Coronavirus: Australians protest lockdowns; Bali faces oxygen crisis

Thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets of Sydney and other cities in Australia to protest Covid-19 lockdown restrictions amid another surge in cases, and police made several arrests after crowds broke through barriers and threw plastic bottles and plants. The unmasked participants marched from Sydney’s Victoria Park to Town Hall in the central business district, carrying signs calling for “freedom” and “the truth”. There was a heavy police presence in Sydney, including mounted police and riot officers in response to what authorities said was unauthorised protest activity. Police confirmed a number of arrests had been made. New South Wales Police said it recognised and supported the rights of free speech and peaceful assembly, but the protest was a breach of public health orders. “The priority for NSW Police is always the safety of the wider community,” a police statement said. The protest comes as Covid-19 case numbers in the state reached another record with 163 new infections in the last 24 hours. Asia’s planned travel bubbles burst by Delta variant of coronavirus Greater Sydney has been locked down for the past four weeks, with residents only able to leave home with a reasonable excuse. “We live in a democracy and normally I am certainly one who supports people’s rights to protest … but at the present time we’ve got cases going through the roof and we have people thinking that’s OK to get out there and possibly be close to each other at a demonstration,” said state Health Minister Brad Hazzard. In Melbourne, thousands of protesters without masks turned out downtown chanting “freedom”. Some of them lit flares as they gathered outside Victoria state’s Parliament House. They held banners, including one that read: “This is not about a virus it’s about total government control of the people.” A car protest rally is also planned in Adelaide, which is also under lockdown, with police warning they will make arrests over unlawful activity. Bali faces oxygen crisis The Indonesian island of Bali is running out of oxygen for its Covid-19 patients as infections surge, the chief of its health agency said. Bali, famous for its tourist beaches and temples, along with the main island of Java and 15 other regions are under tight coronavirus restrictions, due to expire on Sunday. The government is debating whether to extend them or not. “We’ve had an oxygen shortage since July 14 and it’s getting critical by the day because of a surge in new cases,” Ketut Suarjaya, the head of Bali’s health agency, said as quoted by Antara state news agency as saying on Friday. “There’s an oxygen crisis in Bali.” Indonesia has had more than 3 million coronavirus infections and 80,598 deaths according to official data. The spread, driven by the Delta variant, has shown no sign of slowing. Research organisation Our World in Data said the country had a death rate three times higher than the global average. The debate over coronavirus restrictions has pitted health experts, who say it is premature to ease curbs during the surge of infections, against employer groups that have warned of mass layoffs unless the curbs are relaxed. Suarjaya said patients in Bali needed 113.3 tonnes of oxygen on Thursday, while hospitals only had 40.5 tonnes. He was not immediately available for comment on Saturday. Oxygen shortages have also been seen on Java. The government has begun to import oxygen supplies from countries such as the United States and China. Indonesia’s Makassar plans to isolate all Covid-19 patients on a ship Malaysia sees record cases Malaysia’s health ministry reported 15,902 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the highest number of daily infections since the beginning of the pandemic. This brings the cumulative number of cases in the country to 996,393. Myanmar rebel group gets jabs from China China has supplied over 10,000 Covid-19 vaccines to a Myanmar rebel group operating near its southern border, its spokesman said on Saturday, as Beijing seeks to halt the influx of cases from the coup-wracked country. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military took power in February, with a resurgent virus wave striking with many hospitals empty of pro-democracy medical staff. The Kachin Independence Army, which has waged a decades-long insurgency in Myanmar’s far north, has received 10,000 vaccines from Yunnan authorities, Col Naw Bu, a spokesperson for KIA said. “KIA asked help from China, and China gave us help for vaccines,” he said, without specifying which shot the group had been given or when the first batch had arrived. Some of the shots had been paid for and others were donated, he added, without providing a breakdown. A surging caseload in Myanmar has spooked authorities across its porous border with China. Earlier this month, Beijing reported 57 new infections nationwide – the highest daily tally since late January – including fifteen in the city of Ruili, next to Myanmar. Twelve of those were Myanmar nationals, according to health authorities in Yunnan province. A batch of 738,000 donated Sinopharm doses also arrived in Yangon on Thursday, with Myanmar officials saying residents along the border with China would be given priority. As Myanmar battles Covid-19, calls arise for aid without legitimising junta Vietnam tightens curbs in cities Vietnam will extend a lockdown in Ho Chi Minh City until August 1 and impose stricter restrictions in the capital Hanoi from Saturday, as the Southeast Asian country battles its worst wave of Covid-19 infections. After successfully containing the virus for much of the pandemic, Vietnam has been facing a complicated outbreak of the virus, with southern business hub Ho Chi Minh City and surrounding provinces accounting for most new infections. The health ministry reported a record 7,968 infections on Saturday, raising Vietnam’s overall caseload to 90,934. At least 370 people in the country have died as a result of the virus. “Due to the rapid and unpredictable nature of the Delta variant and to protect people and minimise deaths, city authorities have decided to strengthen a number of measures to control the outbreak,” Ho Chi Minh City’s governing body said in a statement. Covid-19 vaccines: is fractional dosing a solution for Southeast Asia? The number of services permitted to operate during the lockdown in Ho Chi Minh City will be reduced, the health ministry said, citing Duong Anh Duc, the city’s deputy chairman. The current measures, which had been in place since July 9, include a stay-home order, a ban on gatherings larger than two people and the suspension of public transport services. Banking and securities services in Ho Chi Minh City will be reduced to minimal levels, while unnecessary construction projects will be suspended, the ministry said in a statement. A week-long disinfection spray in high-risk Covid-19 areas also has started, it added. Hanoi will impose similar strict measures for 15 days starting from Saturday morning, authorities in the capital said late on Friday, following a wave of new infections over the past few days, including 48 on Friday. “The risk for the disease to spread in the city is very high, requiring strong measures to prevent,” Chu Ngoc Anh, chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, said in a statement. Astra mulls vaccine imports to Southeast Asia AstraZeneca is planning to import Covid-19 vaccines to Southeast Asia as its only manufacturing facility in the region struggles to ramp up output to meet demand from countries hit hard by the Delta variant. The Anglo-Swedish drug maker is scouring more than 20 supply chains in its global manufacturing network to find additional vaccines for Southeast Asia, including Thailand, James Teague, managing director for AstraZeneca Thailand, said in an open letter on Saturday. The company “will leave no stone unturned” in manufacturing vaccines as fast as possible, he said. “A global supply crunch for Covid-19 vaccines and shortages of the materials and components required to produce the vaccine, make it difficult to provide certainty today, but we are hopeful of importing additional doses in the months ahead,” Teague said. Thai groups provide Covid-19 aid as hospitals hit ‘point of collapse’ Southeast Asia is reeling from a resurgent Covid outbreak with the emergence of the more infectious Delta variant, with Thailand and Indonesia setting record for new cases and deaths in recent weeks. Thailand reported 14,260 new cases and 119 fatalities on Saturday, with more than 90 per cent of the nation’s total infections coming during the third wave of the outbreak that began in early April. AstraZeneca’s inability to scale up production has contributed to the slow vaccination rate in countries including Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam, which are in line to receive shots made by its Thai partner Siam Bioscience Plc. Thailand has said it’s in talks to procure additional vaccines from companies including China’s Sinovac Biotech to fill the supply gap. Thailand may receive 5-6 million doses of vaccine a month if AstraZeneca can ensure uninterrupted manufacturing, Teague said, as “the number of doses in each harvested batch is never completely certain, especially in the early stages of a new supply chain”. The company expects to deliver a total of 11.3 million doses to Thailand by end-July, he said. Thailand, which ordered 61 million doses of Astra shots, expected 10 million jabs each a month to inoculate 70 per cent of its population by the end of the year. The nation has administered 15.4 million vaccine doses so far, enough to cover a little more than 11 per cent of the population, according to the Bloomberg Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker. AstraZeneca planned to produce 180 million doses of its Covid vaccine this year through Siam Bioscience, a company linked to the Thai monarchy, with a target to export two-thirds of the output to countries in Southeast Asia. While Thai officials have said they are weighing a temporary ban or restriction on Astra exports, Teague said “the vaccines made in Thailand are of critical importance to our neighbours as much as they are to us here”. Reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, Bloomberg