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Minggu, 06 Desember 2020

South Korea's Moon orders COVID-19 testing to be expanded amid third wave - CNA

SEOUL: South Korean President Moon Jae-in called on Monday (Dec 7) for expanded COVID-19 testing and more thorough tracing as the country struggled to control its latest and largest wave of infections.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported 615 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Sunday, capping a month of triple-digit daily increases that have led to 8,311 confirmed patients in quarantine, the most ever.

Moon ordered the government to mobilise every available resource to track infections, and to expand testing by deploying the military and more people from the public service, presidential Blue House spokesman Chung Man-ho told a briefing.

Moon added that testing sites should operate longer hours to allow people working to get tested at their convenience and more drive-through testing facilities should be set up, Chung said.

The positive rate for the latest batch of tests was about 4.2 per cent, compared to the year's average of 1.2 per cent, according to the KDCA.

On Sunday, authorities said they will impose heightened social distancing rules for the capital Seoul and surrounding areas that will last until at least the end of the month.

READ: South Korea tightens COVID-19 curbs in Seoul region

South Korea avoided lockdowns but used an intensive system of tracing, testing and quarantining to tamp down two earlier waves of infection.

With this third wave, the government has faced increasing criticism as cases continue to rise despite unprecedented measures such as mask mandates, curfews for restaurants and other businesses, and restricted public transportation.

READ: Commentary - Is South Korea doing enough to tackle its new COVID-19 wave?

Monday's total was down slightly from Sunday, when the agency reported 631 new cases, the largest daily tally since a peak in February and early March.

In total, South Korea has reported 38,161 cases, with 549 deaths.

Health authorities have said that if the current trend of cases continues, the hospital system could become overloaded.

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments

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2020-12-07 02:45:23Z
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South Korea's Moon orders COVID-19 testing to be expanded amid third wave - CNA

Moon added that testing sites should operate longer hours to allow people working to get tested at their convenience and more drive-through testing facilities should be set up, Chung said.

The positive rate for the latest batch of tests was about 4.2 per cent, compared to the year's average of 1.2 per cent, according to the KDCA.

On Sunday, authorities said they will impose heightened social distancing rules for the capital Seoul and surrounding areas that will last until at least the end of the month.

READ: South Korea tightens COVID-19 curbs in Seoul region

South Korea avoided lockdowns but used an intensive system of tracing, testing and quarantining to tamp down two earlier waves of infection.

READ: Commentary - Is South Korea doing enough to tackle its new COVID-19 wave?

Monday's total was down slightly from Sunday, when the agency reported 631 new cases, the largest daily tally since a peak in February and early March.

In total, South Korea has reported 38,161 cases, with 549 deaths.

Health authorities have said that if the current trend of cases continues, the hospital system could become overloaded.

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments

Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram

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Britain gets ready for roll-out of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine this week - CNA

LONDON: Britain is preparing to become the first country to roll out the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine this week, initially making the shot available at hospitals before distributing stocks to doctors' clinics, the government said on Sunday (Dec 6).

The first doses are set to be administered on Tuesday, with the National Health Service (NHS) giving top priority to vaccinating the over-80s, frontline healthcare workers and care home staff and residents.

Britain gave emergency use approval for the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech last week - jumping ahead in the global race to begin the most crucial mass inoculation programme in history.

In total, Britain has ordered 40 million doses - enough to vaccinate 20 million people in the country of 67 million.

About 800,000 doses are expected to be available within the first week.

READ: EU criticises 'hasty' UK approval of COVID-19 vaccine

READ: UK drugs regulator defends fast pace of Pfizer vaccine approval

Initial doses that have arrived from Belgium are being stored in secure locations across the country, where they will be quality checked, the health ministry said.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has onerous storage requirements. It needs to be kept at -70 degrees Celsius and only lasts five days in a regular fridge.

For that reason, the health ministry said the vaccine would first be administered in 50 hospitals. It said it would take a few hours to defrost each vaccine and prepare it for use.

NHS England has written to general practitioners, telling them to get ready to start giving vaccinations through local doctors' services from Dec 14.

Britain reported 17,272 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, raising the total number of infections since the start of the pandemic to over 1.723 million.

The country also recorded 231 deaths from the disease, down from 397 a day earlier, taking the total toll measured by the number of deaths within 28 days of a positive test to 61,245.

READ: UK medical chiefs eye major fall in COVID-19 deaths by early 2021

Rather than run clinics in individual surgeries, groups of local doctors will operate more than 1,000 vaccination centres across the country, the government said.

Boxes of the vaccine contain five packs of 975 doses, but special regulatory approval is needed to split them up. A senior medical official has said that while he was hopeful it would be possible to split the packs and deliver straight to care homes, it was not guaranteed.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, 94, and Prince Philip, 99, are in line to get the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine early due to their age. (Photo: AFP/Adrian DENNIS)

VACCINE FOR QUEEN

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine within weeks, reports late on Saturday said.

The monarch, 94, and her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip are in line to get the jab early due to their age and will not receive preferential treatment, the Mail on Sunday reported.

The newspaper said Britain's most senior royals would reveal they have been given the inoculation "to encourage more people to take up the vital jab", amid fears so-called anti-vaxxers could dent enthusiasm for it.

Buckingham Palace did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Britain is among the first nations to roll out vaccinations outside the context of a clinic trial, raising hopes that the tide could soon turn against a virus that has killed nearly 1.5 million people globally and hammered the world economy.

READ: Britain in 'final throw of the dice' as EU trade talks set to restart

Plans are reportedly being stepped up to ensure any complications arising from the end of the Brexit transition period on Dec 31 do not impact its roll-out.

The vaccine will be manufactured at Pfizer's plant in Puurs, Belgium. The Observer reported late on Saturday that ministers have drawn up contingency plans to fly millions of doses into Britain on military aircraft in the event of Brexit-related disruption at UK ports.

"We will do this if necessary," a health department spokesperson told the newspaper.

Talks to finalise a UK-EU free trade deal and avoid potential chaos in January are currently gridlocked, with just days left to seal an agreement.

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments

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2020-12-07 00:54:38Z
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Indonesia receives first COVID-19 vaccine from China's Sinovac - CNA

JAKARTA: Indonesia received its first shipment of coronavirus vaccine from China on Sunday (Dec 6), President Joko Widodo said, as the government prepares a mass inoculation programme.

Jokowi, as the president is widely known, said in an online briefing that the country received 1.2 million doses from China's Sinovac Biotech, a vaccine Indonesia has been testing since August.

READ: Indonesia books 50 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from Sinovac

He added that the government plans to receive another 1.8 million doses in early January.

Late-stage trials of the Sinovac vaccine are also under way in Brazil and Turkey, with interim results on efficiency from Brazil expected by mid-December.

Indonesia is also expected this month to receive shipments of raw materials to produce 15 million doses and materials for 30 million doses next month, the president said.

READ: Indonesia foreign minister says vaccine cooperation with China won’t influence Jakarta's position on South China Sea

The vaccine still needs to be evaluated by the country's food and drug agency (BPOM) while his administration continues to prepare for distributing the vaccine across the vast archipelago of 270 million people, Jokowi said.

"We have been preparing for months through simulations in several provinces and I am sure that once it is decided that we can begin the vaccination, everything will be ready," he said.

Indonesia's daily number of coronavirus infections have accelerated in recent weeks, with total confirmed cases reaching 575,796 on Sunday with 17,740 deaths, the highest in Southeast Asia.

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments

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2020-12-06 16:06:20Z
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Former Hong Kong lawmaker Ted Hui says his bank accounts frozen - CNA

HONG KONG: Former Hong Kong lawmaker Ted Hui said on Sunday (Dec 6) his local bank accounts appeared to have been frozen after fled to Britain with his family to continue his pro-democracy activities.

Hui told Reuters via social media WhatsApp that bank accounts belonging to him, his wife and his parents at Bank of China Hong Kong, HSBC and Hang Seng Bank were frozen. He gave no further details.

Democracy activists say conditions have worsened in the former British colony after China imposed security legislation on the financial hub in June, making anything Beijing regards as subversion, secession, terrorism or colluding with foreign forces punishable by up to life in prison.

China, which promises Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy, denies curbing rights and freedoms, but authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing have moved swiftly to quash dissent after anti-government protests erupted last year and engulfed the city.

READ: Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong jailed for 13 and a half months for 2019 anti-government protest

Local media reported that at least five accounts worth hundreds of thousands of US dollars belonging to Hui and his family had been inaccessible since Saturday.

Hui contacted the banks and was told there were "remarks" placed on his accounts, but the staff refused to provide further information, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported.

"We do not comment on the details of individual accounts," a Hang Seng Bank spokesman told Reuters by email. HSBC and Bank of China did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Hong Kong police said late on Sunday that they were investigating a Hong Kong person, who had absconded overseas with bank accounts being frozen, for suspected money laundering and possible violation of the new national security law.

It was not immediately clear who police were referring to.

Hui said on Thursday he had fled Hong Kong after facing criminal charges and would seek exile in Britain.

One of the pro-democracy activists arrested last month and charged with disturbing legislature proceedings, Hui arrived in Copenhagen last week on an invitation from Danish lawmakers.

Hong Kong's Security Bureau issued a statement on Friday that, while not naming Hui, said "running away by jumping bail and using various excuses such as so-called 'exile' to avoid one's responsibility is a shameful, hypocritical and cowardly act of recoil".

Hui was one of several opposition lawmakers who quit Hong Kong's Legislative Council last month in protest at the dismissal of four colleagues in what they called another push by Beijing to suppress democracy in the city.

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2020-12-06 13:07:30Z
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Ex-Hong Kong lawmaker Ted Hui says accounts frozen after he sought exile - CNA

Hui told Reuters via social media WhatsApp that bank accounts belonging to him, his wife and his parents at Bank of China Hong Kong, HSBC and Hang Seng Bank were frozen. He gave no further details.

READ: Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong jailed for 13 and a half months for 2019 anti-government protest

Local media reported that at least five accounts worth hundreds of thousands of US dollars belonging to Hui and his family had been inaccessible since Saturday.

Hui contacted the banks and was told there were "remarks" placed on his accounts, but the staff refused to provide further information, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported.

"We do not comment on the details of individual accounts," a Hang Seng Bank spokesman told Reuters by email. HSBC and Bank of China did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

It was not immediately clear who police were referring to.

Hui said on Thursday he had fled Hong Kong after facing criminal charges and would seek exile in Britain.

One of the pro-democracy activists arrested last month and charged with disturbing legislature proceedings, Hui arrived in Copenhagen last week on an invitation from Danish lawmakers.

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2020-12-06 09:47:57Z
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Singapore continuing to seek new travel bubble partners despite HK setback: Ong Ye Kung - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - Singapore is continuing to seek new regions to establish travel bubbles with, even as the launch of the first such arrangement with Hong Kong remains on hold, Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung said on Sunday (Dec 6).

Countries that the Republic has unilaterally opened its borders to make natural partners for potential air travel bubbles, Mr Ong told reporters on the sidelines of a community event.

Short-term visitors from Australia, Brunei, China, New Zealand and Vietnam are currently allowed to enter Singapore and travel freely as these countries are deemed to have comprehensive public health surveillance systems and successfully controlled the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

Travellers from these countries need not serve a stay-home notice, but must apply for an Air Travel Pass, test negative on arrival and download and use the TraceTogether app while here.

"We hope they will reciprocate. They can look at Singapore's numbers - we are really controlling the virus quite well for now... Hopefully, I think, sometime next year, different partners will be willing to open up travel bubbles," Mr Ong said.

"We can't close forever. Everybody knows that."

The start date for the Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble, initially set for Nov 22, will be reviewed between Christmas and New Year, he said.

"Looking at it between my counterpart and I, we decided there's no point in trying to give any hope that it can be commenced in the middle of the month," Mr Ong said.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said last week that both cities had decided to defer the start date to next year amid a recent spike in Covid-19 cases in Hong Kong. It had earlier been agreed that the arrangement would be suspended if the seven-day moving average for unlinked cases exceeded five in either city.

Hong Kong reported 101 new cases on Saturday (Dec 5) as the city faces a new wave of infections and tighter measures to curb its spread.

"I think it is the correct thing to do because you can see right now the cases are at this level - they are not spiking very high, which we are happy to see, but at the same time it's maintaining at a certain level," Mr Ong said.

"As for other partners, we are constantly looking."

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2020-12-06 06:53:02Z
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