the second RT-PCR test, which is previously required on the fifth day of their arrival. Instead, they can do a self-administered antigen test, exempting the requirement for a hotel booking for the test, according to the CCSA.
A man passes walks past a billboard on the coronavirus in Ho Chi Minh City on Dec 4, 2021. (NHAC NGUYEN / AFP)
Vietnam
New COVID-19 infections have been on the rise in Vietnam's southern Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), the country's former pandemic hotspot, in recent days, with Omicron currently the dominant variant here, according to the city's center for disease control (HCDC).
The southern hub recorded 1,356 new infections and 334 cases of hospitalization on Tuesday, both higher than the previous days, but the numbers of severe cases and deaths were still at a low level, the HCDC said in its latest report released Tuesday night.
The city is conducting random sampling to assess the spread of the Omicron variant in the community. Among 92 samples positive with COVID-19 sent for analyzing between Feb. 10 and 17, a total of 70 cases, equivalent to 76 percent, were confirmed to be the Omicron variant.
The latest finding reveals that Omicron has become dominant in the city, which also explains the recent rise in the number of daily infections, read the HCDC report.
As of Tuesday, the city had reported a total of 523,794 COVID-19 infections, with 19,931 deaths, according to official data by the country's Ministry of Health.