Thailand launched a mass immunization campaign Monday. The country is seeking to reopen its tourism industry next year. Health officials want to immunize 70% of the population before the end of this year, Bloomberg News said.
In Mumbai, India, officials are starting a phased loosening of pandemic restrictions as it reported the lowest number of infections since early April.
In China, health authorities reported Monday 19 new COVID-19 cases on the mainland - down from 30 cases a day earlier.
At least 70% of China's "target population" is estimated to be immunized against the virus by the end of the year, Xinhua News Agency reported.
In a related development, a new batch of Sinovac vaccines from China arrived in the Philippines Sunday.
The Philippines' National Task Force Against COVID-19 said 1 million doses of the China vaccine were enough to inoculate 500,000 people. The Sinovac jabs require two shots with an interval of two to four weeks.
Elsewhere, the government of Japan said it was preparing to administer COVID-19 vaccines to Japan citizens overseas starting in August, The Japan Times said.
In Singapore, the Ministry of Health confirmed the detection of 20 new COVID-19 infections, taking the country's total caseload to 62,196.
There are more than 173 million cases of COVID-19 globally, with 3.72 million deaths, according to the World Health Organization.
