Thousands of angry, unmasked protesters marched through Sydney's central business district Saturday demanding an end to the city's lockdown, which is entering its fifth week.
After riot police dispersed the protesters, New South Wales Police Minister David Elliott announced the formation of a task force to identify each of the 3,500 protesters at the "super spreader" event, The Guardian reported.
In Indonesia, the speed and scale of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country has created a perfect breeding ground for a potential new strain that could be deadlier than the Delta variant, international infectious disease experts warn.
"New variants always appear in regions or countries that cannot control outbreaks," Al Jazeera quoted Dicky Budiman, an Indonesian epidemiologist researching virus strains at Australia's Griffith University, as saying.
In China, the country's eastern province of Jiangsu detected 12 new local transmissions Friday, taking to 23 its total since July 20, in its first local outbreak since the pandemic began in 2020.
The total number of confirmed infections in central China now stands at 92,461, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,636, according to Reuters.
Over in the Philippines, local government units are enforcing stricter contact tracing measures after the detection of more Delta infections in the country, health officials said.
As of Friday, the Philippines has recorded 47 Delta cases - with 36 recoveries, three deaths and eight active, health officials said.
In India, a supply crunch may result in the country not getting any doses of the Moderna vaccine until next year, the Hindustan Times said, citing a government report.
The U.S.-based pharmaceutical company's supplies are "fully booked till 2021," according to the report.
The case tally of Vietnam's new virus wave climbed to 83,190 Saturday morning with 5,275 new infections added in 19 localities.
Of all the infections confirmed Saturday morning, 3,200 are in isolation zones and areas under lockdown and the remaining 2,072 were detected in communities with unclear sources of transmission, VNExpress said.
In Singapore, immunized individuals accounted for three-quarters of the country's cases in the last four weeks, but health officials said they were not falling seriously ill, as an acceleration of inoculation leaves fewer people unvaccinated, the South China Morning Post said.
In Thailand, there were a record 14,574 new infections, and 113 more deaths Friday, the Public Health Ministry said.
Over the past 24 hours, 7,774 patients were diagnosed, recovered and were discharged from hospitals, the Bangkok Post said.
In Malaysia, the country reported a record 15,572 new infections Friday, exceeding its previous high by more than 2,000. This is also the first time Malaysia has topped the 15,000 mark for new daily infections.
Malaysia also registered its second highest daily tally Friday and its deadliest since the start of the pandemic with 199 deaths.
Worldwide, there are currently 193 million Covid-19 cases, with 4.14 million deaths.
