Advertisement
Advertisement
Coronavirus pandemic
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
A family sit on plastic stools as they wait to be tested at a makeshift rapid testing centre for coronavirus in Hanoi. Photo: AFP

Coronavirus latest: Vietnam records second death; India reports biggest single-day spike

  • Vietnam has logged 546 infections since its first cases were detected in January
  • Meanwhile, the lack of results from Melbourne’s three-week lockdown raises suspicions that strict social distancing measures are becoming ineffective
Vietnam’s Health Ministry reported the country’s second Covid-19 death late on Friday.

The 61-year-old man died on Friday afternoon at a hospital in Da Nang city, where Vietnam last week detected its first domestically transmitted coronavirus infections in more than three months, the ministry said in a statement.

Vietnam’s first coronavirus outbreak in 99 days spreads fear, anxiety

The country, which has recorded 546 coronavirus infections since its first cases were detected in January, reported its first coronavirus death earlier on Friday. The 70-year-old man who died had underlying health conditions, state media reported.

More than 53,000 people have been put in quarantine and although data from the country’s mass testing programme has yet not been released, the health ministry said.

01:25

Virus-free for months, Vietnam braces for latest wave of Covid-19

Virus-free for months, Vietnam braces for latest wave of Covid-19

Meanwhile in India, the 55,078 new cases reported on Friday take the national total to 1.64 million, even as the government further eases virus curbs in a bid to resuscitate the economy, while also trying to increase testing.

The death toll rose by 779 to 35,747, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on its website, adding that it aimed to raise the country’s testing capacity to 1 million per day in the medium term, from a record 600,000 on Friday.

Pacific island nations beat Covid-19 but now face economic devastation

The federal government this week announced the reopening of yoga institutes and gymnasiums, and removed restrictions on the movement of people and goods.

Nine people have died in India from drinking alcohol-based hand sanitiser after liquor shops in their town were closed due to virus restrictions, police said on Friday.

The group lost consciousness after consuming a “high quantity” of hand sanitiser mixed with water or soda, Siddharth Kaushal, police superintendent for Kurichedu town in Andhra Pradesh state said.

They were rushed to hospital but declared dead on arrival, he said.

The group turned to hand sanitiser “as a substitute” for liquor after supplies were cut off when authorities ordered a lockdown of the town to combat the coronavirus, he added.

Elsewhere, Australia’s second lockdown in the city of Melbourne seemed to be failing to slow the coronavirus’ spread, a sign that governments are running out of options to contain the pathogen as it re-emerges across the globe.
Police detain an anti-mask protester in Melbourne on Friday. Photo: AFP
Three weeks after the city of 5 million was put under lockdown again in response to a fierce flare-up, the infection curve in Victoria state, of which Melbourne is the capital, has not flattened. Instead, cases have surged, with a record 723 new infections on Thursday and a further 627 on Friday, raising fears the virus will spread nationwide. Victoria recorded eight more deaths, bringing the national toll to 198.
The lockdown’s lack of results is confirming suspicions that strict social distancing measures – which helped contain first waves across Asia and Europe earlier this year – are becoming increasingly ineffective as the pandemic heads into its eighth month and populations become weary of the disruption.

With those unable to work from home desperate not to sacrifice wages, and young people especially losing patience with physical isolation, many no longer seem willing to fully follow the rules as the economic and social costs mount.

“Unless everyone plays their part this lockdown will not end any time soon,” Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said. “There are still some people who, for whatever reason, whether it be frustration, fatigue, whether it be some of those economic hardship issues, are making the wrong choice.”

We’re not going to eliminate Covid-19 so we’re going to have to work out how to manage it
Emma McBryde, epidemiology professor
The lockdown fatigue could leave little in the arsenal for governments as they battle flare-ups from Hong Kong to Spain, Vietnam to Belgium. If mandated social distancing fails, the global outbreak could accelerate before an effective vaccine is developed and distributed, unless new strategies of surveillance and containment are found.
Australia’s first lockdown that lasted roughly from March to May was one of the most successful in the world, bringing down cases to just a handful a day nationwide. But security failures at quarantine hotels for returning travellers and poor communication of critical information to migrant communities allowed the virus to roar back in Victoria, its second-most-populous state.
With some 10,000 cases now after the addition of hundreds of new infections daily for nearly a month, Victoria accounts for more than 60 per cent of Australia’s total since the pandemic began. Worryingly, deaths are also growing as the outbreak has spread to nursing homes.

Facing the new lockdown, many Australians are weighing up the social and financial cost of retreating once more, particularly when it’s not clear when restrictions will end, said Emma McBryde, a professor of infectious disease and epidemiology at James Cook University in Australia’s Queensland state.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike prepares to attend a meeting of the metropolitan government's anti-coronavirus task force. Photo: Kyodo

“We’re not going to eliminate Covid-19 so we’re going to have to work out how to manage it in ways that aren’t extremely damaging,” McBryde said. Simple practices, widely applied – like frequent handwashing, mask wearing and social distancing – may be more digestible than lockdowns, she said.

Australia’s not alone in struggling to balance strict measures and the harm that they can do. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Friday that the country does not need to reimpose a state of emergency over the coronavirus, despite a surge in new infections.

Japan confirmed on Friday at least 1,307 new coronavirus cases, marking a record daily increase for the third consecutive day.

The figure follows 1,260 and 1,305 infections reported the previous two days, as a resurgence of infections has been expanding beyond Tokyo.

Japan has signed a deal to secure 120 million doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine, German pharmaceutical group BioNTech, which is developing the drug with US pharma giant Pfizer, said on Friday.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, with BioNTech saying the terms were based on the timing of the delivery and volume of doses.

But an agreement announced recently between the labs and the United States put the price of 100 million doses of the potential vaccine at almost US$2 billion.

First deliveries to Japan are planned for the first half of 2021, added the Mainz-based company.

More updates from around the region:

05:38

What started Hong Kong's third Covid-19 wave?

What started Hong Kong's third Covid-19 wave?

Missing Covid-19 patients in Victoria face fines

Australia’s worst-hit state of Victoria now accounts for more than half of the country’s 198 coronavirus-related deaths, and about 60 per cent of the nation’s 16,900 cases.

“It is important that all of us acknowledge these numbers are far too high,” Andrews said. “We could not open up with these numbers. We could not even open up with significantly less numbers.”

He said: “It may well be the case … that we need to take further steps. The data will tell us, the experts will tell us, what and if any next steps need to be.”

Australian Defence Force and health officials are door-knocking every positive Covid-19 case in the state, but have found one in four people not at home. Those people have been referred to police, and may face a A$1,652 (US$1,190) fine.

Mass testing in Hanoi as Da Nang records 45 new cases

Vietnam on Friday reported 45 new coronavirus infections in Da Nang city, as the health ministry sent more health experts to the central city in a bid to combat the outbreak.

The new patients, aged between 27 and 87, are linked to three hospitals and two clinics in Da Nang, a tourism hotspot where Vietnam last week detected its first locally transmitted infections in more than three months, the ministry said in a statement.

Vietnam started mass coronavirus testing in the capital Hanoi, banned gatherings there and urged tens of thousands of domestic travellers to report to authorities on Thursday.

The newly confirmed cases in Da Nang have brought the total number of cases in Vietnam to 509.

A Filipino woman with her belongings takes shelter inside a gymnasium amid the pandemic in Manila. Photo: EPA

‘Endure some more’: Restrictions extended in Manila and Jakarta

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday retained coronavirus restrictions in the capital Manila until mid-August and announced free vaccines to combat a surge in infections that has overwhelmed health care workers and facilities.

The capital region and provinces south of it were placed under general community quarantine, limiting movement of elderly and children, and the capacity of business establishments.

“My plea is [for residents] to endure some more. Many have been infected,” Duterte said in a televised address.

Duterte promised free vaccines, prioritising first the poor and then the middle class, police and military personnel. The Philippines will be given precedence by China in vaccine distribution, he said.

The country on Friday confirmed 4,063 coronavirus infections, reporting the highest daily case increase in Southeast Asia for a second straight day.

The ministry said total confirmed infections have risen to 93,354, while deaths increased by 40 to 2,023.

Stolen corpses, rejected masks: Indonesia’s coronavirus calamity

In neighbouring Indonesia, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said large-scale social restrictions in the capital would be extended until August 13.

The number of new coronavirus cases was still rising even as the Jakarta government was aggressively doing tracking, tracing and treatment to prevent the transmission of the virus, he said.

Jakarta has been the country’s coronavirus epicentre since the outbreak started in March. Indonesia reported on Friday 2,040 new coronavirus infections and 73 additional deaths. This brought the country’s total number of confirmed infections to 108,376 and deaths to 5,131.

Nepal reopens Everest

Nepal has reopened its mountains – including Everest – for the autumn trekking and climbing season in a bid to boost the struggling tourism sector, officials said on Friday.

The Himalayan country shut its borders in March just ahead of the busy spring season when hundreds of mountaineers usually flock to the country, costing jobs and millions of dollars in revenue.

A nationwide lockdown was lifted last week, and Nepal is now open “for tourism activities, including mountaineering and trekking.” Mira Acharya of the tourism department said.

The government will permit international flights to land in the country from August 17.

The decision comes despite over 1,000 new coronavirus infections reported this week, with a total of 19,547 cases. Officials were “working on” safety protocols Acharya added, including for how long visitors would have to quarantine on arrival.

Bloomberg, Reuters, DPA, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse

Post