The resurgence comes amid mounting concerns that the Olympics, set to begin July 23, could become a Covid-19 Superspreader event, especially if held with spectators.

Organisers of the Games decided late last month that venues can be filled to 50 per cent of capacity with a maximum of 10,000 fans, but they are now planning to lower the threshold to 5,000.

Some of the largest events, such as the opening and closing ceremonies as well as soccer, baseball and track and field competitions, and those held after 9pm, may go on without spectators at all.

Meanwhile, the government is set to shift Okinawa, under a full-fledged state of emergency until July 11, to a quasi-state of emergency as coronavirus cases have fallen although hospitals remain under strain, the sources said. The quasi-state of emergency covering Hokkaido, Aichi, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo and Fukuoka prefectures is expected to end on July 11 as scheduled.

Suga placed Tokyo and other prefectures under a quasi-state of emergency in April to curb Japan’s fourth wave of Covid-19 infections, later upgrading several, including the capital, to a full-fledged state of emergency, which entails larger fines for noncompliance and targets entire prefectures rather than specific high-risk areas.

South Korea reverses decision to end Seoul mask rule

Masks will be compulsory for everyone, including those who have been vaccinated, in the city and its surrounding areas because of the recent rise in cases, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said in a statement.

The announcement comes after the government said in May that it would lift its mask mandate for people outdoors if they have been inoculated. About 15.3 million people in South Korea have received the first dose of the vaccine.

Covid-19 is spreading at a “menacing” speed in the Seoul area, with the Delta variant increasing rapidly, Sohn Young-rae, the Health Ministry official said at a briefing. Outdoor drinking past 10pm will also be banned in the Seoul area, the agency said. The city’s riverside parks have been bustling with young people socialising and drinking after restaurants, bars and pubs close at 10pm, as part of social-distancing restrictions.

The latest spike in infections has been fuelled by people in their 20s and 30s living in Seoul or the neighbouring Gyeonggi Province, who account for 81 per cent of Covid-19 patients, according to the government agency.

“We are seeing eroding caution against the pandemic society-wide,” Sohn said. “The speed of the Delta variant’s spread is also accelerating.”

In the past week, the country’s Covid-19 cases have risen to a daily average of 531.3 people, 46 per cent higher than a week earlier. Authorities reported Sunday 743 new infections in the latest 24-hour period.

Indonesia ramps up oxygen output amid record deaths

The world’s fourth most populous nation is battling one of Asia’s worst coronavirus outbreaks. On Sunday it reported 555 new coronavirus deaths, its biggest daily rise since the pandemic began, taking the death toll to 60,582. It also reported 27,233 new cases for its second highest daily increase, taking the tally of infections to 2,284,084.

In a statement, the Sardjito hospital on the island of Java said 63 patients died after it nearly ran out of oxygen over the period from Saturday until early on Sunday, when fresh supplies arrived. A hospital spokesman could not confirm if all the dead had suffered from Covid-19, however. In response, the government was asking the gas industry to increase production of medical oxygen, said health ministry official Siti Nadia Tarmizi.

“We also hope people don’t stock up on oxygen,” she added, referring to stockpiles that could have the effect of denying the gas to many.

Separately, the ministry overseeing Indonesia’s Covid-19 response ordered the gas industry to prioritise production to fill estimated demand of 800 tonnes of oxygen each day for medical needs. The industry has idle capacity of 225,000 tonnes a year that can still be used, the ministry added.

Hospitals across the main island of Java are being pushed to the brink by the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant, which was first identified in India, where it caused a dramatic spike in cases and strained medical resources.

In the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, the government said the daily figure of funerals following Covid-19 protocols had risen 10-fold since early May, with 392 burials on Saturday. That was also the day 18 days of “emergency” curbs took effect in the islands of Java and Bali to control the spread of the virus.

From Tuesday, Indonesia will clamp down on arrivals of foreign visitors, allowing in only those who are fully vaccinated and have a negative PCR test, the ministry said, although diplomatic travel is excluded. Visitors will still have to spend eight days in quarantine upon arrival.

Myanmar cases hit record

Myanmar’s health ministry reported a daily record of 2,318 new cases of Covid-19 on Sunday, as well as 35 deaths. The rate of positive tests, at more than 22 per cent, was also higher than during the previous peak in case numbers late last year.

A new outbreak has grown rapidly in the Southeast Asian country, where the health system and anti-coronavirus measures have foundered since a February 1 military coup.

The elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi had brought two waves of the new coronavirus under control with a programme of testing and quarantine. It had just begun a vaccination campaign before it was overthrown.

After the army took power, doctors and other healthworkers have been at the forefront of a Civil Disobedience Movement in which they have stopped work in official positions to show their opposition to the junta. Some people have refused to go to military hospitals for treatment or to get vaccinations as a way to show they regard the military authorities as illegitimate.

Bangladesh virus hotspot struggles to breathe

The government has ordered a strict week-long nationwide lockdown in a bid to halt the spread of Covid-19, but Khulna’s hospitals cannot cope. Neither can relatives of the dead.

Mohammad Siddik leaned against empty cylinders under a hospital emergency porch, tearfully telling relatives in phone calls that his 50-year-old brother had died.

The 42-year-old businessman brought his brother to hospital as his condition deteriorated. But there was no bed and no oxygen. “He passed away gasping for air in the hospital corridor,” said Siddik. “They didn’t give him any oxygen until the end.”

The southwestern district bordering India’s West Bengal state has seen a sharp rise in coronavirus infections blamed on the more contagious Delta variant, which was first detected in India. On Thursday, Khulna city recorded 46 virus deaths, according to an official count, while in earlier waves the daily death toll never went into double figures.

Most people in the city of 680,000 people say the real toll is much higher and, according to reports, graveyards cannot cope with the number of dead in nearby cities such as Satkhira. The main state-run Khulna general hospital is one of four in the city treating coronavirus patients and has 400 beds but demand far outstrips supply.

“We have been dealing with enormous admission pressure in hospitals,” said Niaz Muhammad, chief government doctor for the Khulna region.

Police and troops have patrolled the streets across Bangladesh, home to 168 million people, since Thursday to enforce the lockdown. Hundreds of people have been arrested each day for leaving their homes.

Reporting by Kyodo, Bloomberg, Reuters, Agence France-Presse