The premier of Australia's New South Wales Tuesday said she will decide within the next 24 hours whether to extend a Covid-19 lockdown in Sydney that is set to end Friday as new cases of the virus dropped in the country's most populous state.
NSW officials said they have detected only 18 local transmissions Tuesday, half of the previous day's number, as health officials said they aim to step up immunizations.
In Hong Kong, officials said Tuesday they will evaluate Singapore's new Covid-19 strategy as the two sides try to revive a quarantine-free travel corridor that was initially planned to open in November.
As of Tuesday, Singapore has reported 62,639 cases, Channel News Asia said.
"We need to understand more about that new strategy and whether it will have any effect on the arrangements that we have devised," Bloomberg quoted Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam as saying.
In China, officials said they are researching and developing 71 vaccines against the disease and they are effective against the Delta strain, top epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan said.
Nine of the 71 vaccines have already been put into use, and two were granted by the World Health Organization for emergency use, Zhong said.
Over in Vietnam, the Ministry of Health confirmed 514 new infections Monday night, taking the day's total to 1,089, according to VNExpress.
Health officials also announced the discharge of 203 patients Monday evening, taking the total number of recoveries since the start of the pandemic to 8,022.
In the Philippines, several cities in the capital region have suspended their first-dose immunization campaign as supply from the national government has been depleted.
Scheduled vaccination of front-line workers receiving the vaccine for the first time will not push through Tuesday, the South China Morning Post said.
In Thailand, a leaked health ministry document has prompted calls in the southeast Asian country for health personnel vaccinated against the virus to be given a booster of an mRNA vaccine, after the document included a comment that such a move could affect public confidence in China's Sinovac's vaccine.
Thailand has administered Sinovac's inactivated virus vaccine to most medical front-line workers, and studies showed two doses were 95% safe and effective in reducing mortality and severe symptoms, CNN reported.
Worldwide, there are currently 184 million cases of the virus, with 3.98 million deaths.
