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April
Japan to open large COVID-19 vaccination centres in Tokyo, Osaka
Written by nuke
A medical worker fills a syringe with a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease vaccine as Japan launches its inoculation campaign, at Tokyo Medical Center in Tokyo, Japan on Feb 17, 2021. (Behrouz Mehri/Pool via Reuters) -
The Japanese government is planning to open large vaccination centers in Tokyo and Osaka in the coming weeks to administer shots in a bid to speed up its inoculation drive, local media reported on Sunday (Apr 25).
Japan only started vaccinating its sizable elderly population this month and health experts say it may take till the winter (December to February) or longer for most of the general populace to get access to the shots.
The Nikkei newspaper said on Sunday the government will open a vaccination site in central Tokyo as early as May that will be able to vaccinate about 10,000 people a day. The site will be open to anyone living and working in Tokyo, the paper said.
Medically trained staff from Japan's Self-Defense Forces will also assist with vaccinations in such centres, the Nikkei said.
The Japanese government has come under sharp criticism for its sluggish vaccination rollout, which has been handled mostly by municipal authorities. Japan has vaccinated about 1 per cent of its population, according to a Reuters tracker.
Japan has avoided an explosive spread of the pandemic experienced by many countries. There have been about 550,000 cases and 9,761 deaths, significantly lower numbers than inother large economies.
But the latest rise in infections has stoked alarm, with a surge in a mutant variant and a critical shortage of medical staff and hospital beds in some areas.
Japan's third state of emergency in Tokyo, Osaka and two other prefectures began on Sunday, which will cover nearly a quarter of the population and attempt to combat a surge in coronavirus cases three months before the Tokyo Olympics is set to open//CNA
April
Philippine coast guard holds drills in disputed South China Sea
Written by nuke
File photo of a Philippine coast guard ship sailing past a Chinese coast guard ship near Scarborough shoal in the South China Sea in May 2019. (File photo: AFP/TED ALJIBE) -
The Philippine coast guard is conducting drills in the South China Sea which an official said on Sunday (Apr 25) were part of efforts to secure "our maritime jurisdiction" over the disputed waters.
The exercises near the Philippine-occupied Thitu Island and China-controlled Scarborough Shoal come amid heightened tensions over the resource-rich sea.
Most of the boats have since dispersed around the contested archipelago.
China - which claims almost the entirety of the sea - has refused repeated demands by the Philippines to call back the ships, which Manila says are maritime militia vessels and Beijing says are fishing boats.
In response, the Philippines has deployed more patrol vessels, including coast guard and navy ships, to intensify surveillance and prevent illegal fishing.
The coast guard drills began last week.
"We are supporting the whole-of-nation approach in securing our maritime jurisdiction," coast guard spokesman Commodore Armando Balilo said.
The exercises involve training in navigation, small boat operations, maintenance and logistical operations.
They are being held near Thitu Island and Scarborough Shoal, as well as the Batanes islands in the north, and the southern and eastern parts of the country.
Scarborough - one of the region's richest fishing grounds - has long been a flashpoint between Manila and Beijing.
China seized it from the Philippines in 2012 following a tense standoff.
The drills began as Philippine armed forces held joint exercises with US soldiers that ended on Friday.
Beijing has ignored a 2016 international tribunal decision that declared its historical claim over most of the South China Sea to be without basis.
But once-frosty relations between Manila and Beijing have warmed under President Rodrigo Duterte, who set aside the ruling in exchange for promises of trade and investment.
The Philippine foreign and defence secretaries, however, have been engaged in a war of words with Beijing.
The foreign affairs department has been filing daily protests over the Chinese vessels and, in a rare move, recently summoned Beijing's envoy to express its "utmost displeasure" over the issue//CNA
April
Thousands gather in Australia and NZ to honour ANZAC forces
Written by nuke
People watch from behind fences at the Anzac Day dawn service at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne on April 25, 2021 as the state government limits numbers of people able to attend. (Photo: AFP/William West) -
Thousands of Australians and New Zealanders attended Anzac Day dawn services Sunday (Apr 25) to honour their armed forces, a year after marking the solemn occasion from the isolation of their driveways.
Both countries largely returned to in-person services after the cancellation of marches and ceremonies in 2020 due to coronavirus restrictions led many to observe the annual memorial day at home.
Anzac Day marks the 1915 landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli, in what is now Turkey, during World War I to face the German-backed Ottoman forces.
While most nations commemorate military victories, New Zealand and Australia focus on the ill-fated, eight-month campaign that cost the young nations more than 11,000 lives.
At a gathering at the War Memorial Museum in Auckland early Sunday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern highlighted the sacrifices of women in war.
The commemorations now extend to every conflict the countries have joined in the ensuing decades, including wars in Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said this year a "chapter in our history is coming to a close" after the announcement last week the country would withdraw its remaining troops from Afghanistan in line with the US timetable to leave by September.
Speaking at an official memorial in Canberra, Morrison said Australia's longest war had come at "great cost" to the nation.
"Forty-one Australian lives lost in Afghanistan, whom we especially remember and honour this morning," he said.
"More than 39,000 Australians have served on operations in support of Australia's mission in Afghanistan, many carrying the wounds and scars of war, seen and unseen."
The two nations' success in containing the spread of COVID-19 allowed many public remembrance services and parades to go ahead, though with limited crowds in Australia and ceremonies cancelled in the locked-down city of Perth//CNA
April
India COVID-19 cases set new global record, US readies help
Written by nuke
A person walks past funeral fires of those who died from COVID-19 at a crematorium in New Delhi, India Apr 24, 2021. (Photo:Reuters/Adnan Abidi) -
India on Sunday (Apr 25) set a new global record of the most number of coronavirus infections in a day, as the United States said it was racing to send help to the country.
India's number of cases surged by 349,691 in the past 24 hours, the fourth straight day of record peaks, and hospitals in Delhi and across the country are turning away patients after running out of medical oxygen and beds.
Our hearts go out to the Indian people in the midst of the horrific COVID-19 outbreak. We are working closely with our partners in the Indian government, and we will rapidly deploy additional support to the people of India and India's health care heroes," US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Twitter.
The United States has faced criticism in India for its export controls on raw materials for vaccines put in place via the defense production act and an associated export embargo in February.
The Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s biggest vaccine maker, this month urged US President Joe Biden to lift the embargo on US exports of raw materials that is hurting its production of AstraZeneca shots.Others such as US Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi urged the Biden administration to release unused vaccines to India. "When people in India and elsewhere desperately need help, we can't let vaccines sit in a warehouse, we need to get them where they'll save lives," he said.
India's total tally of infections stands at 16.96 million and deaths 192,311 after 2,767 more died overnight, health ministry data showed.
In the last month alone, daily cases have gone up eight times and deaths by ten times. Health experts say the death count is probably far higher.
The surge is expected to peak in mid-May with the daily count of infections reaching half a million, the Indian Express said citing an internal government assessment.
V K Paul, a COVID-task force leader, made the presentation during a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and state chief ministers and said that the health infrastructure in heavily populated states is not adequate enough to cope, according to the newspaper.
Paul did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Experts said India became complacent in the winter, when new cases were running at about 10,000 a day and seemed to be under control. Authorities lifted restrictions, allowing for the resumption of big gatherings//CNA
April
'Breakthrough’ therapy for the most common type of leukaemia among children approved in Singapore
Written by nuke
White blood cells are removed, genetically modified to attack cancer cells and put back into patients, in a treatment that was recently approved in Singapore. (Photo: Novartis) -
A type of cell therapy forcancer has been approved for use in Singapore, providing another treatment option for patients with certain types of advanced blood cancers which are not in remission despite having gone through other forms of treatment.
Such patients include children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia - the most common type of paediatric blood cancer in Singapore - if they fulfil certain criteria.
The new treatment works by removing disease-fighting cells called T cells from patients, genetically engineering them to attack cancer and putting the cells back into them.
Developed by Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis, the therapy is called CAR-T, or chimeric antigen receptor T-cell. It is marketed commercially as Kymriah.
It was approved under Singapore's new cell, tissue and gene therapy products (CTGTP) regulatory framework which came into effect on Mar 1.
Singapore is the first country in Southeast Asia to offer the treatment.
Explaining how the therapy works, Professor William Hwang, medical director of the National Cancer Centre Singapore said: “Imagine cancer cells as criminals and T cells as policemen. If there are strong, persistent and covert criminals in the city that the policemen cannot get rid of, the CAR-T process is like taking the policemen out, giving them training to recognise all the criminals and returning them to the city to root out the enemies.”
Prof Hwang described it as a "breakthrough".
“It is a major advancement in the emergence of immune-based treatment strategies and is a significant step forward in offering patients life-saving, individualised cancer treatment for blood cancers and disorders,” he said.
The treatment is, however, expensive and there are potentially serious side effects. The therapy is approved for children and young adults with advanced blood cancers, in particular, patients aged two to 25 withB-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) that is resistant and where a relapse has occurred subsequently or post-transplant//CNA
April
US to resume using Johnson and Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine
Written by nuke
A vial of the Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine is seen at Northwell Health's South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore, New York, US, Mar 3, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton ) -
The United States can immediately resume use of Johnson and Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine, top health regulators said on Friday (Apr 23), ending a 10-day pause to investigate the vaccine's link to extremely rare but potentially deadly blood clots.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration said in a joint statement that they would warn of the risk of a potentially fatal syndrome involving severe blood clots and low platelets in a fact sheet given to recipients.
Top US FDA officials said the decision was effective immediately, clearing the way for shots in arms as early as Saturday.
"We are no longer recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told a news briefing. "Based on the in-depth analysis, there is likely an association but the risk is very low."The agencies made the decision following a meeting by outside advisers to the CDC who recommended that the vaccine pause be ended. The agencies had been investigating the risks of the vaccine.
Earlier on Friday, the CDC panel voted 10 to four that the Johnson and Johnson's vaccine be used as recommended in people 18 years of age and older, the parameters of its current FDA authorisation.
"The committee's recommendation is an essential step toward continuing urgently needed vaccinations in a safe way for millions of people in the US," Johnson and Johnson's Chief Scientific Officer Paul Stoffels said in a statement.
The CDC said that there had been 15 total cases of the syndrome, including the six original confirmed cases that all occurred in women. There were three deaths.
It also is stored in a refrigerator and does not need to be frozen during transport, which makes it better for hard-to-reach areas.
The US decision follows a similar one by the European Medicines Agency, which on Tuesday said the benefits of Johnson and Johnson's shot outweighed its risks and recommended adding a warning about unusual blood clots with low blood platelet counts to the vaccine's product label. Johnson and Johnson resumed its rollout there.
The United States has made substantial progress in vaccinating its population in recent months compared to many other countries, with 35 per cent of adults fully vaccinated and 53 per cent having received at least one shot, according to CDC data. The United States has recorded about 570,000 COVID-19 deaths//CNA
April
Japanese F1 GP to remain at Suzuka until end of 2024
Written by nuke
Formula One F1 - Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Japan - October 13, 2019. General view during the race. REUTERS/Issei Kato -
The Japanese Grand Prix will remain at Suzuka until at least the end of the 2024 season after Formula One and circuit owners announced a three-year contract extension on Saturday.
The figure of eight track south-west of Nagoya first hosted a Formula One race in 1987 and has provided the decider for 11 drivers' championships.
"This extension is part of our long-term commitment to growing the sport in Asia, and we are pleased to be able to continue our successful relationship with Mobilityland," said Formula One chief executive Stefano Domenicali in a statement.
Mobilityland is a subsidiary of Honda.
Japan has a new young talent in 20-year-old rookie Yuki Tsunoda, the country's first grand prix driver since 2014. Red Bull's engine partners Honda are leaving the sport at the end of this season, however.
Tsunoda scored points on his F1 race debut with Red Bull-owned AlphaTauri when he finished ninth in Bahrain last month.
He spoke afterwards about going to Suzuka with his father to watch the race, and being a fan of double world champion Fernando Alonso who is still on the grid with Renault-owned Alpine.
The circuit, which did not host a race last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will celebrate its 60th anniversary next year.
This year's grand prix has been pencilled in for Oct. 10//CNA
April
PM Trudeau says situation is 'critical' as Canada faces third COVID-19 wave
Written by nuke
A man is screened before entering a COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Montreal on Apr 21, 2021. (Photo: Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press via AP) -
A surge in COVID-19 cases means Canada is at a critical juncture, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday (Apr 23), while an expert panel said AstraZeneca's vaccine could now be offered to more people.
The number of daily cases has doubled this month to 8,600 as a third wave rips across Canada and health officials said they could jump again to more than 15,000 by the end of April unless stricter measures were taken as new coronavirus variants spread.
"There are more contagious and more dangerous variants out there. The situation is critical," said Trudeau, who together with his wife Sophie later received their first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
"Vaccine doses continue to be the good news we all need in what has become a very tough spring," said Trudeau.
Separately, Canada's national panel on immunisation said AstraZeneca's vaccine could now be used in those above 30. Citing reports of rare cases of blood clotting it had previously recommended doses only be given to those 55 and older.
Shelley Deeks, the panel's vice chair, told reporters that the public health benefits of inoculating as many people as fast as possible far outweighed any risks. So far, four people in Canada have developed the clots, but none were fatal.
Several provinces had already lowered the minimum age for recipients of the vaccine to 40.
British Columbia on Friday imposed restrictions to limit non-essential travel between three regions.
"The new variant strains are infecting more people and resulting in record levels of hospitalisations," public safety minister Mike Farnworth said in a statement.
Trudeau, saying it was important to plan for the future, said Ottawa had struck a deal with Pfizer for 35 million booster doses in 2022 and 30 million in 2023.
He also said his government had identified 100 federal healthcare workers who could be sent to help Ontario, which is struggling to cope with a worsening third wave and accuses Ottawa of not doing enough to tackle new, more highly transmissible variants.
Health officials told a briefing that if people cut the number of personal contacts by 20 per cent to 30 per cent, the number of new daily cases could drop to around 4,500.
"We are still in a tight race between vaccines and variants," said Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam.
Canada has so far recorded a total of 23,822 deaths and 1,155,834 cases of COVID-19//CNA
April
New Zealand pauses travel bubble with Australia after COVID-19 lockdowns in Perth and Peel
Written by nuke
Passengers at Sydney Airport on Apr 19, 2021. (Photo: AP/Rick Rycroft) -
New Zealand on Friday (Apr 23) paused its newly opened travel bubble with Australia, the government in Wellington said, after a COVID-19 outbreak in its larger neighbour.
"As set out in our Trans-Tasman bubble protocols, travel between New Zealand and Western Australia has been paused, pending further advice from the state government," a statement on the New Zealand government website said.
The decision came after Western Australia announced that the regions of Perth and Peel were entering a three-day lockdown, starting midnight Friday to Saturday, due to a traveller testing positive for the coronavirus.
The decision to lock down followed "a positive COVID-19 case from hotel quarantine who was active in the community", a statement on the Western Australia government website said.
Local media reported that a man in his 50s flew into Melbourne from Perth on Wednesday and tested positive for the coronavirus earlier Friday.
He underwent the legally required quarantine in a Perth hotel and, once released, went to restaurants, a university, a public pool, a doctor's office and a friend's house before leaving the area.
"He spent up to five days in Perth, and we now need to assume he was infectious," Western Australia premier Mark McGowan told a press conference.
Local media reported that the friend the man visited has since tested positive.
New Zealand and Australia had opened their quarantine-free travel bubble on Apr 18, almost 400 days after they closed their borders due to the pandemic.
The bubble, which followed months of negotiations between the largely coronavirus-free neighbours, was hailed as a major milestone in restarting a global travel industry that has been crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
It meant that passengers from Australia and New Zealand - both of which have largely contained COVID-19 - could fly across the Tasman Sea without undergoing mandatory quarantine on arrival.
The leaders of both nations had hailed the bubble, which also would have provided a much-needed boost to New Zealand's beleaguered tourism industry, and urged residents to take advantage of it.
Before COVID-19 brought New Zealand's tourism industry to its knees, it was the country's biggest export industry, with Australians accounting for about 40 per cent of the international visitors.
After the travel bubble was announced, a spokesman for Australian flag carrier Qantas said tickets to New Zealand were "selling like hot cakes" with a strong "load" to Queenstown, which is billed as the country's "Adventure capital".
New Zealand authorities revealed on Apr 20 that an Auckland airport worker had tested positive for COVID-19, but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at the time it would not affect the bubble, which was then barely 24 hours old.
Ardern said the cleaner worked on planes arriving from "red zone" countries deemed high risk, not Australia.
She said both Australia and New Zealand expected to handle border cases, and had systems in place to do that without closing the long-awaited travel bubble//CNA
April
WHO, Macron condemn global vaccine divide as COVAX scheme marks first year
Written by Nur Yasmin
Jakarta. Coronavirus vaccines remain out of reach in the poorest countries, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, marking the first anniversary of the COVAX dose-sharing facility.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has repeatedly denounced inequities in vaccine distribution and urged wealthier countries to share excess doses to help inoculate health workers in low-income countries.
More than 3.2 million people have died in the pandemic worldwide.
"Nearly 900 million vaccine doses have been administered globally, but over 81% have gone to high- or upper middle-income countries, while low-income countries have received just 0.3%," Tedros said in a report about the ACT (Access to COVID-19 Tools) Accelerator set up a year ago.
The European Commission said it had sealed the world's biggest vaccine supply deal, agreeing to buy up to 1.8 billion doses of Pfizer's (PFE.N) vaccine for the next few years as a debate rages over access to shots for the world's poorest people. read more
Its President Ursula Von der Leyen, in a recorded message to the WHO press conference: "The response of too many leaders was 'my country first'. We made a different choice. We knew that we needed to fight this virus not just at home but in all continents and countries, from Asia's megacities to Africa's most remote villages."
Tedros also said that he was concerned about the rising caseload in India saying: "The situation in India is a devastating reminder of what the virus can do."
India reported the world's highest daily tally of coronavirus infections for a second day on Friday, surpassing 330,000 new cases, as it struggles with a health system overwhelmed by patients and plagued by accidents and lack of medical oxygen. read more
French President Emmanuel Macron said that one in six Europeans had been vaccinated, one in five in North America but just one in 100 in Africa.
"It's unacceptable," he said.
France will step up vaccine donations to COVAX in the coming months, providing 500,000 shots, including from suppliers other than AstraZeneca (AZN.L), Macron said, urging others to do the same. read more
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called on pharmaceutical companies to transfer mRNA vaccine technology to low- and middle-income countries "free of intellectual property barriers".
"Let us together challenge vaccine nationalism and ensure that protecting intellectual property rights does not come at the expense of human lives," he added.
The ACT Accelerator still needs $19 billion this year, Tedros said adding: "That’s a drop in the ocean compared with the trillions of dollars governments are spending on supporting their economies, and the massive revenues that most vaccine makers are generating."
Dag Ulstein, Norwegian minister of international development, told the same briefing: "Continued lack of financial support for the ACT Accelerator poses a major obstacle for its ability to deliver at scale."
COVAX, which has shipped 40.5 million doses to 118 countries so far, aims to secure 2 billion shots by the end of 2021. (Reuters)