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March
Indonesia to resume use of AstraZeneca vaccine after reviewing blood clot concerns
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 19 - Indonesia’s Food and Drug agency (BPOM) said on Friday it has approved the usage of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine after reviewing reports the vaccine had caused blood clots among some recipients in Europe.
In a statement, the agency said that even though vaccination could lead to “adverse events” following immunisation, “the risk of death from COVID-19 is much higher.”
“The benefits of giving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine outweigh the risks,” the agency said.
BPOM did caution against the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for people with a low blood platelet count, known as thrombocytopenia, and blood clotting disorders.
Indonesia had previously delayed administering the AstraZeneca vaccine following the blood clot reports, saying it was awaiting the results of a review by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The European Medicines Agency said this week there were no indication the events were caused by the vaccination, a view echoed by the WHO. AstraZeneca also said its review had shown no evidence of an increased risk of blood clots.
Indonesia has been grappling with one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in Asia – with 1,437,283 cases and 38,915 deaths.
The Southeast Asian nation kicked off its vaccine programme this January, after receiving its first shipment of the CoronaVac vaccine produced by China’s Sinovac Biotech.
Indonesia received 1.1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine via the COVAX vaccine-alliance scheme this month and is set to receive some 10 million more in the next two months. (Reuters)
March
Seoul ends mandatory coronavirus testing for foreigners after outcry
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 19 - Authorities in the South Korean capital of Seoul will scrap a controversial order for all foreign workers to be tested for coronavirus, they said on Friday, after an outcry sparked complaints by embassies and a human rights probe.
The move came after the headquarters of the nation’s pandemic control effort said it had asked the city to withdraw the order and improve testing policies to eliminate discrimination or rights violations.
“The request is to prevent anti-COVID-19 efforts from causing any discrimination or human rights violations against citizens and foreign nationals,” the headquarters said in a statement.
City authorities still recommended testing for both foreign and Korean workers in “high-risk” workplaces, however.
The reversal came as the National Human Rights Commission confirmed it was investigating if the policies of several local governments for all foreign workers to be tested were discriminatory.
Seoul and the neighbouring province of Gyeonggi are among the local government bodies to have ordered such tests, drawing criticism from South Korean lawmakers, university officials, and foreign ambassadors.
Gyeonggi, where the order is in force until Monday, said it had dropped a separate requirement for negative tests by foreigners being hired for jobs.
Health officials had defended the measures as necessary to blunt a surge in infections among foreign residents, saying they were not discriminatory as tests had also been ordered for those linked to outbreaks in churches, nightclubs, and elsewhere.
On Friday the U.S. embassy said it had raised concerns with senior authorities and was strongly urging fair and equitable treatment of all its citizens.
The independent human rights commission said it launched an investigation after several complaints, such as one from the British ambassador, who said the rules were “not fair, they are not proportionate, nor are they likely to be effective”.
Commission chief Choi Young-ae said she was concerned the policies could lead to discrimination, especially through the use of demeaning language toward undocumented workers.
“This act has made the word ‘foreigners’ look like ‘those suspected of diagnosis for COVID’ or ‘criminals who have done something illegal,’ which led to hate comments online,” she said in a statement.
Seoul National University, one of South Korea’s most prestigious, had threatened to seek an injunction if the city did not drop the policy, Koo Min-gyo, its dean of student affairs, told Reuters. (Reuters)
March
Papua New Guinea orders restrictions as COVID-19 numbers climb
Written by Nur YasminMar. 19 - Papua New Guinea will tighten internal border controls, restrict personal movement and enforce mask wearing in public from next week, as it confronts a steep rise in COVID-19 infections.
The authorities in the Pacific island nation of 9 million people also said they will ban mass gatherings, close schools and may order burials in a “designated mass grave” as part of sweeping measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
PNG has recorded a spike in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, with hundreds of new daily cases. Total cases stand at 2,658 and deaths at 36, but health experts believe the true numbers are likely much higher.
Neighbouring Australia has pledged 8,000 doses of the AstraZeneca Plc vaccine for PNG health workers, and asked the European Union to release 1 million doses of its supply, as local media reported patients being turned away from overrun hospitals.
New Zealand also said on Friday it was sending PNG enough personal protective equipment kits to treat 1,000 COVID-19 cases.
The social distancing measures being imposed from Monday will remain in force until the end of the declaration of the pandemic, unless revoked earlier by officials, PNG pandemic response controller David Manning said in a statement.
“Authorised officers” would be tasked with enforcing compliance and anybody found breaching the rules could be penalised, the statement added, without providing further detail.
Though far-reaching, the measures do not go as far as the strict stay-home orders and border closures imposed over the past year in parts of Australia, where local transmission has been all but eliminated.
The PNG ban on public gatherings of more than 10 people includes exemptions for religious gatherings of up to 50 if worshippers follow social distancing requirements. Shops can open 13 hours a day and restaurants 15 hours.
Domestic flights are allowed if travellers undertake temperature checks and produce a negative COVID-19 test result. Travel between the country’s 22 provinces can continue for purposes like essential business, healthcare and returning home.
“The outbreak in PNG is rapidly escalating, with hospitals and clinics overwhelmed and many health workers already infected,” MSF Australia Executive Director Jennifer Tierney said in a statement.
“What’s needed is a bigger response, now, before the situation gets out of control.”
State-owned Ok Tedi Mining Ltd on Friday began a two-week suspension at its copper mine in the Western Province, the area hardest hit outside the capital Port Moresby.
The Australian government earlier this week suspended travel exemptions which had allowed fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) mining and energy workers to travel between the two countries. (Reuters)
March
U.S. joined by Russia, China, Pakistan in call for Afghan ceasefire
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 19 - The United States was joined by Russia, China and Pakistan on Thursday in calling on Afghanistan’s warring sides to reach an immediate ceasefire, at talks that showed Washington’s determination to win backing from regional powers for its plans.
Just six weeks before a deadline for the United States to pull out troops that have been in Afghanistan for nearly 20 years, Washington sent a senior official for the first time to participate in regional peace talks convened by Russia.
The Moscow talks were meant to breathe life into negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Qatar’s capital Doha, stalled over government accusations that the insurgents have done too little to halt violence.
“At this turning point, our four countries call on the sides to hold talks and reach a peace agreement that will end more than four decades of war in Afghanistan,” a joint statement said after Thursday’s talks.
The statement called on the warring sides to curb violence and on the Taliban not to declare offensives in the spring and summer. It also said the four countries were committed to mobilising political and economic support for Afghanistan once a peace settlement had been reached.
U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad’s presence was a sign of Washington’s increasing effort to attract support among regional powers for its plans for Afghanistan.
President Joe Biden must soon decide whether to keep forces on past a May 1 deadline to withdraw, agreed with the Taliban last year under Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump. Khalilzad has been trying to drum up backing for a proposal that includes an interim government.
Moscow, which fought in Afghanistan in the 1980s, has hosted talks among Afghan sides and regional powers since 2017. Previously, Washington had largely kept its distance from the so-called “Moscow Format”, focusing on its own direct talks with the Taliban and talks between the Afghan parties themselves.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani opposes an interim government, and a Taliban leader has said the group would not join it, although it supports replacing the current administration.
Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation, wrote on Twitter after Thursday’s Moscow talks that the state negotiation team was ready to discuss any topic with the Taliban.
“We called for an end to targeted killings and a comprehensive ceasefire to begin the next rounds of the talks in a peaceful environment,” Abdullah wrote.
The Moscow gathering will be followed by a meeting of regional players in Turkey next month and a summit that Khalilzad has asked the United Nations to organise. (Reuters)
March
Pakistan army chief says ready to bury hatchet with India for peace
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 18 - Pakistan’s army chief called on Thursday for arch rivals India and Pakistan to “bury the past” and move towards cooperation, an overture towards New Delhi that follows an unexpected joint ceasefire announcement last month between the two countries’ militaries.
General Qamar Javed Bajwa stressed however that the burden was on India to create a “conducive environment”, and said Washington had a role to play in ending regional conflicts.
Pakistan and India, both nuclear armed countries, have fought three wars and in 2019 tensions rose dramatically when they sent combat planes into each other’s territory.
“We feel it is time to bury the past and move forward,” Bajwa said in a speech at a conference in Islamabad meant to highlight the Pakistani government’s new security policies.
“But...our neighbour (India) will have to create a conducive environment, particularly in Indian-occupied Kashmir,” he said.
Pakistan’s powerful army has ruled the country for nearly half of its 73-year existence, and the military has long controlled foreign and security policies.
India and Pakistan both control parts of the northern Kashmir region, but both claim the Himalayan region in full - which has been a source for most of the conflicts between the two.
Relations deteriorated in 2019 after Delhi stripped its part of Kashmir of the special status it long had under the Indian constitution.
Bajwa said the economic potential of South and Central Asia had “forever remained hostage” to the India-Pakistan disputes.
The militaries of both countries released a rare joint statement on Feb. 25 announcing a ceasefire along the disputed border in Kashmir, having exchanged fire hundreds of times in recent months.
The United States immediately welcomed the move, and encouraged the two to “keep building on this progress”.
Bajwa said Pakistan had “hope” in the form of President Joe Biden’s new administration, which he said could help facilitate peace in the region. (Reuters)
March
Mar. 18 - India and Pakistan reported a big jump in new coronavirus infections on Thursday, driven by a resurgence in cases in their richest states.
While authorities in India have mainly blamed crowding and an overall reluctance to wear masks for its spike, Pakistan says the UK variant of the virus found in the country could also be a factor.
Maharashtra state, home to India’s commercial capital Mumbai, reported 23,179 of the country’s 35,871 new cases in the past 24 hours, and the fast-spreading contagion in major industrial areas raised risks of companies’ production being disrupted.
With the worst rise in infections since early December, India’s total cases stood at 11.47 million, the highest after the United States and Brazil. Deaths rose by 172 to 159,216, according to health ministry data on Thursday.
In Pakistan, 3,495 people tested positive in the past 24 hours, the most daily infections since early December. Total cases rose past 615,000. Deaths rose by 61 to 13,717.
Most of the new cases came from Pakistan’s largest and richest province, Punjab.
Pakistani minister Asad Umar said on Twitter that hospital beds were filling fast, warning of stricter curbs if rules were not followed.
“The new strain spreads faster and is more deadly,” he said on Twitter, referring to the UK variant.
India’s first wave peaked in September at nearly 100,000 cases a day, with daily infections hitting a low of just over 9,000 early last month.
India and Pakistan have a combined population of 1.57 billion, a fifth of humanity.
CURBS RETURN
Cases have been rising in Maharashtra since the reopening of most economic activity in February. Mumbai’s suburban trains, which carry millions daily, also resumed.
The state of 112 million people ordered a fresh lockdown in some districts and put curbs on cinemas, hotels and restaurants until the end of the month after infections rose to a multi-month high earlier this week
New cases have more than doubled in the past two weeks in Maharashtra’s industrial towns such as Pune, Aurangabad, Nashik and Nagpur, home to car, pharmaceutical and textile factories.
“We have asked industries there to operate with minimum manpower as much possible,” said a senior Maharashtra government official, declining to be named as he was not authorised to talk to the media. “Most of the IT companies have allowed their employees to work from home.”
Hospital beds and special COVID-19 facilities were filling up fast, especially in Mumbai, Nagpur and Pune, said another state official.
Earlier this month, more than 80% of oxygen and intensive-care beds in Maharashtra were unoccupied.
Half a dozen other states, such as Punjab and Madhya Pradesh, have also seen a rise in cases this month.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asked state leaders to quickly increase testing and expand vaccination to “stop the emerging second peak of corona”.
India has administered more than 37 million vaccine doses since the middle of January. (Reuters)
March
North Korea says U.S. attempt to initiate contact is 'cheap trick': KCNA
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 18 - A top North Korean diplomat acknowledged on Thursday that the United States had recently tried to initiate contact, but blasted the attempts as a “cheap trick” that would never be answered until Washington dropped hostile policies.
The statement by Choe Son Hui, first vice minister of foreign affairs for North Korea, is the first formal rejection of tentative approaches by the new U.S. administration under President Joe Biden, who took office in January.
It came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting South Korea alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a first overseas trip by top-level members of Biden’s administration.
The attempts at contact were made by sending e-mails and telephone messages via various routes, including by a third country, Choe said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA.
She called the attempts at contact a “cheap trick” for gaining time and building up public opinion.
“What has been heard from the U.S. since the emergence of the new regime is only lunatic theory of ‘threat from North Korea’ and groundless rhetoric about ‘complete denuclearisation,’ Choe said.
The White House said earlier this month it had reached out to North Korea, but received no response, and did not elaborate.
Speaking in Seoul on Wednesday, Blinken accused North Korea of committing “systemic and widespread abuses” against its own people and said the United States and its allies were committed to the denuclearisation of North Korea.
Blinken and Austin are due to continue meetings with South Korean leaders on Thursday, before flying to Alaska for the administration’s first talks with Chinese officials, where the North Korea standoff is expected to be discussed.
Talks aimed at reducing tensions with North Korea and persuading it to give up its arsenal of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles have been stalled since 2019, after a series of historic summits between then-U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Choe criticized the United States for continuing military drills, and for maintaining sanctions aimed at pressuring Pyongyang.
No dialogue would be possible until the United States rolled back its hostile policy toward North Korea and both parties were able to exchange words on an equal basis, she said. (Reuters)
March
Japanese judiciary sends conflicting signals to nuclear industry
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 18 - Japanese courts delivered conflicting rulings on two nuclear reactors on Wednesday, lifting an injunction on one and slapping a no-restart order on another, highlighting the fitful state of the industry’s recovery 10 years after the Fukushima disaster.
The rulings come after Japan’s atomic regulator publicly rebuked Fukushima operator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) this week for security lapses that make it unlikely the company can restart its only remaining nuclear station soon. Tepco’s shares slumped 10% on Wednesday.
Shares in Shikoku Electric Power shot up on Thursday after a high court in western Japan overturned a lower court ruling that had kept the company’s only usable reactor shut down for nearly 18 months.
The lower court had ruled that there was insufficient attention to the threat from earthquakes in the design of the facility.
“The court has accepted our assertion that the safety of unit No. 3 at Ikata Power Station has been ensured,” Shikoku Electric said in a statement after the ruling, which sent the company’s shares more than 6% higher.
It was the second time the Ikata reactor had been shut down by a court as anti-nuclear residents and campaigners filed multiple injunction requests in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.
Court rulings have contributed to the haphazard return of the sector a decade after the Fukushima meltdowns but only nine reactors have received approval to restart, out of 54 before the disaster. Only four are operating at present.
In another case, a court ruled on Thursday that an old reactor near Tokyo must stay shut.
It closed down automatically 10 years ago when one of the biggest earthquakes in world history caused a tsunami that swamped nuclear plants up and down the Japanese coast and sparked the Fukushima meltdowns.
The Tokai Dai Ni reactor operated by Japan Atomic Power is one of Japan’s oldest and needed special approval to extend its life. Opposition to a restart is expected to make it difficult to return the unit to operation after years of costly upgrades. (Reuters)
March
Pakistan receives 500,000 vaccine doses from China, doubling available supply
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 18 - Pakistan on Wednesday received a Chinese donation of 500,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine, bringing the country’s total supply to 1 million shots, Health Minister Faisal Sultan said.
The South Asian nation of 220 million people launched COVID-19 vaccinations for the public on March 10, starting with older people. Health workers started receiving shots in early February.
“These 500,000 doses will ensure smooth continuation of our vaccine drive, currently under way for senior citizens,” Sultan said in a tweet.
Sinopharm, the only vaccine currently available in the country, requires two doses.
The virus infections have sharply increased lately in the overwhelmingly Muslim nation that has had a history of refusing vaccination.
The percentage of COVID tests coming back positive across the country has touched 6.26% and crossed 11% in Punjab, the largest province.
Pakistan has recorded 612,315 coronavirus cases and 13,656 deaths, with 2,351 infections and 61 deaths reported in the last 24 hours. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/34pvUyi)
The country has not secured any vaccine from drug manufacturers and is depending on the GAVI/WHO COVAX initiative for poorer nations and the donations.
Pakistan is expecting to get GAVI’s first batch of 2.8 million doses of AstraZeneca sometime later this month, officials said.
Besides Sinopharm and AstraZeneca, Pakistan has approved Russia’s Sputnik and China’s CanSino Biologics Inc’s (CanSinoBIO) vaccines for emergency use.
CanSinoBIO has released interim efficacy results from a multi-country trial, which included Pakistan, showing 65.7% efficacy in preventing symptomatic coronavirus cases and a 90.98% success rate in stopping severe infections.
In the Pakistani subset, efficacy of the CanSinoBIO vaccine at preventing symptomatic cases was 74.8% and 100% at preventing severe disease.
Authorities last week reversed a decision to allow large indoor gatherings like cinemas, theatres and marriage halls in Pakistan after opening up almost all sectors of society. (Reuters)
March
Japan PM Suga hints at ending COVID-19 curbs as scheduled
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 17 - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga suggested on Wednesday that he planned to let state of emergency curbs imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus expire on schedule on Sunday.
The situation regarding hospital bed availability in the capital region has improved, Suga said.
“The figures have moved in the direction of lifting (the emergency measures),” he told reporters.
“I will make a final decision towards ending the curbs after listening to the views of experts,” he added.
The government declared a state of emergency around New Year’s as Japan’s third and deadliest wave of COVID-19 cases took its toll.
Most prefectures affected by the declaration lifted the measures at the end of February, but Tokyo and three neighbouring prefectures have remained under watch as the decline in new infections slowed.
The latest measures have had a less heavy impact on the economy than a previous nationwide emergency last year, which caused the largest economic slump on record in the second quarter.
But they dealt a heavy blow to service sector firms in particular as consumers have piled up savings, while manufacturers are benefiting from a pickup in overseas demand.
“Most scary is a resurgence” in COVID-19 cases, said Yuji Kuroiwa, the governor of Kanagawa, one of the four prefectures under emergency, which make up 30% of Japan’s population.
After the lifting of the emergency, the four prefectures - Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama - would continue to ask restaurants and bars to close by 9 p.m. at least until the end of the month to reduce the chance of a resurgence in infections, Kuroiwa said.
Under the state of emergency, the government has requested restaurants and bars to close an hour earlier, by 8 p.m, while also asking people to stay home after 8 p.m. unless they have essential reasons to go out.
Roughly 451,200 people have tested positive in Japan and nearly 9,000 have died since the pandemic reached the country. (Reuters)