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
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.
“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.
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.
“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
“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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.”
“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
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