Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he will send to jail those who will refuse to be immunized against Covid-19, reports said Tuesday.
"If you don't want to get vaccinated, I'll have you arrested then I'll inject a vaccine into your buttocks," Duterte said.
In a warning he made earlier, Duterte said those who blatantly violate pandemic protocols could be "liable for murder" if people they come into contact with get infected with the disease and die.
In Indonesia, health officials reported a record-breaking 14,536 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the nation's total number of infections past the 2 million mark.
The country has seen an increase in cases in recent weeks after last month's Eid al-Fitr holidays. Starting next month, the government targets to inoculate at least 1 million people daily.
In Singapore, health officials reported 13 new cases in the community, including one death, Monday.
The health ministry also reported its 35th fatality, a 44-year-old man with a history of diabetes.
Three of Singapore's community cases were not linked to previous infections. Among the 10 that were, five were already in isolation and five were detected through surveillance testing.
In Malaysia, authorities said they will only be able to fully vaccinate 10% of the population by middle of next month, potentially delaying the government's targeted easing of the lockdown to contain a surge.
"We expect to hit 10.7 million doses in mid-July," Khairy Jamaluddin, the coordinating minister for immunization, said in quotes by The Straits Times.
Over in China, the major manufacturing hub of Dongguan in the country's most populous province of Guangdong conducted mass testing on Monday and cordoned off communities after detecting its first cases.
The tally of cases in mainland China remained at 91,604, with the death toll unchanged at 4,636, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, Vietnam will prioritize immunizing Chinese nationals, Vietnamese who travel to China for work and people who work in the north border area, after China donated 500,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccines to Vietnam on Monday.
Xiong Bo, Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam, said China is the first nation to give a massive amount of its homegrown vaccines to Vietnam, Global Times said.
Globally, there are 179 million cases of the virus, with 3.87 million deaths.
