Coronavirus: Vietnam detects new ‘hybrid’ UK-India variant; Malaysia reports record daily increase with 9,020 new cases
- Laboratory cultures of the more-transmissible new variant revealed that it is able to replicate itself very quickly, according to reports
- Meanwhile, Malaysia reported the fifth straight day of record new infections and fresh cases in India fell to their lowest level in more than six weeks
After successfully containing the virus for most of last year, Vietnam is grappling with a rise in infections since late April that accounts for more than half of the total 6,856 registered cases. So far, there have been 47 deaths.
“Vietnam has uncovered a new Covid-19 variant combining characteristics of the two existing variants first found in India and the UK,” Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said, describing it as a hybrid of the two known variants.
“That the new one is an Indian variant with mutations that originally belong to the UK variant is very dangerous,” he told a government meeting.
Long said Vietnam would soon publish genome data of the newly identified variant, which he said was more transmissible than the previously known types.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified four variants of SARS-CoV-2 of global concern. These include variants that emerged first in India, Britain, South Africa and Brazil.
Long said laboratory cultures of the new variant showed the virus replicated itself very quickly, possibly explaining why so many new cases had appeared in different parts of the country in a short period of time.
The health ministry told the meeting the government was working to secure 10 million vaccine doses under the Covax cost-sharing scheme, as well as a further 20 million doses of Pfizer’s shot and 40 million of Russia’s Sputnik V.
The capital Hanoi, and the southern business hub of Ho Chi Minh City, have shut restaurants and banned public gatherings.
A source at one Apple supplier said the company had split its workforce over two shifts, describing it as a “temporary solution, for maybe two weeks.”
Bac Ninh, where Samsung Electronics has significant operations, imposed a curfew and other travel restrictions on Tuesday, state media said. Vietnam accounts for half of Samsung’s global phone and tablet production, according to the government.
Malaysia infections skyrocket
The health ministry also reported 98 deaths of people who had tested positive for Covid-19, another daily record. The latest figures took the total number of cases in the country to 558,534 and deaths to 2,650.
Malaysia on Friday announced a two-week nationwide lockdown to curb a relentless surge in Covid-19 cases.
Only essential economic and service sectors will be allowed to operate from June 1-14, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement, days after premier Muhyiddin Yassin had ruled out a repeat of last year’s lockdown.
The government will soon announce an aid package for those affected by the new restrictions, according to the statement.
India cases fall to 6-week low
Earlier this month, India’s daily cases hit a grim world record with 414,000 infections.
The daily death toll remains high with 3,617 fatalities reported in the last 24 hours, data released by the Health Ministry showed.
India is looking to pick up its sluggish vaccination drive with only 3 per cent of the population fully vaccinated so far.
On Friday, senior minister Prakash Javadekar reiterated the government’s forecast that the entire country would be inoculated by the end of the year.
Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who is visiting the US, said the pandemic and vaccines are a key part of discussions with top officials of the Biden administration.
National capital New Delhi plans to start lifting coronavirus curbs and gradually “unlocking” from Monday. Delhi has been under a lockdown since April 19.
Most Filipinos don’t want a vaccine. Especially not a Chinese one
Philippines lifts ban on workers’ travel to Saudi
“Our Saudi-bound workers will no longer be disadvantaged,” said Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello.
Flag carrier Philippine Airlines said it will accept Filipino workers on flights to Dammam and Riyadh, waiving rebooking fees for passengers who had been unable to board because of the deployment ban.
Bello apologised for the “inconvenience and momentary anguish” caused by his Thursday ban, saying, “I understand that the suspension order drew confusion and irritation among our affected departing overseas Filipino workers.
More than a million Filipinos work in Saudi Arabia, the most preferred destination of overseas Filipino workers in 2019, government data show. Many Filipinos are hired as construction workers, domestic helpers or nurses.
In 2020, Filipinos in Saudi Arabia sent home US$1.8 billion in remittances, a key support for the consumption-led economy.
With more than 1.2 million cases and 20,722 deaths, the Philippines has the second-highest Covid-19 infections and casualties in Southeast Asia, behind Indonesia.
Pakistan detects first case of variant from India
The ministry said its Field Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Division was undertaking contact tracing for the patient, who is reportedly based in Islamabad.
Pakistan is currently coming out of its third wave of Covid-19, which has been the deadliest phase of the country’s outbreak so far.
The numbers of new infections and fatalities have been gradually decreasing in the country, with a reported total of 913,784 coronavirus cases and 20,607 deaths.
Myanmar suspends domestic flights, adds curbs
Domestic flights between the commercial capital, Yangon, and at least five cities will be suspended for at least two weeks beginning Saturday. Myanmar Airways International-Air KBZ Group, the nation’s largest private airline, said it would suspend operations in Tachileik, Kalay, Dawei, Myeik and Kawthaung.
Health Minister Thet Khine Win warned of the possibility of a third virus wave as Myanmar reported 168 new cases in 48 hours, mostly from the townships of Tonzang and Tamu. The ministry imposed a stay-at-home order in the two townships, allowing people to leave only for work and health matters.
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Myanmar will also allow imports of WHO-approved vaccines that are widely used in the region, the ministry said in a statement.
Outbreak in Thai prisons spotlights conditions
More than 22,000 people have tested positive inside jails, where inmates living cheek by jowl have been encouraged to keep wearing their masks even while they sleep.
Authorities have floated plans to give early releases to prisoners with underlying medical conditions and have announced funding for more testing and medical care in recent days.
But those behind bars say they have been kept in the dark about the seriousness of the outbreak.
“Prisoners don’t have the knowledge to protect themselves,” said Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, a high-profile activist facing charges under Thailand’s harsh royal defamation law.
Somyot was bailed last month and said that he had not been tested for Covid-19 once during his 10-week stint in custody.
He was not worried about contracting the disease while in jail because he had no idea about the level of risk.
“But after this I’m so scared (for everyone still inside) … if you are inside the prison you are at risk, it’s unavoidable,” he said.
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Thailand’s prison outbreak has skyrocketed from just 10 publicly announced cases a month ago and sparked growing public concern after a handful of prominent activists contracted the illness.
Among them was student leader Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul, who helped lead a series of rallies last year demanding political reforms in the kingdom, and who tested positive after she was released on bail.
The Thai prison population stood at around 311,000 earlier this year, the International Federation for Human Rights said – more than two and a half times the system’s official capacity.
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Four inmates in every five are serving time for drug charges because of harsh anti-narcotics laws that can see offenders jailed for a decade for possessing just a few methamphetamine pills.
Many cells are so packed with bodies that some inmates only have half a metre of space.
“That is less room for a body than the inside of a coffin,” Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin told local media in February.
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Somsak said he was examining ways to give early releases to prisoners with underlying medical conditions, possibly through a royal pardon.
Even if the plan goes ahead, prisoners will still have to complete a quarantine before returning home.
“For us to bail anyone or do anything, it has to be done properly,” Somsak told reporters on Monday. “We can’t allow them to spread infections.”
Rights groups say the plan should go further and urged authorities to also free non-violent offenders to reduce overcrowding.
“Authorities should reduce the detainee population … of those held on politically motivated charges or for minor offences,” said Brad Adams of Human Rights Watch.
Victoria sees five local cases
The state entered a seven-day lockdown Friday to tackle a small but growing cluster of infections. Victoria’s health minister, Martin Foley, said on Saturday that it’s too early to say whether a longer crackdown would be required. “It’s a seven-day circuit breaker,” he said.
Reporting by Reuters, Bloomberg, Kyodo, Agence France-Presse, dpa
