State leaders in New South Wales demanded Monday the federal government buys more Covid-19 vaccines as cases of the communicable Delta variant increase.
Sydney started a two-week lockdown Sunday as a cluster of infections of the Delta variant climbed to 110 in Australia's biggest city, The Sydney Morning Herald said Monday.
"Given how contagious this strain of the virus is, we anticipate that in the next few days, case numbers are likely to increase beyond what we've seen today," New South Wales State Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
Chief testing commander Jeroen Weimar confirmed Monday there were no community infections in Victoria and no active cases of the Delta variant.
In Queensland, health officials are on alert after a third case of community transmission linked to an outbreak in the Northern Territory emerged late Sunday.
In addition to its hard border with NSW, South Australia is now enforcing a two-week quarantine for any travellers who arrived from Greater Sydney last week. #9Newshttps://t.co/XmusKXHjWl — 9News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) June 26, 2021
According to ABC News, there is no talk of a lockdown in Queensland yet. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the state's approach to snap pandemic restrictions hasn't changed.
In Indonesia, the country's Medical Doctors' Association asked the government to impose a hard lockdown of at least two weeks.
Thirty doctors have died so far this month as Indonesia battles a second wave of infections caused by the Delta variant.
Indonesia's cases now number 2.12 million and deaths are 57,138, The Straits Times reported.
In Malaysia, the government will extend a nationwide lockdown - originally set to end Monday - until daily new infections fall below 4,000, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said.
Malaysia is still averaging more than 5,000 cases a day almost four weeks into the lockdown.
"Why do businesses with no Covid-19 cases have to close due to the lockdown, while factories with cases are reopened after a few days and sanitization?" Democratic Action Party secretary-general Lim Guan told the Straits Times.
In Singapore, officials reported 12 new community infections Sunday, including one with no links to previous cases.
As of Sunday, Singapore has reported a total of 62,544 cases and 36 deaths.
Over in Thailand, health authorities will again impose restrictions on restaurants, construction sites and gatherings in the capital Bangkok starting Monday as the country tries to contain a wave of infections.
Officials said the new restrictions will last for a month. The government has been criticized for its faltering vaccine rollout, with health officials scrambling to secure more doses from other countries.
In Hong Kong, a second local infection likely to involve the Delta variant has put the city on heightened alert.
A busy shopping center could become a "superspreading" site and trigger Hong Kong's fifth wave, a health expert warned, according to the South China Morning Post.
In the Philippines, the first shipment of Moderna vaccines, consisting of 249,600 doses, arrived late Sunday.
The Philippines acquired at least 20 million doses of Moderna vaccines, 13 million by the government and 7 million by the private sector, reports say.
In Vietnam, South Korean companies operating in the country have donated millions of dollars to help the government procure vaccines, officials said Sunday.
Samsung Electronics has reportedly donated nearly 3 billion won (US$2.48 million), while SK Group, South Korea's third-biggest conglomerate, donated $1 million.
Worldwide, there are 181 million cases of the virus. Some 3.92 million have died from it.
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