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Agencies

Singapore’s health ministry reported 88 new locally-transmitted coronavirus cases on Sunday, the highest daily toll since August last year, driven by growing clusters of infections linked to karaoke bars and a fishery port.
The outbreak at karaoke or KTV lounges and bars had led the city state to tighten some restrictions on social gatherings just a week after easing them.
Of Sunday’s cases, 23 belong to the KTV cluster and 37 are linked to the Jurong Fishery Port cluster, the health ministry said in its preliminary report.
As a precaution, authorities on Sunday shut fresh fish and seafood stalls in markets as it tested stallholders for Covid-19.
It said coronavirus clusters had been uncovered involving fishmongers who visited the Jurong Fishery Port to collect their stock to sell at the markets.
Singapore is also racing to find people linked to the clusters at the KTV lounges, but there are concerns some patrons could be reluctant to come forward.
Vietnam lockdown
Vietnam put its entire southern region in a two-week lockdown starting Sunday midnight, as confirmed Covid-19 cases exceeded 3,000 for the third day in a row.
On Sunday it reported another record in daily infections, with 5,926 new cases taking its total to 53,830, with 254 deaths.
The lockdown order includes the Mekong Delta and Ho Chi Minh City metropolis, the country’s financial and economic hub with over 35 million people – nearly a third of Vietnam’s population.
Officials say they have to act as the number of infections reached nearly 50,000 since the outbreak re-emerged at the end of April after several months of no cases being recorded. Most of the 225 Covid-19 dead – 190 of them – have occurred since April.
Ho Chi Minh City, the epicentre of the surge, had already announced a full lockdown a week ago, after dozens of cases were reported in late May. The city now accounts for most of the cases in the country with over 2,000 daily.
Vietnam’s EuroCham seeks EU help in getting Covid-19 vaccines
“The situation is getting serious with a high rate of transmission, especially with the dangerous Delta variant. We have to put the health and safety of the people as top priority,” Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh was quoted as saying in announcing the restrictions.
The government order bans all gatherings of more than two people in public places except for government offices, hospitals and a handful of essential businesses. People are requested to only leave home to buy necessities such as food, medicine, or for vital matters.
Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, head of the country’s committee for Covid-19 pandemic prevention, said the lockdown order must be applied strictly since the latest wave has spread to 57 of the country’s 63 municipalities and provinces while the vaccine supply is still limited.
According to the Ministry of Health, Vietnam has received only about 6 million of the 124 million doses of vaccine it had secured through the UN-backed Covax Facility and in direct orders with vaccine manufactures.
Over 4 million people have received at least one dose. Vietnam aims to inoculate at least 70 per cent of the population by the end of the year.


Covid-19 claims over 500 Indonesian doctors
Indonesia has lost more than 500 doctors who succumbed to Covid-19 as the country’s record number of daily infections has made it the new pandemic epicentre in Asia.
“There are now 545 colleagues who died as of July 17, and most of the fallen colleagues were in East Java, followed by Jakarta and Central Java,” Mahesa Paranadipa, a representative from the Indonesian Medical Association’s mitigation team, said in a streamed press conference on Sunday. The country reported 44,721 new cases and 1,093 new deaths on Sunday.
Southeast Asia’s Covid-19 deaths skyrocket as Delta variant engulfs region
Indonesia’s capital Jakarta and the provinces of East Java and Central Java are located on the densely populated island of Java, which are under an emergency lockdown with the neighbouring resort island of Bali since July 3 to stem the worsening outbreak triggered by the Delta variant of the virus.
Paranadipa said the number of doctors who had died so far in July was 114, or an increase of more than 100 per cent compared to the total 51 in June.
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said on Friday that medics have began getting the Moderna vaccine as a booster shot, in addition to China’s Sinovac vaccines they already had.


Thailand expands restrictions
Thailand on Sunday announced an expansion of coronavirus restrictions that include travel curbs, mall closures and a nighttime curfew to three more provinces after the country reported a third consecutive day of record case numbers.
The country reported 11,397 infections and 101 deaths on Sunday, bringing the cumulative total to 403,386 cases and 3,341 fatalities, the vast majority from an outbreak since early April that is being fuelled by the highly transmissible Alpha and Delta Covid-19 variants.
Shopping malls will be closed and a 9pm to 4am curfew will be imposed from Tuesday onwards in Chonburi, Ayutthaya and Chachoengsao provinces, an announcement on the official Royal Gazette on Sunday showed.
Thai police fire rubber bullets, tear gas at protesters in Bangkok
Bangkok and nine other provinces have already been under these restrictions, the toughest in more than a year, since last Monday, as the country battles its longest-running and most severe outbreak so far.
The government earlier said it was planning to introduce more restrictions on movement as the surging number of cases, which continue to rise despite the partial lockdowns in high risk areas, had stretched health care capacity and health officials warned that the severe outbreak could continue for months.

Tougher curbs in South Korea
South Korea will expand tougher Covid-19 restrictions on private gatherings to outside the Seoul metropolitan area, as the country struggles to contain its worst outbreak, its prime minister said on Sunday.
“It’s been a week since the toughest level of distancing curbs have been imposed in the metropolitan area but the number of confirmed (virus) cases is rarely decreasing … Pre-emptive measures are needed for now,” Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum told a meeting with health officials.
From Monday until August 1, current rules in Seoul limiting private gatherings to four people will apply to the rest of the country.
South Korea, once cited as a success story for keeping Covid-19 under control, is battling record infections as the more transmissible Delta variant spreads, triggering a semi-lockdown in the Seoul area.
Vaccines are ‘the way out’ of pandemic – so why so much negativity?
The toughest level of curbs in the greater Seoul area, including a ban on gatherings of more than two people after 6pm, took effect last week. Gatherings of up to four people are allowed during the daytime.
The country reported 1,454 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, bringing cumulative cases to 177,951 and total deaths to 2,057. Only 30 per cent of South Korea’s 52 million people have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Separately on Sunday, the Ministry of Defence said it will airlift all troops from a ship on anti-piracy patrol in the Middle East after dozens of soldiers on board tested positive for the coronavirus. A replacement crew will steer the vessel back home.
Two aerial tankers departed for the Middle East hours after the ministry confirmed 68 troops on the ship had tested positive for the virus.
The government said on Thursday it would send a medical team to address the outbreak on the vessel.
But there are fears the outbreak could be much worse and require more drastic action. Yonhap News Agency said the Joint Chiefs of Staff had received only 101 results from PCR tests of the more than 300 service members on board, while the rest may be disclosed in coming hours.
On Saturday, an International Olympic Committee member from South Korea tested positive after arriving in Tokyo for the Games and was isolated.


Cases fall in Australia
Australia’s two largest states on Sunday reported slight declines in new Covid-19 infections, prompting authorities to say it could be days before tough lockdown measures showed progress in containing the spread of the Delta variant.
The country’s most populous city, Sydney, and all of Victoria state – totalling nearly half the 25 million national population – are under stay-home orders after a flare-up of the highly infectious virus strain began last month.
New South Wales (NSW) state, of which Sydney is the capital, reported 105 new cases in the previous day, down from 111 the day before, while Victoria logged 16 new cases, down from 19.
NSW also recorded an additional death from the virus, taking the total to four since the start of the year and the national total to 914 since the pandemic began.
How zero-Covid economies like Hong Kong, Australia can return to pre-pandemic life
“Working together we will start to see those numbers nudge, and are throwing all of our resources and efforts to making that happen,” said NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at a televised news conference.
“We want to make sure that we allow families and businesses in particular to bounce back as soon as we can and that is why we are throwing everything at it in the next two weeks.”
Just over 10 per cent of Australia’s 25 million people are fully vaccinated, a fraction of the rates in the United States and Britain.
Reporting by Reuters, DPA


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Coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus: Singapore sees 11-month high in cases; Thailand expands curbs

A man cycles along the Jubilee Bridge in front of the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, which is experiencing a surge in coronavirus infections. Photo: EPA-EFE

epa09339620 A deliveryman departs from a restaurant to deliver lunch boxes to office workers at an empty food street in Seoul, South Korea, 12 July 2021, as Level 4 social distancing was implemented amid the fourth wave of COVID-19. EPA-EFE/YONHAP -- ATTENTION EDITORS: IMAGE PIXELATED AT SOURCE -- SOUTH KOREA OUT

China reviewing WHO proposal for new study into coronavirus origins including lab audits

WHO team member Peter Ben Embarek visits the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan on January 31. There is growing pressure for the investigation to continue. Photo: Reuters

FILE PHOTO: World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks during a bilateral meeting with Swiss Interior and Health Minister Alain Berset on the sidelines of the opening of the 74th World Health Assembly at the WHO headquarters, in Geneva, Switzerland May 24, 2021. Laurent Gillieron/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Coronavirus: Malaysia reports record rise in cases; Thailand defends Sinovac-AstraZeneca vaccine ‘mix-and-match’ after WHO warning

A nurse vaccinates a woman at her house in a rural part of Malaysia’s Selangor state on Tuesday. Photo: AP

A health worker administers a dose of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine to a woman on Phuket, southern Thailand, Monday, June 28, 2021. Thailand's government will begin the "Phuket Sandbox" scheme to bring the tourists back to Phuket starting July 1. Even though coronavirus numbers are again rising around the rest of Thailand and prompting new lockdown measures, officials say there's too much at stake not to forge ahead with the plan to reopen the island to fully-vaccinated travelers. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

epa09298014 The second batch of COVID-19 vaccines developed by Moderna Inc., enough for 28,000 people, is unloaded from a Korean Airlines Co. plane at Incheon airport, west of Seoul, South Korea, 24 June 2021. EPA-EFE/YONHAP SOUTH KOREA OUT

graphic for online new variant names under new naming conventions announced by the world health organization ocvid-19 variants are to be known by letters of the greek alphabet to avoid stigmatising nations where they were first detected. alpha (britain) beta (south africa) gamma (brazil) delta (india) * lineage names such as b.1.1.7.2 will still continue to be used in scientific circles, for the mutation information that their name conveys source: who scmp

epa09341427 Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (R) and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian (L) arrive for the announcement of a COVID-19 financial support package at Kirribilli House in Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia, 13 July 2021. A support package to help keep struggling NSW businesses afloat during Sydney's worsening coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak has been unveiled. EPA-EFE/MICK TSIKAS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT

A Malaysian nurse vaccinates a Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines to an elderly woman in her house in Sabab Bernam, central Selangor state, Malaysia, Tuesday, July 13, 2021. Medical teams are going house to house in rural villages to reach out to elderly citizens as the government seeks to ramp up its vaccination program. Despite a strict lockdown, the pandemic has worsened with more than 844,000 confirmed cases nationwide and over 6,200 deaths. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

People leave the capital as the government loosened a lockdown imposed as a preventive measure against the Covid-19 coronavirus ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha in Dhaka on July 13, 2021. (Photo by Munir Uz zaman / AFP)

Coronavirus: Singapore’s karaoke bar cluster grows as cruise ship returns after suspected infection; Indonesia records more daily cases than India

The cruise ship operated by Genting Cruise Lines on a so-called cruise to nowhere was forced to return to Singapore. Photo: AFP

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Singapore reported 88 new cases on Sunday, driven by clusters linked to karaoke bars and a fishery port
Elsewhere, Thailand, Vietnam and South Korea tightened restrictions and Indonesia said over 500 doctors had died of Covid-19



Elsewhere, Thailand, Vietnam and South Korea tightened restrictions and Indonesia said over 500 doctors had died of Covid-19.


Coronavirus pandemic: All stories

Coronavirus Singapore

Coronavirus: Singapore sees 11-month high in cases; Thailand expands curbs

Singapore reported 88 new cases on Sunday, driven by clusters linked to karaoke bars and a fishery port Elsewhere, Thailand, Vietnam and South Korea tightened restrictions and Indonesia said over 500 doctors had died of Covid-19

Vietnam lockdown

Singapore reported 88 new cases on Sunday, driven by clusters linked to karaoke bars and a fishery port

Elsewhere, Thailand, Vietnam and South Korea tightened restrictions and Indonesia said over 500 doctors had died of Covid-19