A health worker inoculates a woman with a dose of the Covaxin vaccine against the Covid-19 coronavirus at a health center in New Delhi on Oct 21, 2021. (PRAKASH SINGH / AFP)
AMMAN /ANKARA / RAMALLAH – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the G20 leaders in Rome that India was ready to manufacture more than 5 billion vaccine doses by 2022, which will boost the global fight against the pandemic. He also said that it was important for the World Health Organization to “quickly” recognize Indian vaccines in its emergency use authorization list.
India reported 12,830 new infections on Sunday as the total tally for second-worst-hit nation touched 34.3 million cases. COVID-19-related deaths rose by 446 to exceed 458,000 while 6.8 million vaccine doses were administered in a day to push the total to 1.06 billion shots.
Australia
Australia has further loosened its tight border controls, with fully vaccinated tourists arriving from New Zealand permitted to fly there without quarantining starting from late Sunday evening.
Quarantine-free travel will initially be limited to those arriving in New South Wales and Victoria, the two jurisdictions that have scrapped the isolation requirement for vaccinated international travelers.
“Australia’s rapidly increasing vaccination coverage has put us in good stead to take the next steps in reopening our borders to the world,” Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said in a statement.
Easing restrictions for one of its closest neighbors is expected be a major boost for Australia’s tourism sector after strict travel bans were introduced 19 months ago to stem the spread of COVID-19.
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“The resumption of quarantine-free travel from New Zealand to Australia is another important marker on our road to recovery,” Tourism Minister Dan Tehan said Sunday.
Travelers will need to have only been in Australia or New Zealand for 14 days before flying, and they will be required to be fully inoculated with a recognized vaccine and have a negative COVID-19 test three days prior to their flight.
New Zealand on Thursday said its own borders would remain closed to all but returning citizens and residents.
From Monday, vaccinated Australians will be able to travel internationally without an exemption. Inoculated Australian citizens, residents and their families will be able to return without quarantining if they fly into New South Wales or Victoria.
Indonesia
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has proposed setting up a vaccinated travel lane with Australia as he seeks to improve tourism and economic ties between both countries.
Under this arrangement, fully-vaccinated people arriving from Indonesia and Australia will be able to enter without having to undergo quarantine requirements. Indonesia relaxed other travel restrictions in early October such as reducing quarantine periods to five days from eight, and reopened tourist hotspot Bali to foreign visitors.
Jordan
Jordan's Interior Ministry on Saturday said that the guest workers who have not received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines will be deported starting from Dec 15.
The ministry said in a statement that the decision aims to protect public health, noting that prompting expatriates to get vaccinated protects them against future infections and virus transmission.
Students are pictured at a public school in Ain Al-Basha, northwest of Amman, as 2.2 million students in Jordan are back to schools after almost 17 months of learning online due to COVID-19 restrictions, on Sept 1, 2021. (KHALIL MAZRAAWI / AFP)
Guest workers are allowed to receive the doses for free, without the need to present their residency or work permits, it added.
Jordan currently hosts more than 3.5 million guest workers from Syria, Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, Libya and Yemen.
Although the Jordanian Ministry of Health targets to vaccinate about 60 percent of its population, the percentage of vaccinated individuals still has not reached 40 percent, according to official figures.
On Saturday, 12 COVID-19 deaths and 1,022 new infections were recorded in Jordan, bringing the kingdom's death toll to 11,028 and the number of infections to 860,818, the government reported.
Palestine
Palestine on Saturday extended its coronavirus-related state of emergency for another month amid a decrease in COVID-19 cases and fatalities in the Palestinian territories.
In a decree issued by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the state of emergency was extended effective immediately so as to combat the spread of the virus, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.
The state of emergency was first issued in March 2020 after the discovery of the first cases of coronavirus in the Palestinian territories and has been extended or re-declared every month since then.
According to WAFA report, Abbas called on the competent authorities to take all necessary measures to confront the risks resulting from coronavirus, protect public health, and achieve security and stability.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement that Palestine recorded seven fatalities and 210 new COVID-19 cases in the Palestinian territories in the last 24 hours.
The statement said that there has been a significant drop in fatalities and new cases in recent days compared with the last few weeks.
Turkey
Turkey on Saturday confirmed 23,096 new COVID-19 cases, raising its tally of infections to 8,009,040, according to its health ministry.
The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 203 to 70,410, while 28,632 more people recovered in the last 24 hours.
A total of 344,163 tests were conducted over the past day, it said.
A healthcare worker administers a dose of COVID-19 vaccine to a man at Kizilay Square in Ankara, on July 11, 2021. (ADEM ALTAN / AFP)
Turkey started mass COVID-19 vaccination on Jan. 14 after the authorities approved the emergency use of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine.
More than 55.37 million Turkish people have received their first doses of vaccines, while over 48.61 million had their second doses. Turkey has so far administered over 116.21 million doses including the booster jabs.