Sydney's COVID-19 infections are expected to increase substantially in the coming weeks despite an extended lockdown, officials said on Tuesday, warning that surging cases have already put strained the city's medical facilities.
Australia is struggling to contain a third wave of cases driven by the highly contagious Delta variant despite placing in lockdown more than half the population.
In the Philippines, the Private Hospitals Association estimated that 40% of private hospital nurses quit their jobs last year. Still, more followed new series of infections this year, with public medical facilities facing similar strains, health officials said.
More than one year and a half into the global health crisis, authorities reported infections have soared to more than 1.75 million, the second-highest in Southeast Asia, while fatalities climbed to 30,000.
In China, the country must strive to curb its current wave of cases by the end of the month, health officials said, as students prepare to return to schools in September.
School season will begin next month, and tertiary institutions and secondary and primary schools will start as scheduled, National Health Commission chief Ma Xiaowei said.
In Hong Kong, travelers hoping to enter the financial district have been thrown for a loop after authorities raised 15 nations to its high-risk list, meaning tougher entry mandates and extended isolations for anyone arriving from those destinations.
Some of them who are expected to come from already high-risk nations like the UK had plans to fly to a third country to minimize their hotel isolation from 21 days to 14 days.
Over in Thailand, authorities reported Tuesday a daily record of 238 new fatalities, bringing the nation's total tally of deaths to 7,972.
Thailand's pandemic task force also registered 20,127 new cases, taking total infections to 948,441.
Singapore reported 48 new local transmissions as of noon Monday, including nine with no connections to previous infections.
Thirty-two cases were tied to previous ones and had been put on quarantine. Another seven related cases were detected through surveillance testing, officials said.
In Japan, the government said Tuesday it would extend a state of emergency to seven new regions as it fights a record wave of cases a week before the Paralympic Games.
Emergency protocols that ban restaurants and other business establishments from selling alcohol and require them to close by 8 p.m. are already in place in the capital city of Tokyo and five other regions.
In India, the country's pharmaceutical sector is considering an opportunity valued at $10 billion to $11 billion in the form of COVID-19 vaccine supply, in both local and export markets in the next three years, Care Ratings disclosed in a report.
However, the Indian vaccine producers are unlikely to get the premium pricing granted to U.S.-based multinational firms, between $15 and $25 per shot, with average realization to likely remain anywhere between $3.25 and $3.50 per dose, Care Ratings said.
Globally, there are currently 208 million cases of COVID-19, and 4.37 million have died from the virus.
