05:25
Health experts have warned coronavirus cases could rise again as Indonesia and Thailand relax restrictions but vaccination rates remain low.
Southeast Asia became global epicentre in recent months with the arrival of the highly transmissible Delta variant.
Although case numbers are still rising fast in most of the region, Indonesia and Thailand, which have its largest economies, have started to lift curbs on restaurants and shopping malls to ease the economic effects of lockdown.
Indonesia reported 10,534 new cases on Tuesday, five times fewer than its peak in mid-July, while Thailand reported 14,802 new cases on Wednesday, down 37% from its mid-August peak.
However, experts said relaxations carried dangers with a low level of vaccination and a shortage of testing, with rates of positive tests often above the 5% recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Abhishek Rimal, Asia Pacific Emergency Health Coordinator at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told Reuters:
We are definitely concerned around the reopening without meeting all the criteria proposed by the WHO.
Now with the Delta variant, which is highly transmissible, and the low vaccination rate, we could very well see a surge of Covid-19 in days to come.
Indonesia has recently had a positive test rate of 12% and Thailand 34%.
04:36
In Italy, the government has said it will crack down on anti-green pass demonstrators who have threatened to block railway tracks throughout the country.
It comes as a rule requiring Covid tests or vaccines takes effect for long-distance domestic public transport.
Travellers in Italy must now show a “green pass”, which certifies that they have received at least one dose of the vaccine more than 15 days ago, have tested negative in the past 48 hours or have recovered from coronavirus in the past six months.
The Associated Press reports:
The rule applies to domestic flights, train travel between regions and most sea travel.
Local buses, trams and metros are exempt from the rule, which was announced by Mario Draghi’s government when daily case loads started steadily rising as the Delta variant of the virus became prevalent in Italy.
Earlier this summer, a “green pass” requirement began for those wanting to dine indoors, access gyms or attend crowded venues like concerts.
The interior minister, Luciana Lamorgese, vowed zero tolerance against any rail track protests or other violence.
Several recent protests against the green pass requirement, including in Rome and Milan, turned violent, with police having to rescue a state TV journalist after a protester started yanking her by her hair and a newspaper reporter was punched repeatedly in the face. Ministers and doctors have received threats.
Updated
03:34
India has significantly increased Covid vaccination rates in its vast rural areas but supply issues mean it is unlikely to hit its target of vaccinating all adults by the end of the year.
Around 65% of the country’s nearly 1.4 billion people live in rural areas and while India began offering jabs for all adults in May, the campaign stalled in villages due to vaccine hesitancy and misinformation.
However, from mid-July there appeared to be a shift in attitudes and of the nearly 120 million shots administered in the past three weeks, around 70% were in India’s villages – up from around half in the initial weeks of May.
The Associated Press reports:
Although the increased vaccine acceptance in rural areas is promising, the pandemic is far from done in India: After weeks of steady decline, the 46,000 new infections reported on Saturday was its highest in almost two months.
Only about 11% of India’s vast population is fully vaccinated, while half of all adults and about 35% of the total population have received at least one shot. This has left large swathes of people still susceptible to the virus.
03:16
Schools in Taiwan have reopened today as the island’s largest coronavirus outbreak appeared to subside.
Schools on the island shut down in May and many switched online in the face of the island’s largest outbreak, which has since passed 15,000 cases. Taiwan is now reporting new Covid cases in the single digits.
The Associated Press reported this morning:
Students will eat lunch at their own desks, which now have plastic dividers separating students. Masks are required, and classrooms will have exhaust fans to circulate air.
Two giant balloons and music created a festive air greeting the students arriving for classes at Tienmu Elementary School on Wednesday.
Parents are relived that their kids are back in school, saying online learning wasn’t necessarily good in the long term.
Liao Cher-hao, president of the parents’ association of the school in the capital, Taipei, said:
You can see that parents are really happy today. They all want to send their kids back to school ASAP. Basically, we made a survey. The results of online classes are not super good.
03:09
Another vial of the Moderna Covid vaccine suspected of containing a “foreign substance” has been found in Japan’s Kanagawa prefecture.
Authorities said a pharmacist found “several black particles” in one vial after checking it before the vaccine’s use.
Japan suspended the use of 1.63m doses of Moderna shots last week after becoming aware of contamination in some of the supply, according to the Reuters news agency.
Moderna and Spanish pharma company Rovi, which bottles Moderna vaccines, have said the cause could be a manufacturing issue, and European safety regulators have launched an investigation. Moderna has said no safety or efficacy issues had been identified from the issue.
Kanagawa prefecture said the vaccine’s domestic distributor, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, had collected the vial with the suspected contaminant and that about 3,790 people had already received shots from the same lot.
Updated
02:57
More schools in India were given the go-ahead to reopen for the first time in nearly 18 months on Wednesday, despite apprehension from some parents and signs that infections are on the rise once again.
At least six more states in the country will gradually reopen schools and colleges with health measures in place throughout September.
In New Delhi, all staff must be vaccinated and class sizes will be capped at 50% with staggered seating and sanitised desks, the Associated Press reported.
In the capital only students in grades nine to 12 will be allowed to attend at first, though it is not compulsory.
Jacob John, a professor of community medicine at Christian Medical College, Vellore, said:
The simple answer is there is never a right time to do anything during a pandemic. There is a risk, but life has to go on – and you can’t go on without schools.
Updated
02:43
Meanwhile, in the Australian state of New South Wales, pubs, restaurants, stadiums and services such as hairdressing could open to fully vaccinated people by mid-October, while vaccinated international travellers could be welcomed for Christmas under a system of home quarantine.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said life will feel “very much more normal” by mid-October when the state is expected to achieve the 70% double-dose vaccination milestone, which would allow freedoms for vaccinated residents.
The state recorded 1,116 new Covid cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Tuesday. Four women – one in her 50s, one in her 60s, one in her 70s and one in her 80s – died. They were all in hospital at the time.
Berejiklian said on Wednesday:
Whether it is attending a public event or having a drink, if you are fully vaccinated and the state has hit its 70% double dose target, please expect to do all of those things we have been missing for too long
It follows Berejiklian’s earlier predication that October will be the most challenging period for the state’s hospital system.
Updated
02:37
In Australia, the premier for Victoria has named September 23 as the date he believes 70% of eligible adults will have received their first vaccination dose and when restrictions can begin to lift.
But Daniel Andrews on Wednesday warned “we are in for a difficult time” and that case number’s wont’t come down despite the state having “thrown everything at this”.
He also announced that playgrounds would reopen from midnight on Thursday, but that was the only restriction that could ease as “things have changed very rapidly” with 120 new cases announced on Wednesday.
Of the new cases, only 20 were in isolation during their entire infectious period, Andrews said. He added:
These last few days have seen a dramatic shift in the nature and the number of cases coming forward.
From September 23, a number of restrictions will be eased in Victoria. The 5km travel limit in greater Melbourne will be extended to 10km for shopping and exercise; outdoor exercise will increase from two to three hours per day; outdoor communal gym equipment and skate parks will reopen; outdoor personal training will be allowed with up to two people plus a trainer; child-minding for school-aged children will be permitted; real estate private inspections of unoccupied premises for a new purchase or end of a lease will be permitted.
Construction sites will also be able to increase to 50% of their capacity if 90% of their workforce have received at least one vaccine dose. Term three of school will still be at home and the 9pm-5am curfew will remain in greater Melbourne.
Updated
02:27
Many healthcare workers protested in the Philippines today to demand an end to what they described as “government neglect” and “unpaid benefits”.
It comes as pressure builds at hospitals fighting one of Asia’s longest-running coronavirus epidemics.
Protesters wearing protective medical gear gathered around the Department of Health (DOH) in Manilla and held placards demanding their risk allowances and hazard pay, and the resignation of health secretary Francisco Duque.
Medical staff have been overwhelmed during the pandemic and 103 have died from Covid, among 33,400 coronavirus deaths in the Philippines.
Robert Mendoza, the president of the Alliance of Health Workers, told Reuters from the back of a pickup truck:
It is sad that many of us have died, many of us became sick, and many have resigned or opted to retire early, yet we are still kneeling before the DOH to give us our benefits.
Updated
01:58
New Zealand records 75 cases after two days of falls
New Zealand has recorded 75 new cases of Covid-19, a bounce upward after two days of seeing cases decline.
The director general of health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, said on Tuesday the increase was “not unexpected” and noted that during New Zealand’s previous outbreak, case numbers did move up and down somewhat day-to-day, while still tracking down overall.
Bloomfield said that the government’s modelling gave 90% certainty that the reproductive rate – or average number of new people that each case infected – was still below one, “indicating that the number of cases will continue to decline, and we are successfully breaking the chains of transmission”.
The total number of cases in the current outbreak is now at 687. Of these, one was in Wellington and the remainder in Auckland. Thirty-two people are hospitalised in Auckland, eight of whom are in intensive care, and three of whom are on ventilators. Contact tracers have identified 34,832 contacts in the outbreak so far:
Updated
