VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Bangladesh on Monday extended its strictest lockdown to July 14 to combat a surge in coronavirus cases led by the highly contagious Delta variant, with areas bordering India taking the brunt of infections.

The south Asian country reported 153 new coronavirus deaths on Sunday, its biggest daily rise since the pandemic began, taking the death toll to 15,065. Total cases stand at 944,917.

Hospitals are overwhelmed with coronavirus patients, particularly in districts bordering India where the Delta variant was first identified. Bangladesh sealed its border with India in April, but trade continues.

A surge in cases had prompted the government to order a week of tight controls on Thursday, with army troops patrolling streets. read more

All measures have been extended, the government said in a statement. The shutdown has sparked an exodus of migrant workers from the capital Dhaka to home villages.

Factories are allowed to operate observing health protocols while all offices and transportation remain shut expect essential goods carriers and ambulances.

Some workers are finding it difficult to survive without any income coming in.

"During the lockdown, there is no work. If this continues, I don't know how I feed my family," said Mohammad Manik, father of two, who works as a day labourer at a kitchen market in Dhaka.

"It is not the coronavirus but hunger that will kill us."

Bangladesh received 2.5 million doses of Moderna Inc's (MRNA.O) vaccine from the United States under the COVAX global-sharing scheme over the weekend. It also received two million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from China.

Bangladesh's vaccination drive suffered a blow after India stopped exports of the AstraZeneca (AZN.L) shot in response to a record surge in domestic infections, with only 3% its population of 170 million so far receiving the required two doses. (Reuters)

Taiwan's Cabinet said on Monday that with COVID-19 cases abating there is room to ease restrictions and ministries and officials should make preparations for doing so, as the island begins emerging from the worst of its pandemic.

Taiwan enacted curbs on gatherings, including closing entertainment venues and limiting restaurants to take out service, in May amid a spike in domestic cases after months of no or few community transmissions.

But with the outbreak stabilising the Cabinet suggested easing those rules.

The Cabinet, in a statement citing comments from Premier Su Tseng-chang, said that with sporadic infections in the community the conditions had not been met to totally lift the level three restrictions, as they are known.

"But, as the epidemic situation in most counties and cities has slowed down, there is room for reasonable adjustments in the control measures for all walks of life and sectors," it cited Su as saying.

"Relevant departments are requested to plan and prepare in advance," Su said, adding that any adjustments would be applied islandwide.

The capital, Taipei, has already begun the limited re-opening of its famous night markets, normally a top draw for tourists.

Speaking later on Monday at a daily news conference, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung announced 28 new domestic cases, down from 37 on Sunday.

Taiwan has never gone into a full lockdown, and the key semiconductor industry has been generally unaffected throughout, though its borders remain effectively closed for all but citizens and residents, who must all undergo strict quarantine.

While the outbreak of domestic infections has been small compared with those in many other countries, the government has acted extremely cautiously, isolating suspected contacts and ramping up a testing programme that had initially been slow to roll out.

Almost all domestic cases have been of the previously globally dominant Alpha variant, with a small outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant in southern Taiwan brought under control.

Taiwan has reported 15,061 infections since the pandemic began, including 689 deaths. (Reuters)

Australian authorities trying to stamp out an outbreak in Sydney of the highly infectious Delta variant of COVID-19 said on Monday that the next two days would be "absolutely critical" in deciding whether to extend a stay-home order beyond July 9.

So far, at least 300 people have been infected since the first case was reported in the beachfront Bondi suburb of Australia's largest city, on June 16.

The threat posed by the fast spreading Delta variant, in a country that has been slow to vaccinate, persuaded New South Wales state government to put Sydney, a city of five million people, under lockdown for two weeks.

But, on Monday it reported 35 locally acquired new cases, matching the worst daily figure for infections this year.

"We expect the case numbers of people in isolation to keep going up," state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters. "What we are really looking at are the number of people who have still been infectious in the community and what impact that will have in the next few days."

Of Monday's cases, 28 were in isolation throughout or for part of their infectious period. Seven cases spent time in the community while infectious.

"The next couple of days will be absolutely critical," Berejiklian said.

While Sydney continued to struggle contain the Delta variant, first detected in India, the less hard-hit cities of Perth, Brisbane and Darwin came out of lockdowns over the weekend.

Berejiklian said the lockdown in NSW had limited new cases to tens rather than hundreds, although she said many people had breached health orders, helping the virus to spread.

Several players of an Australian rugby league team were fined A$1,000 ($750) by NSW police for breaching public health orders after throwing a party.

VACCINE WOES

Lockdowns, contact tracing and compliance with social distancing rules have helped suppress past outbreaks in Australia, with just over 30,750 COVID-19 cases and 910 deaths since the pandemic began.

But with closed borders and limits on domestic movement a year-and-a-half into the pandemic, state leaders have become more critical of the slow vaccine rollout, with less than 10% of the 20 million adult population fully vaccinated.

The federal government has said it is expecting more imports of the Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) vaccine, the main recommended medication for people under 60, and indicated it wants to focus on ways to reopen the economy without focusing on daily infection numbers.

"Ultimately, we can't eliminate the virus," Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told reporters.

"Our focus is on living with the virus and ensuring as many people are vaccinated as possible and that we can mitigate what are the real threats from the virus which are the hospitalisation, serious illness and ultimately, the fatalities that we have seen in large numbers around the rest of the world."

In Queensland, authorities said nearly 140,000 people who have registered for Pfizer shots might have to wait until October or November due to supply shortages. Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said he had promised Queensland 198,000 extra Pfizer shots this month.

Meanwhile authorities in neighbouring New Zealand said 150,000 Pfizer doses, its largest shipment to date, had arrived, just days before the country was set to run out of supplies.

New Zealand extended its pause in quarantine-free travel to and from New South Wales and Queensland, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a media conference on Monday, although New Zealand would reopen its "travel bubble" with people arriving from Western Australia state and Northern territory.

Like in Australia, about 9% of New Zealand's 5 million population has been fully vaccinated, while over 1.1 million people have received at least one dose. (Reuters)

 Philippine authorities ordered on Monday an investigation into the crash of an Air Force plane that overshot a runway killing 47 soldiers on board, three civilians on the ground and injuring dozens.

Some passengers on the Lockheed C-130 jumped free seconds before the plane crashed and burst into flames on the weekend, officials cited witnesses as saying.

The aircraft, carrying recently graduated troops bound for counter-insurgency operations, had been trying to land at Jolo airport in southern Sulu province. read more

All 96 passengers on board had been accounted for, with 49 military personnel injured as well as four civilians on the ground, military spokesman Major General Edgard Arevalo said.

In a news conference, Arevalo said the plane was in "very good condition" and had 11,000 flying hours remaining before its next maintenance was due.

"We are determined to find out what really transpired in this very tragic incident, because according to available information the aircraft followed the specified protocols," he said.

Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana ordered an investigation into the country's worst military air disaster in nearly 30 years.

The military command said the soldiers were flying to the provincial airport of Jolo from Laguindingan, about 460 km (290 miles) to the northeast, to be deployed to their battalions.

The army in the sprawling Philippine archipelago has been fighting a long war in the area against Islamist militants from Abu Sayyaf and other factions.

There was no sign the plane was brought down by insurgent fire, officials said.

"We assure our people that we are transparent and the results of the investigation (will be made) available when completed," added Arevalo, saying that authorities were still searching for the flight recorders.

Jolo airport has a 1,200-metre runway that usually takes civilian turboprop flights though occasionally some military flights, according to a Civil Aviation Authority of the

The Lockheed aircraft had only recently arrived in the Philippines and was one of two provided by the U.S. government through the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, a government website said in January.

It quoted an Air Force spokesman as saying the aircraft would boost capability for heavy airlift missions.

The website C-130.net said the plane that crashed had first flown in 1988. The model is a workhorse for armed forces around the world.

The Philippines armed forces have a patchy air safety record. Last month a Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a training mission, killing six people. read more

A Philippines Air Force C-130 crash in 1993 killed 30 people. A 2008 crash of the civilian variant of the Lockheed plane flown by the Philippines Air Force killed 11 people, the Aviation Safety Network says.

The country's worst plane crash was that of an Air Philippines Boeing 737 in 2000, which killed 131 people. (Reuters)