Australia’s most-populous state of New South Wales reported eight new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, while neighbouring Victoria’s tally increased by three, as new measures to combat the disease kicked in. The NSW outbreak started around mid-December in Sydney’s Northern Beaches area, where a quarter of a million people are in strict lockdown until January 9. Cases associated with the cluster now total 148. A smaller cluster in the west of the city, linked to a different genome sequence, has 13 confirmed cases. But the state’s chief health officer, Kerry Chant, said authorities are worried as recent transmission at a liquor store occurred with “fleeting” exposure. “We know these transmission events have happened through very minimal exposure. We are asking members of the community who did purchase alcohol or enter that premises for that period to be very vigilant,” Chant told reporters. Vaccine passports, travel bubbles, pricey flights: the future of Asian tourism? NSW has made wearing masks mandatory at indoor venues like gaming rooms, hair salons and shops as authorities try to limit the spread of the disease. They will be legally enforced from midnight local time. Australia has avoided the worst of the pandemic following swift action by authorities to shut borders, enforce lockdowns and to carry out widespread testing and social distancing. Since the pandemic began, it has reported more than 28,450 Covid-19 cases and 909 deaths. Despite the outbreak in Sydney, a scheduled five-day cricket match between Australia and India, starting on Thursday, will go ahead, although with a reduced number of spectators. Five Indian players have been placed in isolation while the Australian and Indian cricket boards investigate allegations of a breach of biosecurity protocols. In Victoria, where all cases are linked to the same Melbourne restaurant, officials are investigating how the disease spread from the source in NSW, authorities said. Victoria has more than 30 active cases and has made masks mandatory across the state, restricted the number of people who can meet socially and shut its border with NSW. Health authorities have identified 220 “close contacts” and more than 50 “exposure sites” linked to positive cases. India approves AstraZeneca, Bharat Biotech jabs India authorised two Covid-19 vaccines on Sunday, paving the way for a huge inoculation programme to stem the coronavirus pandemic in the world’s second most populous country. India’s drugs regulator gave an emergency authorisation for the vaccines developed by Oxford University and UK-based drug maker AstraZeneca, and another developed by the Indian company Bharat Biotech. Drugs Controller General Dr Venugopal G Somani said that both vaccines will be administered in two dosages. Somani said the decision to approve the vaccines was taken after “careful examination” by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, India’s pharmaceutical regulator. The country’s initial immunisation plan aims to vaccinate 300 million people – health care workers, front-line staff including police and those considered vulnerable due to their age or other diseases – by August 2021. Over 20,000 health workers have been trained so far to administer the vaccine, the Health Ministry said. Although AstraZeneca does not have a written agreement with the Indian government, its chief executive, Adar Poonawalla, said at a virtual briefing on Monday that India would be “given priority” and would receive most of its stockpile of around 50 million doses. The other vaccine, known as Covaxin, is developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with government agencies and is based on an inactivated form of the coronavirus. The company has completed only two of three trial phases. The third, which tests for efficacy, began in mid-November. Opposition lawmakers and former ministers on Sunday questioned the lack of transparency in approving Covaxin. “Approval was premature and could be dangerous,” said opposition lawmaker and former minister Shashi Tharoor, asking Health Minister Harsh Vardhan for an explanation. “Its use should be avoided till full trials are over. India can start with the AstraZeneca vaccine in the meantime.” The Health Ministry said in a statement that permission was granted for Bharat Biotech’s shot for restricted use in “public interest as an abundant precaution in clinical trial mode, especially in the context of infection by mutant strains.” India, with nearly 1.4 billion people, is the second-worst affected by the coronavirus after the US, with over 10.3 million confirmed cases and 149,435 deaths, though its rate of infection has come down significantly from a mid-September peak. Indian regulators are still considering approvals for other vaccines, including one made by Pfizer. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that the fast-track approvals were “a decisive turning point to strengthen a spirited fight” that “accelerates the road to a healthier and Covid-free nation”. Cases down in South Korea South Korea reported 657 new coronavirus cases for Saturday, the lowest daily infection total in nearly four weeks, as tougher restrictions during the New Year holiday season helped fight the spread. That was much lower from 824 the day before, but brought the total cases to 63,244 with 962 deaths, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The country decided on Saturday to expand a ban on private gatherings larger than four people to include the whole country, and extend unprecedented social distancing rules in Seoul and neighbouring areas until January 17. Japan to ban foreign entries as virus cases linked to UK strain rise Thailand sets more restrictions Thailand ’s government held off from ordering new nationwide business shutdowns on Sunday amid a new wave of coronavirus cases but empowered some provincial governors to set their own restrictions and pleaded with the public not to travel. On Sunday, Thailand confirmed 315 infections, the majority of which are from local transmission, bringing its total to 7,694 cases and 64 deaths since its first case last January. The country also reported its first known case of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus called B.1.1.7 on Sunday, Yong Poovorawan, a senior virologist from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, said in a post on his official Facebook page. The variant was found in a family of four who were in quarantine after arriving in Thailand from the UK, and Yong said there is no risk of that variant being spread in the kingdom. The current domestic outbreak is linked to illegal border migration from neighbouring Myanmar. The government Covid-19 task force had earlier designated 28 provinces, including Bangkok, as high risk zones and recommended suspension of some businesses and crowded activities in those area that pose infection risks to the public. Some ministries and agencies have already issued new restrictions in their areas. The education ministry has ordered all public and private schools and vocational training centres to close down from Monday until the end of January. Asia-Pacific countries tread cautiously in vaccine roll-out Indonesia plans to vaccinate 181.5 million Indonesia is planning to start vaccinating its population against Covid-19 this month and is seeking to deliver shots to 181.5 million people by March 2022, according to the health ministry. The initial phase of inoculations will target 1.3 million health workers and 17.4 million public employees nationwide during the first quarter of 2021, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, the ministry’s vaccination spokeswoman, said at a briefing on Sunday. The health ministry is seeking to begin vaccinations no later than the third week of January following official approval from the food and drug regulator, Tarmizi said. Indonesia received its first batch of Covid-19 vaccine from China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd. last month and Kompas newspaper reported shots started being distributed on Sunday. Singapore tightens rules for maritime sector Singapore strengthened regulations for workers in the maritime industry after two more Covid-19 cases were found in the last two days of December. Shore-based personnel in the maritime sector who plan to go on board ships will need to take Covid-19 pre-departure test by January 8, according to a joint statement from the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore, Singapore Economic Development Board, Enterprise Singapore and the Ministry of Health. This will apply to more than 20,000 workers, the statement said. Routine testing will also be made more frequent, with workers now to be tested every seven days instead of every 14. Those who don’t follow these rules won’t be allowed to board ships for work. “Individuals and companies which are found to have violated these measures will be taken to task,” according to the statement. “Agencies will also review the need to enhance PPE and infection control measures in the sector.” A marine surveyor and a harbour pilot tested positive for coronavirus on December 30 and 31, respectively, prompting the authorities to take steps to introduce the additional tightening measures. This followed a marine service engineer testing positive on November 26. Tokyo reports 816 new cases Tokyo recorded 816 new daily coronavirus cases on Sunday, a day after governors from the capital and neighbouring prefectures called on the Japanese government to announce a state of emergency to combat a recent surge in cases. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has resisted calls for a second national state of emergency; the government first introduced that measure in April during an earlier wave of the pandemic. Suga is scheduled to speak publicly on January 4. Tokyo raised its Covid-19 alert to its highest level on December 17. New infections in the capital hit a record 1,337 on December 31. Japan’s health ministry said on Sunday there were 3,045 new confirmed Covid-19 cases across the country. Since the start of the pandemic, Japan has reported more than 240,000 infections and 3,548 deaths, according to the health ministry. Additional reporting by AP, Reuters, AFP, Bloomberg