People walk past shops in the Chinatown district in Singapore on April 14, 2022.
(ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP)
NEW DELHI / SINGAPORE / PHNOM PENH / SEOUL / WELLINGTON – Singapore will remove most remaining COVID-19 restrictions from April 26 and ease its entry requirements for travelers, its health ministry said on Friday, in response to a decline in new daily infections.
The measures include removing limits on group sizes and allowing the full return of employees to workplaces, while lowering the Southeast Asian financial hub's alert level for the first time since the pandemic started.
But let's always remember, we are getting closer to the finish line, but the race is not over and the pandemic is certainly not over.
Lawrence Wong, finance minister, Singapore
Authorities also announced the scrapping of a requirement for vaccinated travelers to take a COVID test before departing for Singapore.
"With these changes, we can now have a well deserved breather, after two very difficult years of fighting the virus," said Lawrence Wong, finance minister and co-chair of the government's coronavirus taskforce.
"But let's always remember, we are getting closer to the finish line, but the race is not over and the pandemic is certainly not over."
Some rules will remain, however, such as the mandatory wearing of face masks in indoor public settings and on public transport.
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Many of the restrictions will remain in place for non-vaccinated individuals, however.
Singapore has inoculated 93 percent of its 5.5 million population, one of the world's highest rates. It has also achieved one of the lowest COVID fatality rates.
Cambodia
Ninety-three percent of the people in Cambodia, aged 3 years old and over, have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines, Health Ministry's secretary of state and spokeswoman Or Vandine said on Saturday.
The southeast Asian nation launched a national vaccination campaign against COVID-19 in February 2021, with China being the key vaccine supplier.
"Some 93.01 percent, or 14.88 million of the country's total population of 16 million, have taken at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccines," Vandine said in a report, adding that 88.3 percent of them, or 14.14 million, have been fully inoculated with two required doses.
Also, some 8.2 million, or 51 percent, have got a third dose, and 1.3 million, or 8 percent, have had a fourth dose, she said.
Cambodia reported 28 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday with new zero fatalities, bringing the kingdom's total caseload to 136,200, including 3,056 deaths.
A girl walks past a poster at a vaccination center in New Delhi on April 10, 2022.
(MONEY SHARMA / AFP)
India
India's COVID-19 tally rose to 43,054,952 on Saturday as 2,527 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the health ministry's latest data.
This is the fourth consecutive day when the number of new cases has breached the 2,000-mark, after lying low for the past several months.
Besides, 33 deaths due to the pandemic since Friday morning took the total death toll to 522,149.
There are still 15,079 active COVID-19 cases with a rise of 838 active cases during the past 24 hours. The number of active cases had been on the decline for the past two-and-a-half months, but has started increasing over the past few days.
New Zealand
New Zealand reported its first case of Omicron XE variant at the border, said the Ministry of Health in a statement on Saturday.
A person who has traveled from overseas to New Zealand has been confirmed as having the XE variant of Omicron, said the Ministry of Health
A person who has traveled from overseas to New Zealand has been confirmed as having the XE variant of Omicron, said the ministry.
This is the first known detection of the Omicron XE variant in New Zealand, it said.
According to the ministry, the person, who is currently isolating at home, arrived in New Zealand on April 19 and was tested on April 20. The whole-genome sequencing subsequently confirmed the XE variant.
"XE has been spreading overseas, and its arrival in New Zealand is not unexpected," said the ministry.
Meanwhile, the country reported 19 deaths from COVID-19, with 7,930 community cases and 494 hospitalizations on Saturday.
In addition, 55 new cases of COVID-19 were detected at the New Zealand border, said the ministry.
New Zealand has reported 875,794 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.
As the country is going through Anzac long weekend, the ministry has warned people to take health measures to protect themselves from the virus.
"Firstly, be up to date with vaccinations. Secondly, wear a mask. And thirdly, stay home and avoid others if you're unwell," said the ministry.
New Zealand is currently under the orange settings of the COVID-19 Protection Framework, where there is no limit for gatherings.
South Korea
South Korea reported 75,449 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Friday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 16,830,469, the health authorities said on Saturday.
The daily caseload was down from 81,058 in the previous day and far lower than 107,896 a week earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
READ MORE: South Korea to lift most virus curbs from next week
The health authorities believed that the daily caseload has been on the decline following the resurgence, driven by the Omicron variant and its subvariant BA.2, which peaked in mid-March.
Among the new cases, 29 were imported from overseas, lifting the total to 31,761.
A total of 151 more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 22,024. The total fatality rate was 0.13 percent.