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A bus carrying passengers crosses the Causeway between Singapore and Malaysia on Nov 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) - 

Authorities in Singapore and Malaysia are in discussions on when and how measures on land border crossings between the two countries can ease, and will share the details when they are ready, said Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong on Friday (Mar 11).

Earlier this week, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that the country would fully reopen its borders on Apr 1 as it begins to transition to a COVID-19 endemic phase. 

In response to queries by CNA on the announcement by Mr Ismail Sabri, the Ministry of Trade and Industry had said that the details on the land crossings were being worked out. 

From Monday, the daily quota of people that can travel under the land vaccinated travel lane by coach between Singapore and Malaysia will rise from 2,160 to 3,420. This is on top of air vaccinated travel lanes between Singapore and the Malaysian cities of Kuala Lumpur and Penang.

Responding to a reporter's question on Friday on what "benchmarks" the Government was considering, Mr Gan said that this would include "operational details".

"I can share that we will be looking at cars, motorcycles and additional buses, including private coaches that may be engaged by companies for their workers to go to-and-fro," he said at the virtual press conference held by the COVID-19 multi-ministry task force.

"We are looking at various aspects and this also involves significant adjustment and fine-tuning of the operations on the ground."

He highlighted that currently there are a few thousand crossings a day, while "in time to come", there may be a "significant number" of people crossing on a daily basis.

"Therefore it is a major undertaking," said Mr Gan. 

"Our land authority, our immigration department are in close discussion with our counterparts and also looking at operational details to ensure that when we are able to allow more traffic to cross, it can be done so smoothly and safely."

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung added that the timing of the easing is also under discussion between the two countries' health ministries.

"The two ministries of health are in constant touch and I think we need to time it right ... It must be done when the pandemic situation on both sides allow it," he said, adding that the date cannot be "predetermined".

"But this is something we are watching closely and when conditions allow, then we can talk about reopening," said Mr Ong//CNA

A general view of a COVID-19 isolation facility in Tsing Yi amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong on Mar 9, 2022. (File photo: Reuters/Tyrone Siu) - 

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Friday (Mar 11) that the city's vaccination programme would focus on its elderly and children, as authorities battled to reduce a surge of COVID-19 infections and climbing death rates which have ripped through care homes and overwhelmed hospitals.

The global financial hub has reported more than 600,000 COVID-19 infections and more than 3,100 deaths - most of them in the past two weeks.

Hong Kong reported the most deaths per 1 million population globally in the week to Mar 9, according to data publication Our World in Data, most have been unvaccinated senior citizens.

Until this year, the Chinese-controlled hub had an enviable track record of controlling the virus due to stringent measures as part of its "zero COVID" approach, which, like mainland China, seeks to curb all outbreaks as soon as they occur.

However, many residents in the former British colony chose to remain unvaccinated for most of 2021, due to the minimal number of infections and fear of side effects, particularly among the elderly population.

"Over 90 per cent of the deaths were those who had not been fully vaccinated. We need to catch up and vaccinate every Hong Kong citizen," Lam told a daily news briefing on how her government was managing the virus.

While there has been a rapid pick up in vaccinations - more than 90 per cent of the population have now had at least one dose, rates among the more vulnerable elderly have lagged the rapid spread of the Omicron variant in the city.

Only about 53 per cent of those over 80 years old are vaccinated, according to government data.

Lam said that her government was shifting its approach to target the elderly with more medical resources in its drive to combat the virus after a senior Chinese official said that Hong Kong needed to prioritise reducing deaths.

The government had previously focused on identifying, treating and isolating each infection even if they were mild or asymptomatic cases. It was also planning to hold a mass testing scheme for the city's 7.4 million residents in March.

Lam this week said that there was no time frame for the testing and it would only be done if there were sufficient resources.

Hospitals, morgues and isolation centres are overflowing while some supermarkets and grocery stores still have shelves empty nearly two weeks after residents started panic buying in fear over a potential city-wide lockdown.

Lam said that she was the "authoritative source" for all coronavirus information and would address any rumours or misinformation. Many residents have been frustrated and anxious at what they see about constant changes to the government's policy.

Lam said that her administration was managing the outbreak as best as possible with the policy changes made in order to achieve "the objectives of safety and health".

"This is an unprecedented situation, in terms of responding to an epidemic of this magnitude, it has outgrown the capacity of the Hong Kong government," she said//CNA

FILE PHOTO: The United Nations headquarters building is pictured with a UN logo in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., March 1, 2022. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri - 

The United Nations on Friday (Mar 11) said it was not aware of any biological weapons program in Ukraine while Washington and its allies voiced concerns Russia was spreading the unproven claim in order to launch its own biological or chemical attacks.

Russia called the meeting of the 15-member UN Security Council to reassert its unsubstantiated accusation that Ukraine ran biological warfare laboratories with US support.

The move risked backfiring on Moscow as members rejected the assertions as "a lie" and "utter nonsense" and used the session to amplify accusations that Russia has deliberately targeted and killed hundreds of civilians in its 15-day-old invasion that Russian President Vladimir Putin calls "a special military operation."

Izumi Nakamitsu, the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, told the council that the United Nations is "not aware" of any biological weapons program in Ukraine, which ratified an international ban on such arms, as has Russia.

The Russian envoy to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, repeated the claim - without providing evidence - that Ukraine ran biological weapons laboratories with US Defense Department support.

Under a 2005 agreement, the Pentagon has assisted several Ukrainian public health laboratories with improving the security of dangerous pathogens and technology used to research. Those efforts have been supported by other countries and the World Health Organization.

The US envoy to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said Washington was "deeply concerned" that Russia called the session as a "false flag effort" aimed at laying the groundwork for its own use of biological or chemical weapons in Ukraine.

Although she did not immediately provide evidence of an imminent threat during the meeting of the 15-member council, she said: "Russia has a track record of falsely accusing other countries of the very violations that Russia itself is perpetrating."

She added: "We have serious concerns that Russia may be planning to use chemical or biological agents against the Ukrainian people.

"The intent behind these lies seems clear, and it is deeply troubling," she said. "We believe Russia could use chemical or biological agents for assassinations, as part of a staged or false flag incident, or to support tactical military operations."//CNA

FILE PHOTO: Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko visits a checkpoint of the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 6, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko - 

Kyiv mayor and former heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko said on Friday (Mar 11) that he believed there were nearly 2 million people still left in the city, which is being squeezed by advancing Russian forces on several fronts.

He said the Ukrainian capital, normally with a population of 3.5 million, had enough vital provisions to last a couple of weeks, and that supply lines in and out remained open for now.

His brother Wladimir, also a heavyweight boxing star, added in a joint interview that some men and women who had accompanied their families to the relative safety of the west of the country were returning to take part in the city's defence.

"We guess close to 2 million people are still in Kyiv and it's very important to give services to people," Vitali told Reuters at a logistics centre in Kyiv where he and aides were coordinating food and medicine supplies to stores and people stranded at home.

"We have right now electricity, heating, gas, we have water," he added, speaking in English.

He thanked countries for sending supplies to Ukraine, and estimated that Kyiv had enough vital goods to last another two weeks.

Russia's military is already close to Kyiv to the west and northwest, where there has been heavy fighting, and has tried to move closer to the east and northeast.

Ukrainian officials say that its ultimate aim is to surround the city with a view to seizing it.

On Friday Russian forces were regrouping in the northwest, satellite pictures showed, in what Britain said could be preparation for an assault on the city within days.

"The target (of the Russian invasion) is the capital of Ukraine, the target is Kyiv," Vitali said. "We are ready to defend our city."

Hundreds of thousands of Kyiv residents have fled westwards as the fighting neared the city's outskirts, joining millions of others forced to leave homes behind by sometimes fierce bombardment.

Wladimir Klitschko, who has enlisted in Ukraine's reserve army, said some of the men and women who had got their families to safety were now returning to the capital.

"Yes there are a lot of refugees who left west, but a lot are coming back. A lot of men and women ... coming back to defend the country. This is our home. We are staying here. We are not leaving anywhere," he said.

Across Ukraine, thousands of civilians have joined local defence units to support regular troops.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation" to disarm and "de-Nazify" the country. It denies targeting civilians.

Ukraine and its allies accuse Moscow of an invasion that has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in which hundreds of civilians have been killed and millions more displaced.

In Brovary, just to the east of Kyiv, residents out shopping for food remained defiant.

Dramatic footage released on Thursday showed a column of Russian tanks outside the town coming under artillery fire which appeared to strike some of the vehicles and forced others to retreat.

"There is no panic," said Brovary resident Larisa Ugviy after packing her shopping into a car with her husband.

"We try to calm down - cook something, do the cleaning, take care of the pets, walk them. So everything is alright. Life goes on, nobody panics, nobody. Trust me."//CNA