A clinician prepares a dose of a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a temporary vaccination center set up inside St John's Church in west London on Dec 4, 2021. (DANIEL LEAL / AFP)
ANKARA / PHNOM PENH / RAMALLAH / SEOUL / SYDNEY / TEHRAN / TOKYO / ULAN BATOR / WELLINGTON – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he had spoken with the head of Pfizer Inc on Friday to secure oral treatments for COVID-19, and that vaccine boosters for the elderly would be accelerated as concerns swirl about variants.
Kishida told reporters he had arranged to secure 2 million doses of Pfizer's antiviral pillin a call with CEO Albert Bourla.
Japan will aim to get boosters to about 31 million healthcare workers and high-risk elderly people within six months from their initial inoculation instead of eight, Kishida said. From February, other elderly people will get boosters within seven months, he said.
Although COVID-19 cases have fallen dramatically since a deadly wave in August, there is growing concern about the Omicron variant, which has been found more than 30 times in Japan, mostly during airport screening and quarantine.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government confirmed on Friday thata man in his 20s who had attended a soccer match near the capital was found positive for Omicron. A cluster of 70 coronavirus cases has been found at a US military base in the southern island prefecture of Okinawa, local media reported.
Japan has contracted to receive 120 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine next year and had about 16 million in stock as of this month.
In this photo, diners are seen at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia on Dec 15, 2021. (BIANCA DE MARCHI / AAP IMAGE VIA AP)
Australia
As the Australian state of Queensland grappled with an outbreak of COVID-19 after borders reopening, authorities reintroduced restrictions around the state.
Queensland health authorities reported 20 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, four of which were acquired overseas
Queensland health authorities reported 20 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, four of which were acquired overseas. Seven people infected interstate, and nine contracted in the community.
The restrictive measure came after Australia opened its borders to international travelers on Wednesday and the state reopened to interstate travelers from New South Wales and Victoria, which are epicenters of the current outbreak in the country.
NSW on Friday reported 2,213 new COVID-19 cases and one death, the highest daily increase since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country early 2020, while Victoria reported 1,510 new cases and seven deaths.
In response to the surging cases, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced that from 1:00 pm local time on Saturday, masks will be mandatory across the state in locations including public transport, ride share, airports and planes, shops and retail centers, hospitals and aged care.
Unvaccinated people will also be unable to visit vulnerable settings from Friday, including hospitals, residential aged care, or any festivals and entertainment activities, either indoor or outdoor.
Cambodia
Cambodia's death toll from COVID-19 has risen to 3,001 on Friday after three new fatalities were reported in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
The kingdom also confirmed eight new infections, lifting the national total caseload to 120,405, the MoH said, adding that additional 12 patients recovered, taking the total number of recoveries to 116,771.
The southeast Asian nation launched a COVID-19 inoculation drive in February, with China being the key vaccine supplier, and most of the jabs used in the kingdom's immunization program are China's Sinovac and Sinopharm.
MoH secretary of state and spokeswoman Or Vandine said the country had so far administered at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines to 14.22 million people, or 88.88 percent of its 16-million population.
Iran
Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education on Thursday reported 2,500 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's total infection to 6,165,454.
The pandemic also claimed 63 lives in the past 24 hours, taking the overall tally, since its outbreak in February 2020, to 130,946, said the update by the ministry.
A total of 5,990,898 people have recovered from the disease or been discharged from hospitals across the country, while 2,975 remain in intensive care units, according to the ministry.
By Thursday, 58,976,573 Iranians have received their first doses of COVID-19 vaccines, and 49,989,114 of them have taken two jabs. Meanwhile, 3,307,997 people in the country have received the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Mongolia
Mongolia's Health Ministry reported on Friday that no COVID-19 related deaths have been recorded in the country over the past 24 hours for the first time since Apr 4.
So far, the viral disease has claimed a total of 1,968 lives since its first case was confirmed in March last year, according to the ministry.
Meanwhile, 262 new COVID-19 cases have been reported across the country in the past day, bringing the national tally to 387,708, the ministry said.
There are now 7,294 active COVID-19 cases in the country, and over 4,700 of them are receiving home-based care, according to the ministry.
New Zealand
New Zealand reported 74 new Delta variant cases of COVID-19 in the community on Wednesday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country's current community outbreak to 9,963.
Among the new infections, 56 were recorded in the largest city of Auckland, nine in nearby Waikato, seven in Bay of Plenty, one in Canterbury, and one in the Lakes District Health Board, according to the Ministry of Health.
The ministry also confirmed that a patient with COVID-19 died in Tauranga.
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in New Zealand stands at 12,773 currently, according to the health ministry.
Wednesday is the first day since mid-August that Auckland borders are open and people who are fully vaccinated and have a negative COVID-19 test in the past 72 hours are allowed to travel into or out of the city, a step to further relax the COVID-19 restrictions in New Zealand.
Palestinians
The Palestinian health ministry said on Thursday that it had identified the first cases of the COVID-19 Omicron variant in territory under its jurisdiction in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Three cases were detected, and all were individuals who had recently returned to the West Bank from abroad, health ministry spokesman Kamal Al-Shakhrah said in a statement.
People wearing face masks ride on a mass rapid transit train in Singapore on Nov 5, 2021. (ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP)
Singapore
Singapore reported 355 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the total tally in the country to 274,972.
Of the new cases, 315 were in the community, nine were in migrant worker dormitories and 31 were imported cases, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health.
A total of 504 cases are currently warded in hospitals, with 30 cases being critically ill in the intensive care units. The current overall ICU utilization rate is 45.7 percent.
South Korea
South Korea's finance minister said on Friday the government will prepare a new 4.3 trillion won ($3.6 billion) stimulus package to help support small-sized and self-employed businesses hurt by the reimposition of tougher COVID-19 curbs.
Of the total package, some 3.2 trillion won would be allocated to provide 1 million won each to 3.2 million small business owners that experienced a decrease in sales.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported 7,435 cases for Thursday, near the record daily count of 7,850 earlier this week.
Friday's stimulus package comes weeks after the parliament approved a record 607.7 trillion won budget for 2022 to support a swifter economic recovery and help those hit by the pandemic.
Turkey
Turkey on Thursday reported 18,100 new COVID-19 cases, raising its total tally of infections to 9,118,424, according to its health ministry.
The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 167 to 79,863, while 25,664 more people recovered in the last 24 hours.
A total of 354,003 tests were conducted over the past day, the ministry said.
People buy food at an open air market in Ankara, Turkey, Dec 12, 2021. (BURHAN OZBLICI / AP)
The United Nation
In 2020, COVID-19 exacerbated food insecurity for around 54 million people living in the vast Asia-Pacific region, according to a joint UN agency report published on Wednesday.
The Food and Agriculture Organization and UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) 2021 Asia and the Pacific Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition pointed out that as hunger increased, so too did access to sufficiently nutritious food.
In total, more than 375 million people faced hunger in the region in 2020, up from around 321 million in 2019.
The pandemic worsened hunger and poor nutrition levels in Asia and the Pacific dramatically, UNICEF and FAO said, adding that even countries that initially reported a limited number of cases suffered the negative effects of containment measures.
The number of undernourished stalled in recent years, as seen in children under the age of five – more of whom were suffering from stunting.
"While it is not yet possible to fully quantify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, clearly it has had a serious impact across the region," FAO Assistant Director General and Regional Representative Jong-Jin Kim and UNICEF acting Regional Director for East Asia and the Pacific Marcoluigi Corsi said in the foreword.
"Even countries that initially reported a limited number of COVID-19 cases experienced the negative effects of the containment measures, combined with people's health concerns, that led to a major contraction of economic activity around the globe," they said.