A government poll showed on Thursday that 94 per cent of 367,000 health care workers aged 64 or younger in priority groups said they were ready to take the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Some health experts have raised doubts about the country’s ability to stick to its ambitious goal of protecting 10 million high-risk people by July, on its way to reaching herd immunity, defined as at least a 70 per cent vaccine take-up, by November.

President Moon Jae-in visited one of the vaccination centres in Seoul and oversaw the inoculation process.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said authorities would extend social distancing rules by two weeks nationwide, including a ban on private gatherings larger than four people, to blunt coronavirus surge, warning against large outbreaks before the general public begins to receive the vaccine.

After initial caution, Asia starts rolling out coronavirus vaccinations

“Sporadic cluster infections continue in our everyday life, such as in workplaces, hospitals, and family gatherings,” Chung told a government meeting on Friday. “We have a long way to go to herd immunity.”

South Korea reported 406 new virus infections by Thursday. The country has so far recorded 88,922 infections and a death toll of 1,585.

Thailand, Philippines set to start vaccinations

Prayuth is expected to receive a vaccine from AstraZeneca, and Anutin to receive one from Sinovac Biotech.

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Meanwhile, Vietnam on Friday approved the Moderna and Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccines for emergency use.

Vietnam said it expects to receive at least 60 million vaccine doses in 2021, 30 million of which will be provided by the World Health Organization’s Covax plan. The health ministry said on Wednesday it expects to obtain 150 million doses from foreign and domestic sources by 2022.

Vietnam received its first Covid-19 vaccines on Wednesday when 117,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, approved for use in the country in early January, arrived in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat Airport. The Southeast Asian nation will begin offering Covid-19 vaccinations in March, with front line health workers and vulnerable citizens first on the list.

Japan to lift emergency in six prefectures

Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Aichi, Gifu and Fukuoka prefectures will all see their emergency coronavirus measures lifted, NHK said.

The government had placed 11 of Japan’s 47 prefectures under a state of emergency in January as a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic swept the nation. One of those prefectures, Tochigi, had already emerged early from the government-designated emergency state.

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Coronavirus infections have declined significantly across the country since peaking in early January, including in the capital, Tokyo, and the government is hoping to lift the state of emergency in the remaining four prefectures as planned on March 7, NHK said.

Under the latest measures, Japan has asked bars and restaurants to close by 8pm and companies to strive for more telecommuting. It has also suspended a popular “Go To Travel” subsidised tourism programme.

Japan has so far recorded about 426,000 coronavirus cases and 7,645 deaths as of February 24, according to the health ministry.

Australia’s Victoria eases curbs

Victoria, Australia’s second-most populous state, on Friday reported two new cases in people placed in quarantine after they were identified as close contacts of existing cases.

Outdoor gathering will be increased to 100 people and households can host up to 30 guests from 11:59pm local time on Friday, though masks will remain mandatory in public transport, indoor shopping centres and supermarkets.

Australian PM receives first coronavirus vaccine dose

Crowds at 50 per cent capacity will be allowed into the 100,000-seat Melbourne Cricket Ground when the Australian Football League season starts, the highest permitted threshold in almost a year since all sports were suspended.

Australia has been reporting zero or low single digits cases for the last several weeks after quashing fresh outbreaks through snap lockdowns and speedy contact tracing. It has reported just under 29,000 cases and 909 deaths – most of them in Victoria – since the pandemic began.

Sri Lanka ends forced cremations of virus victims

The Sri Lankan government on Friday lifted a ban on the burial of bodies of people whose deaths were caused by Covid-19, a health ministry spokesman said.

The ban was lifted after months of protests mainly by Muslim groups and international pressure.

In March last year the government imposed regulations that bodies of Covid-19 victims could only be cremated and burial was banned as the virus could spread by contaminating ground water.

However, Muslim groups insisted that the government’s decision had no scientific base and wanted the ban lifted as it goes against their faith to cremate a body.

Muslim parliamentarians on Wednesday urged visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to take up the issue with Sri Lankan political leaders.

The Chairperson of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Michelle Bachelet also referred to the issue in her statement at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday.

Muslim groups on Tuesday held a protest outside the president’s office calling for the ban on burials to be lifted.

Indonesia allows private vaccination scheme

Indonesia has authorised a private vaccination scheme to run alongside its national programme so that companies can buy state-procured vaccines to inoculate their staff, a ministerial regulation showed on Friday.

The world’s fourth most populous country has launched an ambitious programme to vaccinate 181.5 million people for free in about a year, but business had been pushing for a way of inoculating their staff faster to open up the economy.

The regulation stipulates that effective this week companies can buy vaccines and inoculate employees and their families for free at privately-run health centres.

State-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma will distribute the vaccines to the health centres, according to the regulation.

The vaccines used for the scheme must differ from the current roll-out, which includes China’s Sinovac Biotech and is slated to include vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Novavax.

Vaccines for both schemes require an approval for emergency use issued by the country’s food and drug agency.

A minister said on Thursday Indonesia will receive two million doses made by Sinopharm for the private vaccination scheme. The price ceiling for vaccines will be decided by the health minister, the regulation said.

Additional reporting by Bloomberg, DPA, Reuters