In this photo released by the Press Information Department, newly elected Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif addresses during the National Assembly session, in Islamabad, Pakistan on April 11, 2022. (PRESS INFORMATION DEPARTMENT VIA AP)
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN / YANGON / SINGAPORE / HANOI / MANILA / SEOUL / KUALA LUMPUR / SYDNEY / TOKYO / NEW DELHI / ISLAMABAD – Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, said the information minister.
Pakistan's Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb said in a statement that the prime minister, who returned from a five-day stay in Britain, had tested positive for COVID-19.
The minister added that the prime minister was not feeling well for the last couple of days and tested for COVID-19 on the advice of his medical team.
Speaker of Pakistan's National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf wished the prime minister a speedy recovery.
A health worker speaks to arrivals at a COVID-19 vaccination hub at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in Brisbane on Aug 17, 2021. (PATRICK HAMILTON / AFP)
Australia
Australian health authorities have recommended against getting a fifth COVID-19 vaccine shot, even as they urged those eligible to sign up for their remaining booster doses as the country's latest COVID wave grows rapidly.
Average daily cases had been 47 percent higher last week than the week before, said Health Minister Mark Butler at a press conference on Tuesday, announcing new vaccination recommendations. But cases remain 85 percent below the previous peak, of late July.
Butler said the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisations (ATAGI) had recommended against a fifth dose, or third booster, after evidence from Singapore's recent wave showed that severe illness and death were rare among the vaccinated and that a fifth shot had minimal impact on virus transmission.
"ATAGI has considered international evidence as well as the local data around vaccination numbers, as well as case numbers in the pandemic and decided not to recommend a fifth dose," said Butler.
"They noted that severe disease and death during that wave in Singapore was very rare for people who had had at least two doses of vaccine for COVID."
New booster recommendations will be made early next year ahead of the southern-hemisphere winter.
Butler urged those yet to get the recommended number of shots to do so, with 5.5 million Australians, roughly a fifth of the population, yet to receive a third dose despite being eligible.
Butler also accepted ATAGI recommendations that Pfizer's Omicron-specific vaccine be approved as a booster dose for adults; 4.7 million doses will arrive ahead of a rollout due to begin on Dec 12.
The company's vaccine for children aged six months to five years will also be approved for use on the severely immunocompromised.
Workers wearing protective suits spray disinfectant at Suri Seri Begawan Raja Pengiran Anak Damit Mosque in an effort to counter the spread of the COVID-19 in Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei on March 17, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)
Brunei
Brunei logged a daily average of 611 new COVID-19 cases in the past week, compared to 554 cases per day the week before, marking an increase for the seventh consecutive week, official statistics released on Monday showed.
According to the health ministry's weekly briefing, 48,491 antigen rapid test (ART) results were uploaded to the government platform in the past week, with 8.7 percent of them being positive.
Currently, no hospitalized cases are held in the intensive care unit and only one case requires oxygen assistance, the health ministry said.
As of Sunday, 78.7 percent of Brunei's population have received three doses of COVID-19 vaccines, while 11.1 percent have taken a fourth dose.
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Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks during the opening ceremony of the 40th and 41st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summits in Phnom Penh on Nov 11, 2022. (TANG CHHIN SOTHY / AFP)
Cambodia
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has cancelled meetings he was due to have at the G20 summit in Bali after testing positive for COVID-19, according to a statement posted on his Facebook page.
Hun Sen, who is the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), had tested positive before he had held any meetings including those scheduled with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the statement.
Hun Sen also hosted a summit of ASEAN and global leaders that ended on Sunday in Cambodia.
India
India registered 474 new daily COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the federal health ministry said.
The cases reported on Tuesday mark a decrease in comparison to the daily caseload of Monday's 547.
The country also logged one related death during the past 24 hours, pushing the overall death toll to 530,533 since the beginning of the pandemic, the ministry said.
Japan
Japan's Daiichi Sankyo Co said on Tuesday its mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine had reached its primary endpoint in a trial of the shot as a booster.
In a trial of about 5,000 Japanese adults, those who had received the vaccine, known as DS-5670, developed levels of COVID-neutralizing antibodies that were as good as or better than those of people who had had other mRNA shots, the company said in a release.
Based on the results, Daiichi Sankyo will file a new-drug application to regulators in January 2023.
Approval would give Japan a home-grown source for mRNA vaccines, which have made up the bulk of its COVID-19 inoculations to date.
People walk with their luggage towards Malaysia, as seen from Sungai Kolok district in southern Thailand's Narathiwat province on June 1, 2022, after Malaysia and Thailand re-opened their land borders following the loosening of restrictions related to the coronavirus. (MADAREE TOHLALA / AFP)
Malaysia
Malaysia reported 1,749 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Monday, bringing the national total to 4,950,566, according to the health ministry.
There is one new imported case, with 1,748 cases being local transmissions, data released on the ministry's website showed. Another six deaths have been reported, pushing the death toll to 36,554.
Myanmar
Myanmar confirmed 32 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total tally to 632,711, according to the Ministry of Health on Monday.
The ministry said in a statement that health authorities tested 7,506 people for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, and the daily positivity rate was 0.43 percent.
The death toll from COVID-19 in the country remained unchanged at 19,486 on Monday as no new deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, the ministry said.
Philippines
The Philippines reported 1,009 new COVID-19 infections on Monday, pushing the number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 4,019,163.
The Department of Health said the number of active cases rose to 19,821, while 18 more patients died from COVID-19 complications, pushing the country's death toll to 64,405.
Metro Manila, the capital region with over 13 million people, tallied 229 new cases.
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Singapore Airlines stewardesses walk past a giant lollipop candy display at Changi International Airport in Singapore on April 1, 2022, as Singapore reopened its land and air borders to travelers fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. (ROSLOAN RAHMAN / AFP)
Singapore
Singapore reported 1,312 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the total tally to 2,141,411.
A total of 246 cases are currently warded in hospitals, with 15 of them in intensive care units, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health.
Two new deaths from COVID-19 were reported on Monday, bringing the total death toll to 1,697.
South Korea
South Korea reported 72,883 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Monday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 26,290,877, the health authorities said Tuesday.
The daily caseload was up from 23,765 in the previous day and higher than 62,260 tallied a week earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
Thirty-nine more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 29,748.
Vietnam
Vietnam recorded 204 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, down 38 from Sunday, according to the Ministry of Health.
All the new cases were locally transmitted, said the ministry.
The new infections brought the total tally to 11,508,893. The country reported no new deaths from the pandemic on Monday, with the total fatalities staying at 43,166.