New Zealand is shutting down the isolation-free travel bubble with Australia for two months, as the nation struggles with a number of Covid outbreaks.
At a news briefing Friday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said because of the Delta variant there was "greater risk now...than when we opened the travel bubble," The Guardian said.
In Vietnam, health officials announced 3,897 more community transmissions in 21 cities and provinces Friday morning, with most of them in Ho Chi Minh City.
Since the new wave of infections started April 27, the country has reported 74,518 community transmissions in 62 of its 63 cities and provinces, VNExpress said.
In Japan, Tokyo hit another six-month high in new infections Thursday, one day before the Games begin, as worries grow of a worsening of cases during the Olympics.
Thursday's 1,977 new infections are the highest since 2,043 were recorded Jan. 15, The Associated Press said.
In China, the country's rebuff of the World Health Organization's proposed second phase of an inquiry into the origins of the virus underscores the difficulty it faces in operating in the face of political pressure from its most powerful members.
Zeng Yixin, China's health vice-minister, described the planned investigation as "disrespectful to common sense and contrary to science," the South China Morning Post reported.
Over in Indonesia, the government is taking the lead in the dismal Covid-19 stakes after health authorities reported a recent wave of 50,000 infections in one day.
Hospitals are short of life-saving oxygen and drugs, and people are dying alone. Indonesia is witnessing more than 1,000 virus deaths every day, according to Bloomberg.
In the Philippines, the Department of Health Thursday confirmed the local transmission of the more transmissible Delta variant in the country.
"Clusters of Delta variant infections were seen to be linked to other local cases, therefore, exhibiting local transmission," the DOH said.
In India, the government had administered at least 417 million vaccine doses by Thursday. Political parties were locked in a verbal dispute over how many people died because of shortage of oxygen supplies while battling the virus during the second wave.
More than 87 million people have been completely immunized in India as of Thursday, while more than 242 million have received only one dose, data from the Union Health Ministry show.
In South Korea, health officials have reported their highest-ever number of daily infections as the country grapples with a new wave of the Delta variant.
Authorities are planning to expand pandemic curbs enforced for the capital Seoul and neighboring areas last week, as small clusters continue to emerge around the country.
In Thailand, automaker Toyota Motor has suspended operations at its three facilities as the Delta variant disrupts the supply of key automobile parts in the country, Nikkei Asia reported.
This is the second time Toyota's production in Thailand has been disrupted by the pandemic. The factories were shuttered during Thailand's first wave in March last year.
In Singapore, three quarters of the country's cases in the last four weeks were among immunized individuals, government data shows, as a rapid increase in the city state's vaccinations leaves fewer people unvaccinated, Reuters said.
Worldwide, there are currently 193 million cases of the virus, with 4.14 million deaths.
