Melbourne will enter its fifth Covid-19 lockdown late Thursday as health officials work to contain two separate Delta variant clusters and an increasingly expanding list of exposure sites.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed the lockdown and said restrictions will remain in place until 11.59 p.m. July 20.
"We must do this. You only get one chance to go hard and go fast. If you wait, if you hesitate, if you doubt, then you will always be looking back wishing you had done more earlier," Bloomberg quoted Andrews as saying.
In the Philippines, the country received Thursday more doses of Moderna's vaccine as part of its procured supply from the U.S. pharmaceutical company.
The shipment is the second batch of Moderna's vaccine delivered to the Philippines. It is part of the 20 million shots in total the Philippines bought from the drug producer.
In Thailand, three more resort islands opened to immunized foreign guests Thursday despite a nationwide surge in infections caused by the Delta variant.
The islands - Phangan, Samui and Tao - welcomed the tourists as part of the country's push to revive its battered tourism industry, Channel News Asia said.
In Indonesia, health officials reported 54,517 new infections Wednesday, a single-day national record and dire warning for the nation of around 270 million people.
According to experts, Indonesia is now reaping the costs of not enforcing strict lockdowns nor investing enough in efficient contact-tracing systems.
In China, two pharmaceutical companies in the country signed deals with COVAX to sell more than half a billion of their vaccines by June 2021, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (Gavi) said.
Under the deal, China vaccine producers Sinovac and Sinopharm will start to immediately manufacture 110 million doses, CNN said, citing a news release from Gavi, a public-private international health collaboration that is co-leading COVAX.
Over in Hong Kong, the city's plan to ease entry restrictions for fully immunized residents and work visa holders will do little to help thousands of domestic helpers whose home countries' vaccination records are unrecognised, South China Morning Post said.
The plan, to be carried out next week, will also allow unvaccinated minors studying in the United Kingdom to return home for the summer holiday. The UK is among eight nations categorized by Hong Kong officials as extremely high-risk for the virus.
In Vietnam, the government said U.S. vaccine manufacturer Pfizer would provide 20 million more vaccine doses, as the country tries to shore up supplies at a time of record number of new cases.
The additional vaccines would be used for 12 to 18 year olds, according to Reuters, citing Vietnam's health ministry officials.
In Singapore, authorities reported the country's highest number of local transmissions in 10 months, after the detection of a cluster among hosts and customers of karaoke lounges.
"So for this to now happen has been troubling (and) disappointing," Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said.
Of the 56 new community cases, 41 were linked to the karaoke bars outbreak, health officials said.
In South Korea, the number of infections reported Thursday almost matches the single-day record of 1,615 reported a day earlier and marks the ninth consecutive day with more than 1,000 new infections, The Associated Press said.
More than 1,100 of the latest infections are in the capital city of Seoul and nearby Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, AP said.
In India, the country's first Covid-19 patient has tested positive for a second time, Agence France-Presse said, citing a medical official.
The 21-year-old woman, a student who was in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has no symptoms but is in isolation at her home in the southern state of Kerala, Agence France-Presse said.
Worldwide, there are currently 188 million Covid-19 cases. Some 4.06 million have died from the disease.
