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Sydney Opera House seen from the air. Australia’s borders have been mostly shut to non-citizens and non-residents since March 2020. Photo: Xinhua

Coronavirus: Australia plans Christmas border reopening; Philippines’ Duterte slams ‘selfish’ rich nations at UN for hoarding vaccines

  • The Philippines’ vaccination campaign has been plagued by shortages and delivery delays since it began in March
  • Elsewhere, New Zealand ‘may not go back to zero’ cases, says health chief; India readies roll-out of world’s first DNA-based vaccine
Agencies
Australia plans to open its international border by Christmas at the latest, unwinding one of the world’s strictest controls on overseas travel since the pandemic began.

Australians will be able to travel abroad, with no restrictions on the destination, once the vaccination rate in their respective home state hits 80 per cent, Tourism Minister Dan Tehan said at a National Press Club of Australia event on Wednesday.

Australia’s borders have been mostly shut to non-citizens and non-residents since March 2020.

Kyeemagh Beach in Sydney, New South Wales, pictured on Monday. Photo: EPA

“People will be able to freely travel outside Australia with no restrictions” under the national plan governing the country’s emergence from Covid-19, Tehan said. Australians would still be subject to rules governing the countries they visit.

The government is exploring opening travel bubbles with several countries to reduce quarantine time, and hopes home quarantine will be operational before Christmas, Tehan said.

Meanwhile, hundreds took to the steps of a Melbourne war memorial on Wednesday in a third day of protest against mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations for the construction sector.

Heavily armed police surrounded the group, arresting several people, local media reported.

Victoria‘s Deputy Premier James Merlino described the protests as “thuggery from hundreds of people” and a mob acting criminally”, news agency AAP reported.

Construction workers clash with unionists at a protest over mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations in Melbourne on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

“What we have seen over the last two or three days is criminal behaviour that does not represent our great state in any way, shape or form,” he said.

On Tuesday, the government shut down the construction industry for two weeks, citing multiple recent coronavirus outbreaks linked to the sector.

Philippines’ Duterte slams ‘selfish’ rich nations at UN

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte criticised rich nations at the United Nations General Assembly for hoarding Covid-19 vaccines while much of the developing world continues to suffer shortages.

“The picture is bleak. It is a man-made drought of vaccines ravaging the poor countries,” Duterte said in a video message. “Rich countries hoard life-saving vaccines while poor nations wait for trickles. They now talk of booster shots, while developing countries consider half doses just to get by.”

“This is shocking beyond belief and must be condemned for what it is: a selfish act that can neither be justified rationally or morally,” he added.

The Philippines’ vaccination campaign started in March after repeated delays, and has been plagued by shortages, delivery delays and hesitancy, including from those who prefer Western brands.
A man receives China's Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine in Quezon City, the Philippines, earlier this month. Photo: AP

Duterte’s popularity has remained strong despite the Philippines’ struggles through the pandemic, with rising infections and deaths over the past two months.

About 17 per cent of Filipinos have been fully vaccinated, or nearly 19 million people, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Hunger, debt: hit by Covid, Filipino farmers want more for their children

Other heads of state, including the presidents of Peru and Colombia, also bemoaned the need to reduce global inequity for vaccine access.

“The plain fact is this pandemic will not end unless this virus is defeated everywhere,” Duterte said.

He added that inequality is the common thread in not just the pandemic, but also climate change and geopolitical tensions.

Singapore posts 1,457 infections

Singapore’s health ministry reported 1,457 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, the highest since April last year.

A recent rise in infections after the relaxation of some Covid-19 measures has prompted Singapore to pause further reopening. More than 80 per cent of its population has been vaccinated against Covid-19.

New Zealand ‘may not get back to zero’ cases

New Zealand may not get back to having zero coronavirus cases in the community, the director general of health said on Wednesday, as the country continues efforts to stamp out the infectious Delta variant of the virus.

New Zealand eliminated Covid-19 last year and had been largely virus-free, barring a small number of cases in February, until the latest outbreak of the Delta variant erupted in August, prompting Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to order a nationwide lockdown.

Its biggest city of Auckland is still in lockdown with a small number of new cases being reported every day.

“We may not get back to zero but the important thing is we are going to keep finding any infections and basically continue to contact trace, test and isolate people so that we stop the virus circulating in the community … that’s the aim,” Ashley Bloomfield, the director general of health told Radio New Zealand.

New Zealand’s Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield looks on as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks at a press conference. Photo: New Zealand Herald

Bloomfield said the aim now was to try and get on top of the outbreak while also ramping up vaccination rates. “Get that vaccination rate up over 90 per cent … that’s absolutely our new means whereby we will be able to get back to the freedoms we had,” he said.

Ardern’s government faces questions over its vaccine roll-out. After an apparent delayed start, New Zealand has ramped up inoculation with nearly 40 per cent of the country’s 5.1 million people now fully vaccinated.

Authorities reported 23 new cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday, all in Auckland, taking the total number of cases in the current outbreak to 1,080.

At a daily press conference later in the day, however, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said: “We are not giving up on getting back down to zero. That is absolutely what we are striving for.”

India to start giving children DNA-based vaccine

All Indian children aged 12 or older will become eligible for Covid-19 vaccinations from next month, when drug maker Cadila Healthcare launches its ZyCoV-D product, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

The world’s first DNA-based Covid-19 vaccine, ZyCoV-D won emergency authorisation from Indian regulators last month. From October, the company, better known as Zydus Cadila, will produce 10 million doses a month.

The health ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The sources sought anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to media.

The vaccine is the only one approved for children in India, which has given a total of 825.9 million doses to adults among its population of nearly 1.4 billion.

Australian Olympian hospitalised with Covid-19

Australian swimmer Madison Wilson, winner of an Olympic gold medal this year, has been hospitalised with Covid-19.

The vaccinated 27-year-old announced on Instagram that she had been “moved into hospital for further care and observation” after falling ill, adding that she has underlying conditions that probably enabled a breakthrough infection.

The diagnosis forced her out of the International Swim League competition in Naples, Italy.

 

“I am extremely disappointed and upset not to be racing alongside my teammates in match 8 here in the ISL,” Wilson wrote on Instagram. “I recently tested positive for Covid and yesterday was moved into hospital for further care and observation. Even though I am double vaccinated and took the right precaution set in place through the ISL, I have managed to fall to this virus. It’s been a crazy few months, and I believe being rundown physically and mentally may have made me more susceptible.”

Wilson was part of a powerhouse Australian women’s team that competed at the Tokyo Games. She won a gold medal in the 4x100-metre freestyle and picked up a bronze in the 4x200 free relay.

“I feel extremely unlucky, but I do believe this is a huge wake-up call,” Wilson wrote in the post, which also included a photo of her in a hospital bed and a video from her ISL teammates. “Covid is a serious thing, and when it comes, it hits very hard. I’d be stupid not to say I wasn’t scared. I’m so lucky for all my family, friends and support people. I can’t believe how much love I have been shown and I’m forever in debt to these people. I’m taking some time to rest, and I’m sure I’ll be ready to bounce back in no time.”

Wilson credited her vaccine with keeping the worst of the illness at bay, considering she has “underlying chest and lung issues,” she wrote in subsequent stories, according to Yahoo Sports.

Thailand says Pfizer spurs top response after Sinovac, AstraZeneca jab

One of Thailand’s main Covid-19 vaccine regimes generates a lower immune response than inoculation combinations that include an mRNA-based dose, according to a study by the Siriraj Institute of Clinical Research.

Preliminary results showed that a Sinovac vaccine as a first shot followed by an AstraZeneca jab – a pairing widely used in Thailand – elicited a weaker immune response than a two-dose regime in which Pfizer’s vaccine was administered as the second shot four weeks after an initial jab of either Sinovac or AstraZeneca, the study said.

Thailand was the first nation to start administering the Sinovac-then-Astra combo, with the goal of increasing protection against the more contagious Delta variant and addressing vaccine shortages.

In one of the early studies that prompted Thailand to adopt the two-brand regime, results showed that a first dose of the China-made vaccine followed by an AstraZeneca shot three to four weeks later could elicit an immune response eight times stronger than two doses of Sinovac.

Reporting by Reuters, DPA, Bloomberg, Associated Press, Tribune News Service

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Australia plans to reopen borders before Christmas
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