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S. Korea to impose nationwide ban on gatherings of 5 or more people in virus fight: PM (nationthailand.com)

S. Korea to impose nationwide ban on gatherings of 5 or more people in virus fight: PM

Dec 22. 2020Skiers wait in line for a lift at a ski slope in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province, on Monday. (Yonhap) 

By The Korea Herald/ANN

South Korea will ban private gatherings of five or more people during the upcoming holiday season to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Tuesday.

The new restriction will be part of the government’s special antivirus measures in effect from Thursday until Jan. 3, Chung said during an interagency meeting on the COVID-19 pandemic response.

It is an extension of a ban that was previously limited to Seoul and the adjacent Incheon and Gyeonggi Province from Wednesday until Jan. 3.

“We intend to break the force of the third wave with measures that are stronger than those under Level 3 social distancing,” he said, indicating the government remains cautious about adopting the highest level due to its potential economic impact.

“The government will block transmissions in everyday life in practical ways rather than through the formality of adjusting levels,” Chung said.

The capital area is currently under Level 2.5, the second highest in a five-tier scheme, as authorities continue to weigh the pros and cons of adopting Level 3 rules.

The rest of the nation is under Level 2.

Chung said ski slopes and other winter sports facilities, as well as popular year-end tourist attractions, will be required to close during the designated period.

Senior care centers and mental hospitals, which have become hotbeds for cluster infections, will limit visits by outsiders and ban their staff from holding private gatherings. Restaurants will also face stricter social distancing rules, he added.

The capital area has recently accounted for about 70 percent of the new national daily caseload. In the past week, the country reported more than 1,000 daily confirmed cases for five consecutive days.

On Sunday and Monday, the number fell below 1,000 apparently due to fewer tests over the weekend.

“Yesterday saw a record 110,000 tests, but the number of confirmed cases stood in the 800s, leading us to hope for a turnaround,” Chung said. “Christmas and the New Year holiday period must not become a trigger for the coronavirus.” (Yonhap)

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Official affirms safety of Chinese vaccines (nationthailand.com)

Official affirms safety of Chinese vaccines

Dec 22. 2020A staff member displays samples of the COVID-19 inactivated vaccine at Sinovac Biotech Ltd, in Beijing, capital of China, March 16, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua] 

By WANG XIAOYU
CHINA DAILY/ANN

Respecting laws of science fundamental principle in its development, he says

Experimental COVID-19 vaccines developed by Chinese researchers are safe, and ongoing efforts to push for their market approval will strictly follow the rules of science, a health official said on Monday.

China is conducting third-stage clinical trials for five Chinese-made vaccine candidates overseas and has administered emergency inoculations to nearly 1 million people in the country, according to Zheng Zhongwei, an official with the National Health Commission who is leading the task force on vaccine development.

“These vaccinations have fully demonstrated the safety of Chinese-made vaccines. There is some adverse reaction, but no severe adverse effect has been reported,” he said during a news conference on Monday.

He added that results from third-stage human trials are needed to determine the efficacy of these vaccines, although data from earlier phases of clinical trials and reports from recipients of emergency inoculations in high-risk countries have already shown the protective effects of these doses.

“Some leading developers have just obtained enough cases to conduct analysis of its efficacy. They have begun to submit materials needed for approval to the National Medical Products Administration,” Zheng said.

Market approval will only be granted after submitted trial findings meet the requirements of the top drug regulator, he added.

Zheng stressed that throughout the vaccine development process in China, respecting the laws of science has always been the fundamental principle.

“I believe that after third-stage trial results are revealed, the drug regulator will advance the registration and approval procedures at a relatively fast pace,” he said. “Some manufacturers are also gearing up for mass production.”

China has been in a leading position in the global race for a COVID-19 vaccine. As of Dec 2, a total of 15 Chinese-made vaccines employing five different technologies have entered clinical trials, according to Zheng.

Three inactivated vaccines－two developed by Sinopharm and one by Sinovac－were among the first candidates in the world to begin the third and late stage of clinical trials, according to Zheng.

The fourth inactivated vaccine created by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences’ Institute of Medical Biology in Kunming, Yunnan province, has recently passed ethical reviews in foreign countries and is about to begin the third-stage trial.

Third-stage trials of the adenovirus vaccine in Russia, Pakistan and Mexico have enrolled over 20,000 people, and the recombinant protein vaccine is being tested in Uzbekistan, he said.

Chinese health officials said over the weekend that in a two-stage vaccination drive, the country will first focus on vaccinating all people at high risk of contracting the virus over the winter and spring.

Inoculation program

Zheng said the emergency inoculation program mainly covers cold-chain workers, border control personnel, front-line medical and disease control workers and people going abroad for work.

Since its official launch in July, authorities have gradually expanded the scope of the program and have been prudent and careful. All people receiving the doses were voluntarily inoculated, he said.

He added that local governments are now evaluating the number of people that are expected to participate in the program in the winter and spring.

When a vaccine is eventually released for public use, it is estimated that 70 percent of the population will have to be vaccinated in order to build up herd immunity, which will stamp out the virus, Wang Huaqing, a chief researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Monday.

He added that before herd immunity is established, the public is urged to stick to personal protective measures, such as mask-wearing and keeping social distance.

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[Bhutan] No one can travel out of Thimphu until further notice (nationthailand.com)

[Bhutan] No one can travel out of Thimphu until further notice

Dec 22. 2020

By Yangchen C Rinzin
Kuensel/ANN

No one would be allowed to travel out of Thimphu in next 48 hours. The second lockdown in the capital was declared in the early hours yesterday.

Based on the emergencies, however, people can come to Thimphu from other dzongkhags.

Thimphu Thromde and super zones, which includes Thimphu Throm and peripheral areas of Debsi, RTC area, Gangchey, Nyezergang in the south, Kabesa, Begana and Changtagang in the north have been put under lockdown.

A 25-year-old female, who visited the flu clinic at national referral hospital tested positive for Covid-19 yesterday.

Lyonchhen, during the press brief, advised people not to travel if not necessary.

“We have restricted movement outside Thimphu because the outbreak of Covid-19 positive case is from here,” Lyonchhen said.

All offices, institutions, schools, shops, and business entities in Thimphu Thromde and super zones will remain closed until further notice.

The delivery of essentials and zone wise relaxation will be initiated in the next 48 hours depending on the degree of transmission.

Lyonchhen had asked the people to stay indoors at least for next 48 hours. “We’ll keep informing the nation through various social media platforms and mainstream media.”

He said that people outside Thimphu should be vigilant and avoid travelling unnecessarily.

More than 38,000 people had travelled from Thimphu to other dzongkhags since December 7.

Lyonchhen said that the lockdown would enable health officials to trace and test all possible contacts in the next two days and would help determine the degree of transmission.

He reminded people to be careful and advised not to travel or celebrate any festivals in large groups.

Meanwhile, education ministry has advised all schools to remain closed until further notice.

Thimphu dzongkhag administration (TDA) has advised two schools, Wangbama Central School and Yangchengatshel Middle Secondary School to operate as a self-containment zone.

Dzongkhag official has advised teachers of these two schools residing in Thimphu Thromde not to travel to school until it is safe to move out of Thimphu. “We will test teachers before sending them back to school.”

TDA has asked Khasadrapchu Middle Secondary School to close because 17 teachers and five students reside in Thimphu thromde.

After one of the students of a Thimphu public school tested positive, who was a primary contact of the index case, 29 classmates, friends and teachers were also tested for Covi-19. Results have come out negative.

Call toll-free number 1010 for any question related to lockdown and Covid-19.

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First shipment of Covid-19 vaccine arrives in S’pore on SIA flight from Brussels (nationthailand.com)

First shipment of Covid-19 vaccine arrives in S’pore on SIA flight from Brussels

Dec 22. 2020The first shipment of Covid-19 vaccine arrives in Singapore on Dec 21, 2020. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG 

By Yuen Sin and Toh Ting Wei
The Straits Times/ANN

SINGAPORE – The first batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine has landed in Singapore, a crucial first step to vaccinate the population.

The vaccine – the first from Pfizer to arrive in Asia – was carried by a Singapore Airlines (SIA) Boeing 747-400 freighter, SQ7979.

The flight had departed from Brussels, Belgium, on Sunday (Dec 20) and landed at Changi Airport at about 7.30pm on Monday (Dec 21).

The shipment was prioritised for loading into the aircraft in Brussels, as well as during unloading in Singapore, SIA said.

Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung, Mr Kevin Shum, the director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and the chief executives of Changi Airport Group and SIA were among those who turned up at the airport to witness the arrival of the vaccine.

Ground handler Sats moved the vaccines to its cold chain facility Sats Coolport before they were loaded onto a refrigerated truck that will send them to an external storage facility.

Speaking to reporters at the facility, Mr Ong said: “We are ready to do this and a lot of preparation work has gone into making this as smooth as possible.”

SIA had conducted a successful trial to test its vaccine handling capability along the same freighter flight route on Dec 19, the airline said.

It carried out the trial with cool boxes used to pack the actual vaccine, and had tracked the internal temperature within these boxes throughout the flight. It also monitored the rate at which dry ice within the box turned into carbon dioxide.

SIA senior vice-president for cargo Chin Yau Seng said the airline was honoured to be able to play its part in an important milestone in the fight against Covid-19.

“It also served to demonstrate SIA’s and the Singapore air hub’s readiness for the very important job of transporting and distributing Covid-19 vaccines internationally,” he said.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the first Covid-19 vaccine approved by the Health Sciences Authority in Singapore. There are no details yet on how it will be rolled out.

The vaccine is already being administered in countries such as Britain, Canada and the United States.

Singapore is one of the first countries to obtain the vaccine, and other vaccines are expected to arrive in the coming months, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced last week.

The vaccines will be offered on a free and voluntary basis to all Singaporeans and long-term residents who are currently here.

Priority will be given to healthcare and front-line workers, as well as elderly and vulnerable patients.

If all goes according to plan, there will be enough vaccines for everyone in Singapore by the third quarter of 2021.

The Republic has also beefed up its capacity to store and transport Covid-19 vaccines, and is positioning itself to be a hub for the movement of Covid-19 vaccines to the region.

Shipments from Europe are expected to go through Singapore to South-east Asia and South-west Pacific when broader regulatory approval is secured.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and Changi Airport Group have set up a task force to work on the vaccine shipment process. The task force comprises 18 members in the air cargo sector, including SIA and ground handlers Sats and dnata.

Logistic firm DHL Global Forwarding, a division of German logistics giant DHL, said it had arranged for the collection of the vaccines from the manufacturing site in Puurs in Belgium. The vaccine cargo was accompanied by security escorts on the road to the airport in Brussels.

DHL will also handle the final delivery of the vaccine to the designated location in Singapore, it said.

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Japan tops 200,000 infections with novel coronavirus; pace accelerating (nationthailand.com)

Japan tops 200,000 infections with novel coronavirus; pace accelerating

Dec 22. 2020

By The Japan News/ANN

Japan exceeded more than 200,000 infections with the novel coronavirus on Monday, including cases from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun tally.

A total of 42 people were confirmed on the day to have been infected in the prefectures of Yamagata, Fukushima, Okayama, Hiroshima and Tokushima. According to the Yomiuri’s tally, this meant 200,002 people had been infected with the virus so far as of 1 p.m. Monday.

The cumulative number of Japan’s confirmed infections with the novel coronavirus has been on the rise since the first announcement on Jan. 16. It reached 50,000 on Aug. 10, about seven months later.

The number exceeded 100,000 on Oct. 29, and infections spread rapidly across the country in November. The number of infections per day reached a record high of 3,213 people on Thursday, indicating the pace of increase is accelerating.