Coronavirus: Philippines extends curbs; South Korea ramps up vaccinations

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has extended partial coronavirus curbs in the capital until the end of March, as the country awaits the arrival of vaccines, the presidential spokesman said on Saturday. With Southeast Asia’s second-highest tally of infections and deaths, the Philippines has suffered lengthy, strict lockdowns in Manila and provinces, hitting an economy that was among Asia’s fastest growing before the pandemic. Curbs will stay for another month in Manila, which accounts for 40 per cent of national economic output, said spokesman Harry Roque. Also under partial curbs are Duterte’s southern home city of Davao, and the northern city of Baguio. The curbs limit operations of businesses and public transport. Philippines to roll out Sinovac jabs, but some businesses can’t wait The decision follows a report of 2,651 new virus infections, the highest daily increase in more than four months. Despite calls to further reopen the economy, the firebrand leader has pledged to maintain curbs in the virus epicentre of Manila until mass vaccinations begin. The Philippines will be the last regional nation to get its first shipment of vaccines, comprising 600,000 doses of Sinovac Biotech’s vaccines donated by China, to be delivered on Sunday, and earmarked for health care workers and troops. South Korea’s ambitious vaccination campaign under way South Korea said 18,489 people received their first doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine by midnight on Friday as it launched an ambitious Covid-19 inoculation campaign, and began using Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines on Saturday. The first to receive the shots are health care workers, staffers at assisted care facilities and other high-risk people, with a goal of vaccinating 32 million to 36 million people – some 60 to 70 per cent of the population – by September. The government hopes to reach herd immunity, defined as at least a 70 per cent vaccine take-up, by November, as health authorities remain on alert for signs of sporadic infections. South Korea kicks off coronavirus vaccination campaign The first AstraZeneca vaccines are to be administered to 289,000 people, while about 55,000 health care workers in coronavirus treatment facilities will receive first batch of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech supplied through the Covax Facility global vaccine-sharing programme. Aside from AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Covax, South Korea has also reached agreements with Moderna, Novavax and Johnson & Johnson for vaccines. South Korea reported 415 infections of the new coronavirus for Friday. The country has recorded 89,321 infections and 1,595 Covid-19 deaths, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The authorities are extending social distancing rules by two weeks nationwide, including a ban on private gatherings of more than four, to blunt the coronavirus surge, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun on Friday. ‘Real world’ study finds Pfizer vaccine 94 per cent effective The agency has also allowed health workers to squeeze extra doses from vials of vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Pfizer. The decision on Saturday came after some health workers who were administering the AstraZeneca shots reported to authorities that they still saw additional doses left in the bottles that had each been used for 10 injections. KDCA official Jeong Gyeong-shil said skilled workers may be able to squeeze one or two extra doses from each vial if they use low dead-volume syringes designed to reduce wasted medications and vaccines. However, they are not allowing health workers to combine vaccines left in different bottles to create more doses. Auckland back in lockdown New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Saturday that the country’s biggest city, Auckland, will be put into a seven-day lockdown from Sunday after a coronavirus community case of unknown origin was recorded. The rest of New Zealand will be put into Level 2 restrictions that limit public gatherings, among others, she told a news conference. In mid-February, Auckland’s nearly 2 million residents were plunged into a snap three-day lockdown after a family of three were diagnosed with the more transmissible UK variant of Covid-19. Malaysia receives Sinovac vaccines Malaysia received China’s Sinovac vaccine on Saturday, the second brand of Covid-19 shots days after the Southeast Asian country kicked off its inoculation programme. The vaccine arrived in bulk totalling 200 litres, which will then be processed into 300,000 doses, according to Pharmaniaga Bhd, the firm that will package and distribute the shots. The company last month signed an agreement for Sinovac Biotech to supply 14 million doses in stages that will cover 22 per cent of the population. The roll-out is still subject to regulatory approval. Malaysia has secured 66.7 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from producers, including Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, and CanSinoBio, enough to inoculate nearly 110 per cent of the population. Pfizer remains the only manufacturer to receive the government’s conditional approval for usage, and is set to deliver a total 32 million dosages. Amid political dysfunction, how did Malaysia pull together its vaccine plan? The Sinovac doses arrived in bulk so that the country’s regulatory agency can conduct stability testing to ensure that the vaccine, and its manufacturing process, is safe, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said in a briefing on Saturday. While the government would prefer the vaccine to be approved as quickly as possible, “there’s no short cut”, he said. “We take note of where these vaccines are being used around the world but we have our own regulatory agency,” he said. “The government’s position is to please take whatever that the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency has approved.” A total of 1.183 million registrations have been recorded so far and 3,583 people have taken the shot, according to Khairy. Australia returns to pre-pandemic life Life across Australia inched toward pre-pandemic normal on Saturday, with New South Wales and South Australia states allowing some dancing and Victoria permitting larger crowds at sporting events. The three states, home to nearly two-thirds of Australia’s 25 million people, recorded no community transmissions on Saturday. For New South Wales, the most populous state, it was 41st straight day without a local case. The state, in addition to allowing up to 30 people to dance at weddings, eased further restrictions on the number of visitors at home. South Australia state allowed some club dancing from Friday. People in Victoria, which this month imposed a five-day strict lockdown after a small outbreak of the coronavirus, woke up on Saturday to rules allowing stadiums to seat 50% of capacity for sporting events. Coronavirus vaccines block disease, but do they protect people from getting infected? Australia has fared better than most advanced economies thanks to swift border closures, high community compliance with public health measures and aggressive testing and tracing. It has reported fewer than 29,000 coronavirus infections and 909 Covid-19 deaths. On Monday, the country began vaccinations programme, with about 60,000 Pfizer/BioNTech doses administered to priority populations, such as aged-care and disability staff, and border protection and quarantine workers. Reporting by Reuters, Bloomberg, Associated Press