The Thai king’s sister has approved coronavirus vaccine imports by an institution she sponsors, bypassing the government as it deals with surging infections and growing public anger over a slow and chaotic roll-out. The secretary general of the Chulabhorn Royal Academy wrote on Facebook that the “alternative vaccines” would supplement the government campaign until it could meet the country’s needs. The government, which has long insisted it must handle all vaccine imports, will next month start its mass immunisation drive, which relies heavily on AstraZeneca jabs manufactured locally by a company owned by the king. The announcement in the official Royal Gazette took some in the military-backed government by surprise, and comes as Thailand suffers its most severe Covid-19 outbreak so far and growing unease about the vaccine plan. The decree was announced late on Tuesday and expanded the Chulabhorn Royal Academy’s ability to respond to coronavirus. It was signed by Princess Chulabhorn, its chairwoman and the youngest sibling of King Maha Vajiralongkorn . Asian tourism firms offer ‘vac-cations’ to US or Russia, but with high costs “The Royal Academy will procure ‘alternative vaccines’ until vaccines that are produced in the country reach a capacity that can sufficiently protect against outbreaks,” its secretary general, Nithi Mahanonda, posted on Facebook, adding that it would comply with regulations on imports and registration. Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said he was unaware of the royal order before it was published. “I just saw the announcement last night,” Anutin said when asked about it during a local television interview. “But if it is a benefit to the country, we are ready.” The Chulabhorn Royal Academy, which includes a hospital and research institute, has organised a news conference for Friday about what it said was its importation of the vaccine of Sinopharm. Thailand is expected to approve the Chinese vaccine for emergency use this week. It was not immediately clear how many vaccines the academy would import and when. Thailand’s government is expecting to have available 6 million AstraZeneca doses and 3 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine next month, as it starts its main drive to inoculate 70 per cent of its more than 66 million people by year-end. Other private hospitals plan to buy 10 million doses of Moderna vaccines through a state-run company. Authorities on Thursday reported 47 new coronavirus deaths, a record for a second successive day, bringing total fatalities to 920, with 141,217 cases overall. Indonesian cleric jailed for breaking curbs An Indonesian court sentenced on Thursday hardline Muslim cleric Rizieq Shihab to eight months in prison and fined him 20 million rupiah (US$1,400) for breaching coronavirus curbs after his return last year from self-imposed exile. A live-stream of the court hearing showed Rizieq, the spiritual leader of an outlawed Islamist vigilante group – the Islamic Defender’s Front (FPI) – dressed in a white tunic, turban and face mask, clutching prayer beads. Judge Suparman Nyompa handed Rizieq the prison term for violating the health quarantine law in relation to several mass events, including his daughter’s wedding, which was attended by thousands. Separately, he was fined for an event held at an Islamic boarding school in West Java. Prosecutors had sought a two-year prison sentence for inciting his followers to attend mass gatherings, though he was cleared of this charge. Some 3,000 police officers were deployed to guard the courthouse in East Jakarta ahead of the verdict, but there were no big protests by his supporters. Rizieq came back to Indonesia in November after three years in Saudi Arabia, where he had fled while facing charges of pornography and insulting the state ideology. Both charges were later dropped. Thousands of his followers had thronged the airport to celebrate his return, and then joined mass events in the days that followed despite rules to limit gatherings as Indonesia grappled with the worst coronavirus outbreak in Southeast Asia. His legal team had claimed the cases were politically motivated and part of efforts to silence the cleric, who has a large and vocal following in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country. Melbourne to enter snap lockdown More than 5 million people in Australia ’s second-biggest city were ordered into a week-long lockdown on Thursday, as officials blamed a sluggish vaccine roll-out and hotel quarantine failures for another coronavirus outbreak. Residents of Melbourne and surrounding Victoria state will have to stay at home from midnight for seven days, acting state Premier James Merlino said, as a cluster doubled to 26 cases. “In the last day, we’ve seen more evidence we’re dealing with a highly infectious strain of the virus, a variant of concern, which is running faster than we have ever recorded,” Merlino said. The variant detected is known as B.1.617 – which has spread widely in India. India’s capital considers coming out of lockdown as Covid-19 infections ebb The “circuit-breaker” is designed to allow contact tracers to get on top of cases, with residents permitted to leave home only for essential reasons including getting vaccinated. Merlino said the conservative federal government’s sluggish vaccine roll-out was partly to blame for the latest lockdown, saying it was “not where it should be”. “If more people were vaccinated, we might be facing a very different set of circumstances than we are today,” he said. “But sadly we are not.” It is the fourth time Australia’s second-biggest city has been plunged into lockdown since the pandemic began, including nearly four months of harsh restrictions last year. The virus has leaked out 17 times in six months, according to the federal opposition Labor party, which has criticised the conservative government for refusing to overhaul the system. “If we had an alternative to hotel quarantine for this particular variant of concern, we would not be here today,” Merlino said. Vaccinated South Koreans allowed to go out mask-free from July Also under pressure over failing to meet initial vaccine delivery targets – with about 3.7 million vaccination doses administered so far in a population of 25 million – the government has pledged additional batches will be sent to Victoria in the coming weeks. Australia has recorded about 30,000 cases and fewer than 1,000 deaths from Covid-19 – the vast majority in Victoria during last year’s devastating second wave. Philippines to allow Pfizer shot for some children The Philippines will allow the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for emergency use in some children, the head of its Food and Drugs Administration said, widening the number of people in the country that will be protected against Covid-19. “Within the week, we will be issuing an amendment to the emergency use authorisation of Pfizer and we will be able to use it in children 12- to 15-year-olds,” Food and Drug Administration chief Rolando Enrique Domingo said late on Wednesday. Pfizer/BioNTech’s shot is one of the seven brands of coronavirus shots allowed for emergency use in the Philippines. Most Filipinos don’t want a vaccine. Especially not a Chinese one The government is so far giving shots to priority groups of health care workers, the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions. But not everyone has been getting vaccinated, due to concerns about the safety and efficacy of the available vaccines, 60 per cent of which are made by China’s Sinovac . With new daily cases still in the thousands, authorities reiterated calls for eligible members of the population to get inoculated as soon as possible – regardless of the brand of the vaccine. Since the government launched its vaccination drive in March, some 4.3 million Filipinos have received a jab. Of these, only 986,929 are fully vaccinated, less than 1 per cent of the country’s 110 million people. A nationwide survey showed 63 per cent of Filipinos preferred a US-made vaccine, but presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the supply of American shots was not enough for all. “If you want to choose the brand, you’ll have to wait at the end of the line,” he warned. “Let’s just hope you will not be infected by the more contagious coronavirus variants while you’re waiting.” Malaysia’s outbreak leaks into Thailand A worsening Covid-19 outbreak in Malaysia has sparked alarm and is spilling over into neighbouring Thailand , which recently discovered a more infectious variant in its south believed to have come from Malaysia. Malaysia has experienced a rapid climb in new cases since April that has strained its hospitals and prompted the government to impose a near lockdown until June 7. The Health Ministry said 7,857 people had tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday, another new one-day record and the third day in a row more than 7,000 cases had been confirmed. Around one-third of the cases were reported in the industrial heartland of Selangor, ministry Director General Noor Hisham Abdullah said. About 541,000 infections have been recorded in the country since the start of the pandemic. Total deaths have spiked to 2,491. Chinese vaccines meant for Indonesian prison stolen and sold to public Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Tuesday expressed concern that the number of infected children had grown eight-fold to 64,046 so far this year, from just over 8,000 at the end of last year. Two-thirds are under 12, including 6,290 babies under 18 months old, he said. The government has shut all schools, prohibited dining in restaurants and banned social activities and interstate travel, but has resisted calls for a full lockdown over economic concerns. The outbreak has spilled into Thailand, which has locked down several southern villages along the Malaysian border after identifying infections involving the variant first detected in South Africa, that is thought to be more contagious. It was believed to have been spread by an infected person who crossed the border from Malaysia. Science minister Khairy Jamaluddin said Malaysia will procure an additional 12.8 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in a bid to ramp up its immunisation programme. The procurement brings the total amount of doses secured from the drug makers to 44.8 million, enough to cover 70 per cent of Malaysia’s population, he said. Vietnam races to vaccinate factory workers Vietnam began vaccinating hundreds of thousands of factory workers in its industrialised north on Thursday to combat its largest Covid-19 outbreak so far, days after the country reported a daily record in new cases. The communist country has been widely applauded for its aggressive pandemic response – with mass quarantines and strict contact tracing helping keep infection rates low – but clusters have now been reported in around half of its provinces and cities. Among the hardest hit are northern Bac Ninh and Bac Giang provinces, home to major factories including plants operated by South Korean tech giant Samsung. “Around 240,000 workers in Bac Ninh and Bac Giang provinces will be vaccinated,” the Ministry of Health said on its website, adding that several hundred were given jabs on Thursday. By late April, Vietnam had recorded under 3,000 cases of Covid-19, but the figure has more than doubled since then. Tuesday saw a daily record of 441 new cases. A further cluster was detected in the country’s business hub Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday, with more than 30 cases discovered in the community. Cafes, restaurants, hair salons and massage parlours have been closed in the city, as well as in the capital Hanoi. Vietnam – a country of 90 million people – has vaccinated a little over a million of its citizens but it is now racing to step up inoculation. Reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa