NEW DELHI (AP) – India on Monday reported another record daily rise in coronavirus infections to pass Brazil as the country with the second most reported infection since the pandemic began.
The 168,912 cases added in the last 24 hours have pushed India’s total since the pandemic began to 13.5 million, while Brazil has 13.4 million, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.
India also reported 904 deaths in the last 24 hours, with a total of 170,179, which is the fourth highest toll, behind the United States, Brazil and Mexico.
India is experiencing the worst increase in the pandemic, with an average of seven days of more than 130,000 cases a day. Hospitals across the country are overflowing with patients and experts worry that the worst is yet to come.
The latest wave also coincides with the shortage of vaccines in some states of India, including eastern Maharashtra, where the financial capital Bombay is located, which is the hardest hit state and has recorded about half of the country’s new infections in the past two weeks.
In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:
– The battered capital of the Philippines and four nearby provinces were placed on Monday under a lighter coronavirus shutdown to prevent further damage to an already battered economy despite a continued rise in infections and deaths. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Metropolitan Manila and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal, a region of more than 25 million people, would remain under slight quarantine restrictions until the end of April after a hard two-week lock. “Our emerging strategy is to increase our bed capacity instead of shutting down the economy,” said Roque, who spoke in a television statement from a Manila hospital after hiring COVID-19 like many cabinet members. The Philippines has long been a benchmark for Southeast Asian coronavirus, with some 865,000 confirmed infections and nearly 15,000 deaths.
– Thailand has reported 985 new cases of coronavirus, its highest daily increase since the beginning of the pandemic. Health officials say they are concerned that the number of new infections could be much higher after this week’s traditional Thai New Year holiday. Health experts said on Monday that the country’s third largest increase proved to be more difficult to control, as it was mostly a variant of the virus that was found in the UK and has mainly affected younger people because it broke out in nightclubs. and bars. Millions of Thais travel the country during this week’s annual Songkran festival. The government has not prevented people from traveling, as it did when it canceled the festival last year.
– New Zealand demands that all frontier workers be vaccinated against coronavirus by the end of the month. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday that employers should immediately consider alternative options for any of their employees who have not been vaccinated. This could mean that these workers are redistributed to functions outside the border or fired. Ardern had previously set April as the deadline to vaccinate front-line workers, but on Monday spoke of it in stronger terms after three workers at a quarantine facility caught the virus. New Zealand has wiped out the spread of the virus in the community, so returning travelers who may have caught COVID-19 abroad are considered the biggest vulnerability.
– Tokyo took tougher measures against coronavirus as it struggles to curb the rapid spread of a more contagious variant before the Olympics in a country where less than 1% of people have been vaccinated. Japan expanded its vaccination drive older residents on Monday, with first shots at about 120 selected locations across the country. The tougher rules of COVID-19 allow the governor of Tokyo to demand shorter hours for bars and restaurants, punish violators and compensate those who comply. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike urged residents to be cautious while vaccinations are in an early stage.
– The impetus for vaccination against COVID-19 in Bhutan was rapid from the beginning. While other countries have been developing their vaccination campaigns for months, Bhutan is almost finished only 16 days after starting. The small Himalayan kingdom has vaccinated almost 93% of its adults. Its small population helped Bhutan move forward rapidly, but it also accredits dedicated volunteers and the use of cold chain storage from previous vaccination initiatives. Bhutan distributed the traits coinciding with favorable dates in Buddhist astrology and the recipients and providers of the first trait were women born in the Year of the Monkey.
– The new mayor of the South Korean capital demanded rapid approval of coronavirus self-assessment kits, saying his city urgently needs more tools to fight the pandemic and keep troubled businesses open. Oh Se-hoon spoke Monday when Seoul and nearby metropolitan cities closed hostess bars, nightclubs and other high-risk entertainment venues to slow down broadcasts. Similar companies were also closed in the southern port city of Busan. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said 350 of the country’s 587 new cases came from the greater Seoul area. The director of South Korea’s National Institutes of Health said earlier this month that authorities were reviewing whether rapid tests were approved at home. But the review has been carried out slowly and some experts say these tests would do more harm than good as they are less accurate than standard lab tests. Meanwhile, health officials said Novland-based Maryland has reached a license agreement that will allow a South Korean biotech company to produce its coronavirus vaccines later this year. SK Bioscience plans to produce 20 million shots of Novavax by September, which will be used locally.