NEW DELHI (AP) – India reported another record daily rise in coronavirus infections on Monday, overtaking Brazil as the country with the second most reported infections since the start of the pandemic.
The 168,912 cases added in the past 24 hours have increased India’s total to 13.5 million since the pandemic began, while Brazil has 13.4 million, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.
India also reported 904 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 170,179, the fourth highest toll, after the United States, Brazil and Mexico.
India is experiencing the worst pandemic rise, with a seven-day moving average of more than 130,000 cases per day. Hospitals across the country are becoming overwhelmed with patients, and experts worry that the worst is yet to come.
The latest increase also coincides with vaccine shortages in some Indian states, including the western state of Maharashtra, home to the financial capital of Mumbai, the hardest hit state and has seen nearly half of the country’s new infections in the past two weeks. registered.
For other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:
– The hard-hit Philippine capital and four nearby provinces were placed under a lighter coronavirus lockout on Monday to prevent further damage to an already battered economy, despite a continued increase in infections and deaths. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Metropolitan Manila and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal, a region of more than 25 million people, would remain under lighter quarantine restrictions until the end of April after a two-week hard lockdown. “Our emerging strategy is to increase our bed capacity rather than shut down the economy,” said Roque, who spoke in a televised newsletter from a Manila hospital after contracting COVID-19, like many cabinet members. The Philippines has long been a Southeast Asian coronavirus hotspot, with about 865,000 confirmed infections and nearly 15,000 deaths.
Thailand has reported 985 new cases of coronavirus, the highest daily increase since the start of the pandemic. Health officials say they are concerned that the rate of new infections could be much higher after this week’s traditional Thai New Year holiday. Health experts said Monday that the third major wave in the country was more difficult to combat, as it was usually a variant of the virus first found in the UK and has mainly affected younger people as it broke out in nightclubs and bars. Millions of Thais travel across the country for this week’s annual Songkran festival. The government has not prevented people from traveling, as it did last year when it canceled the festival.
– New Zealand demands that all frontier workers be vaccinated against the corona virus by the end of the month. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday that employers should consider alternative options for all their employees who have not been vaccinated from now on. That could mean transferring those workers to roles outside the border or firing them. Ardern had previously set April as the deadline for vaccinating front-line workers, but spoke in stronger terms on Monday after three workers in a quarantine facility contracted the virus. New Zealand has eradicated the spread of the virus within the community, so repeat travelers who caught COVID-19 abroad are considered the greatest vulnerability.
Tokyo has taken tougher measures against the coronavirus as it struggles to stem the rapid spread of a more contagious variant ahead of the Olympics in a country where less than 1% of people have been vaccinated. Japan expanded its vaccination drive to elderly residents on Monday, with the first shots being given at about 120 selected places around the country. The stricter COVID-19 rules allow the Tokyo governor to impose shorter opening hours for bars and restaurants, punish offenders and compensate those who adhere to them. Tokyo government Yuriko Koike urged residents to exercise caution while vaccinations are at an early stage.
– The COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Bhutan was swift from the start. While other countries have been rolling out their vaccination campaigns for months, Bhutan is almost ready just 16 days after it started. The small kingdom of the Himalayas has inoculated nearly 93% of its adults. The small population helped Bhutan move quickly, but dedicated volunteers and the use of cold chain storage from previous vaccination programs are also credited. Bhutan distributed the images coinciding with auspicious dates in Buddhist astrology and the recipient and issuer of the first image were women born in the Year of the Monkey.
– The new mayor of South Korea’s capital demanded swift approval of coronavirus self-testing kits, saying his city urgently needs more tools to fight the pandemic and keep struggling businesses open. Oh Se-hoon spoke on Monday as Seoul and nearby metropolitan cities shut down hostess bars, nightclubs, and other high-risk entertainment venues to slow transmissions. Similar businesses were also closed in the southern port city of Busan. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said 350 of the 587 new cases in the country came from the greater Seoul region. The director of South Korea’s National Health Institute said earlier this month that authorities are reviewing whether to approve rapid home tests. But the assessment was slow, with some experts saying such tests would do more harm than good because they are less accurate than standard lab tests. Health officials, meanwhile, said Maryland-based Novavax has agreed to a licensing agreement that will allow a South Korean biotech company to produce its coronavirus vaccines later this year. SK Bioscience plans to produce 20 million Novavax shots through September, all of which will be used locally.