As AstraZeneca plc secured U.K. clearance for use of its vaccine by the country's most vulnerable groups early in the new year East and Southeast Asia battened down the hatches against a rising number of new coronavirus infections Wednesday as calendar new year festivities threaten to be a super-spreader event region wide.
In Hong Kong a health expert encouraged people not to hold big gatherings over the calendar new year. David Hui Shu-cheong, respiratory medicine expert from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said daily infection numbers are not likely to go down soon.
"Some recent cases stemmed from infections during (Christmas). There were quite a number of people gathered during Christmas and the impact of these gatherings are yet to be shown," stressed the government adviser. "It is essential not to hold big gatherings," he added, urging people to refrain from gatherings during the New Year and the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays.
In Japan, Tokyo's latest coronavirus outbreak is severe and could explode in the coming days. Japan's New Year holiday period usually sees millions moving around the country.
Tokyo's governor said Wednesday the capital recorded 944 new coronavirus cases - just under the record 949 Saturday. Medical experts said unless the outbreak is checked the city could soon see more than 1,000 new patients a day. "Please emphasize life over fun," Gov. Yuriko Koike said and called on people to stay at home over the holiday.
"The number of cases could explode at any time. Any one of us could become infected at any time...If we do not stamp this out now, we will be facing a much worse situation," she said.
Japan has banned the entry of nonresident foreign nationals following the discovery of the UK variant in Japan.
The latest flare-up in northern China continued - with seven locally transmitted cases reported Wednesday. China's cultural and tourism administration will impose stricter measures on visitor numbers at attractions and sites this calendar new year and Lunar New Year holidays.
Authorities in Beijing have shut down some popular attractions. The city will tighten control measures during the holidays and has told travel agencies to suspend organizing group tours.
During the three-day new year's holiday, which starts Friday, hotel reservations saw an 80% increase over the same period last year, according to figures from online travel agency Qunar.
With the latest outbreak in Thailand sweeping almost two-thirds of the country, authorities are tightening measures to contain infection risks ahead of the New Year holidays.
Bangkok, the nation's capital and its largest city, ordered sports and entertainment venues to close from Tuesday through Jan. 4, with a possible extension if the situation doesn't improve in the next week.
The latest wave has spread to about 60% of Thailand's 77 provinces, official data shows. The government has so far refrained from imposing a broad lockdown but allowed each province to set its own measures.
New cases in Thailand may spike to as high as 18,000 a day in January if no control measures are implemented, health officials say. The country can limit new infections to about 1,000 cases a day with curbs, they said.
Indonesia is closing its borders to foreign travelers from around the world for the first two weeks of 2021, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi announced.
Indonesia has recorded more than 719,000 confirmed cases and upward of 21,000 deaths from the disease, according to the official tally as of Monday.
South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed above 1,000 for a second straight day Wednesday as the government considers the toughest distancing rules to curb the pandemic.
It has extended the current level 2.5 distancing measures in greater Seoul and level 2 restrictions in the rest of the country until Jan. 3. Health authorities will decide whether to raise the social distancing measures to level 3, the highest in the five-tier scheme, before the extended deadline.
Instead of applying measures that would deal a heavy blow to millions of small merchants, health authorities have deployed "targeted" virus curbs.
The greater Seoul area has banned gatherings of five or more people. Restaurants in the greater Seoul area face a fine if they allow gatherings of more than four people. The strongest-ever measures have been applied nationwide since Thursday as well.
Australian authorities restricted movement and tightened curbs on gatherings in Sydney on Wednesday, hoping to avoid a coronavirus "super spreader" event during new year's eve celebrations.
Singapore began vaccinating health care workers Wednesday, kicking off one of Asia's first inoculation programs against the pandemic that has killed more than 1.7 million people worldwide.
Singapore is the first country in Asia to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. It has also signed advance purchase agreements and made early down payments on several other vaccine candidates, including those being developed by Moderna and Sinovac.
It expects to have enough doses for all 5.7 million people by the third quarter of 2021.
