In this photo taken on March 22, 2021, a nurse administers the COVID-19 vaccine to a volunteer at the Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol Univeristy in Bangkok. (PHOTO / AFP)
SYDNEY / SINGAPORE / NEW DELHI / BAGHDAD / JERUSALEM / AMMAN / KUWAIT CITY / BEIRUT / ULAN BATOR / KATHMANDU / WELLINGTON / MANILA / DOHA / SEOUL / ANKARA – Thailand's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the emergency use of Johnson and Johnson's one-shot vaccine, Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Thursday.
On his Facebook page, Anutin said the Johnson and Johnson vaccine has become a third choice for Thailand in addition to Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines that were earlier approved by the FDA.
Thailand confirmed 97 cases of coronavirus infections on Thursday, mostly in Bangkok, according to a report of the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration. The country has so far confirmed a total of 28,443 cases.
Papua New Guinea
Health experts have identified a unique variant of COVID-19 stemming from a surge of cases in Papua New Guinea.
According to a statement released on Thursday by the Australian State of Queensland Health Department, the new variant was the most common detected in travellers from PNG who were assessed in Australia.
"From January 1 to March 25 2021 (06:00 am) Queensland Health has been notified of 64 cases of COVID-19 in people with a history of travel in or transit through Papua New Guinea," Queensland Health spokesperson said.
"Currently the variant most commonly detected in travellers from Papua New Guinea is the B.1.466.2 lineage, which is not a lineage of concern. This is the new name for the specific B.1 strain mentioned as circulating in PNG."
The new variant is not believed to be more contagious than previous strains, as was the case with the B117 variant first reported in Britain.
"The COVID-19 pandemic is a rapidly evolving situation and as the pandemic is ongoing, we have continued to see new variants emerge, such as the UK and South African variants," the spokesperson said.
PNG saw a record daily increase of 560 new infections, according to a report by Australian media on Thursday, taking the country's total to 4,660 – up from 1,365 at the start of the month.
Indonesia
A total of 16 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in bulk produced by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech arrived on Thursday at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Tangerang district, Banten province.
"With this arrival of 16 million doses, it means cumulatively we have received 53.5 million doses of vaccine in bulk," Deputy Health Minister Dante Harbuwono told a virtual press conference on Thursday.
From Soekarno-Hatta Airport, all the doses of the vaccine will be transported to state-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma in Bandung city, West Java province.
This is the seventh stage of the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccines in Indonesia. The first stage arrived on Dec. 6, 2020, with a total of 1.2 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine, and the second phase on Dec. 31, with 1.8 million doses of vaccine produced by the same company.
The next three stages were the arrivals of the Sinovac vaccine doses in bulk which were then further processed by Bio Farma.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh on Thursday recorded 3,500 new COVID-19 cases for the third consecutive day, the highest in the country since July last year.
A total of 3,587 new cases and 34 more deaths were reported in a day, making the tally of cases at 584,395 and death toll at 8,797, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.
The daily number of new cases is close to its all-time peak of over 4,000 cases recorded on July 2 last year.
Fresh cases continued to rise since the middle of this month as the country sees a second wave of COVID-19 outbreak.
The official data showed that 27,045 samples were tested in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh.
The total number of recovered patients in the country stood at 529,894 including 1,985 new recoveries on Thursday, said the DGHS.
According to the official data, the COVID-19 fatality rate in Bangladesh is 1.51 percent and the current recovery rate is 90.67 percent.
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India
India added 53,476 COVID-19 infections overnight, the highest daily rise since Oct. 23, the health ministry data showed on Thursday.
India has 11.8 million COVID-19 cases, the third-highest amount behind the United States and Brazil.
The country reported 251 new deaths, taking the overall tally to 160,692, the data showed.
A health worker collects a swab sample from a man to test for COVID-19 on a roadside tent in Ahmedabad on March 24, 2021. (SAM PANTHAKY / AFP)
Iraq
The Iraqi Ministry of Health reported on Wednesday 6,051 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily increase since the outbreak of the pandemic, raising the total nationwide infections to 809,092.
The ministry said in a statement that 29 new deaths were recorded, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 14,095, while the total recoveries in Iraq climbed by 4,185 to 727,471.
Israel
Israel has administered two doses of COVID-19 vaccine to more than half its 9.3 million population, a health official said on Thursday, a rapid roll-out that has helped the country begin emerging from pandemic closures.
Distribution of Pfizer Inc’s vaccine in Israel began in December, with eligibility extended to citizens over the age of 16. People who receive it are deemed fully protected a week after the second shot.
Israel's Ministry of Health reported 246 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, raising the total confirmed tally in the country to 829,935.
The death toll from the virus reached 6,154 with 32 new fatalities, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 505 to 483, out of 737 hospitalized patients.
Jordan
Jordan said Wednesday it was going through a "sensitive stage" as the numbers of COVID-19 deaths and cases are on the rise.
Jordan's Minister of State for Media Affairs Sakher Dudin said the government will announce a series of measures next week to alleviate financial burdens on citizens caused by the pandemic.
He said the government will spare no effort to mitigate citizens' woes and overcome this "sensitive" stage that Jordan is going through as a result of the pandemic's repercussions and economic impacts on all sectors, the state-run Petra news agency reported.
"Jordan is facing a very critical pandemic curve but the government is working by all means in order to reach a safe summer, aimed to reopen sectors and gradually return to normal life," he said.
Kuwaiti policemen monitor people walking on a waterfront promenade in Kuwait City on March 23, 2021, amid a nationwide curfew due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (YASSER AL-ZAYYAT / AFP)
Kuwait
The Kuwaiti Health Ministry reported on Wednesday 1,299 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total infections in the country to 223,042.
The ministry also announced 10 more deaths, taking the death toll to 1,256, while the tally of recoveries rose by 1,212 to 207,392. A total of 14,394 coronavirus patients are receiving treatment, including 238 in the intensive care units.
Lebanon
Lebanon registered on Wednesday 3,856 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections to 448,721, the health ministry reported.
Meanwhile, the death toll from the virus went up by 53 to 5,903.
Mongolia
Mongolia registered 285 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the highest daily number since reporting its first case in March 2020, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Thursday.
Of the latest confirmed cases, 267 were detected in Ulan Bator, the country's capital and the hardest-hit city, and the remaining 18 cases were reported in seven provinces, the NCCD said in a statement.
The new cases in these provinces were found in people who had close contact with previously confirmed cases in Ulan Bator, the center added.
Nepal
The Nepalese government will prohibit the celebration of the Holi festival in public places the second year in row amid the resurging of COVID-19 cases, government officials said.
The festival, also known as the festival of color, will be celebrated in the country's northern hilly regions on March 28 and in southern plains on March 29.
The Nepalese government had prohibited the public celebration of the festival last year when the pandemic was in early stage.
New Zealand
New Zealand government has confirmed strict criteria for early vaccinations for people who need to travel outside of New Zealand on compassionate grounds or for reasons of national significance, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins announced on Wednesday.
Two weeks ago the government set out the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out plan, beginning with those most at risk of getting and spreading COVID-19 and those most at risk of getting seriously sick from it.
"The government has carefully considered circumstances where there is a genuine need for people to be vaccinated urgently in order to travel overseas," Hipkins said.
"A high threshold has been set, which will balance compassion with the need to avoid potential queue jumping ahead of at-risk groups, without a strong justification. These provisions will not extend to vaccinations for new arrivals or returnees."
New Zealand reported six more cases of COVID-19 in managed isolation and no new community cases on Thursday.
The six new imported cases all remained in managed isolation and quarantine facilities in Auckland, according to the Ministry of Health.
The number of previously reported cases that have now recovered is two. The total number of active cases in New Zealand stood at 71, and the total number of confirmed cases is 2,120, it said.
Qatar
The Qatari Health Ministry on Wednesday announced 570 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 175,332, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.
Meanwhile, 377 more recovered from the virus, bringing the overall recoveries to 161,488, while the fatalities increased by three to 278, according to a ministry statement quoted by QNA.
People walk along Marina Bay promenade in Singapore on March 17, 2021. (ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP)
Singapore
Singapore announced here Wednesday easing a slew of preventive measures against COVID-19 while further expands the local vaccination program.
Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a press release that infection of COVID-19 was kept under control with local community cases remaining low at around two per week in the past month.
Starting from March 24, local residents aged 45 to 59 years old can register their interest for the vaccination. Once there are vacant slots available for booking, the applicants will be notified.
Singapore began vaccinating seniors aged 70 years and above since Feb 22, which was followed by seniors aged 60 to 69 years-old. As of March 23, more than 799,000 individuals have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
In another development, up to 75 percent of local employees can return to their workplace, up from the current 50 percent, which will become effective on April 5.
South Korea
South Korea reported 430 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Wednesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 100,276.
The daily caseload stayed above 400 for two straight days. The total cases topped 100,000 since the first case was found here in January last year.
The daily number of infections hovered above 100 since Nov 8 owing to small cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province as well as imported cases.
The Philippines
The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported on Thursday 8,773 new COVID-19 infections, the highest ever daily tally since the outbreak began in January last year, raising the nationwide tally in the Southeast Asian country to 693,048.
The DOH said there are now 99,891 active cases in the Philippines.
The death toll climbed to 13,095 after 56 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH added.
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People sit in a park ignoring the wearing of protective face masks and social distancing rules, in Ankara on March 13, 2021. (ADEM ALTAN / AFP)
Turkey
Turkey on Wednesday confirmed 29,762 new COVID-19 cases, including 1,142 symptomatic patients, as the total number of positive cases in the country reached 3,091,282, according to its health ministry.
The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 146 to 30,462, while the total recoveries climbed to 2,881,643 after 17,761 more cases recovered in the last 24 hours.
Vietnam
Vietnam recorded three new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, including one imported and two locally transmitted, according to the country's Ministry of Health.
The new infections brought the total confirmed cases in the country to 2,579 as of 6 p.m. local time Thursday, said the ministry.