SHANGHAI: China's eastern city of Nanjing reported 13 new domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases on Thursday (Jul 29), bringing the total to 184 since Jul 20, as the country's latest major outbreak caused by the more contagious Delta variant persists.
Gene sequencing results of 52 cases linked to the outbreak showed they have all contracted the Delta strain, Ding Jie, deputy director at the city's centre for disease control and prevention, said at a news briefing on Friday.
Cases in the early stage of the outbreak were workers at Nanjing Lukou International Airport who cleaned an airplane after it arrived on a flight from Russia, Ding said. The gene sequence of the virus found in samples of the workers were identical to that from an infected person arriving from the flight, he said.
"After their work was complete, due to cleaning and protective measures not meeting standards, it's possible some staffers got infected, causing the virus to spread among cleaning staff," Ding said.
Zhangjiajie city in Hunan province has required all tourist sites, cinemas and theatres to close, and banned large gatherings to contain the virus.
The measures were announced after symptomless carriers outside the province were found to have attended a live performance at a theatre in Zhangjiajie on Jul 22. Local authorities deemed all spectators in the theatre on Jul 22 between 6pm and 7pm at a high risk.
Over 2,000 people attended performances on Jul 22 and guests were seated next to each other, a health publication run by the state-owned People's Daily newspaper said in a report on Wednesday.
China also reported 25 new asymptomatic infections, compared with 14 a day earlier. China does not count asymptomatic infection as confirmed cases.
As of Jul 29, mainland China had a total of 92,875 confirmed COVID-19 cases, it said.
China's death toll from the coronavirus remained unchanged at 4,636.
HONG KONG: The first person convicted under Hong Kong's national security law was sentenced to nine years for terrorist activities and inciting secession, judges said on Friday (Jul 30), in a watershed ruling with long-term implications for the city's judicial landscape.
Former waiter Tong Ying-kit, 24, was accused of driving his motorcycle into three riot police last year while carrying a flag with the protest slogan "Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our times".
Judges Esther Toh, Anthea Pang and Wilson Chan - picked by city leader Carrie Lam to hear national security cases - ruled on Tuesday that the slogan was "capable of inciting others to commit secession".
On Friday, the judges sentenced Tong to six and a half years for inciting secession and eight years for terrorist activities. Of these, two and a half years will run consecutively, resulting in a total term of nine years.
"We consider that this overall term should sufficiently reflect the Defendant's culpability in the two offences and the abhorrence of society, at the same time, achieving the deterrent effect required," they said in a written judgment.
Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have criticised Tong's conviction, saying it imposes new limits on free speech, as well as the precedents set by the trial, which they say contrast with Hong Kong's common law traditions.
A prison van carrying Tong Ying-kit, the first person charged under the new national security law, arrives at High Court for a hearing, in Hong Kong, China July 27, 2021. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
Tong was denied bail in line with a provision of the national security law that puts the onus on the defendant to prove they would not be a security threat if released.
Tong also did not get a trial by jury because of "a perceived risk of the personal safety of jurors and their family members or that due administration of justice might be impaired".
The Hong Kong government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hong Kong and Chinese authorities have repeatedly said that all the rights and freedoms promised to the former British colony upon its return to Chinese rule in 1997 were intact, but that national security was a red line. All cases have been handled in accordance with the law, both governments have said.
At a pre-sentencing hearing on Thursday, lawyer Clive Grossman pleaded for lenience, saying any incitement was of a "minor nature" and Tong was a "decent young man" who did something "stupid".
Tong, who pleaded not guilty to all charges, was also found guilty of terrorist activities, with judges saying his motorcycle was potentially a lethal weapon and his actions "a deliberate challenge mounted against the police".
An alternative charge of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm was not considered.
Tong's trial focused mostly on the meaning of the slogan, which was ubiquitous during Hong Kong's mass 2019 protests.
The arguments over its interpretation drew on topics such as ancient Chinese history, the US civil rights movement and Malcolm X.
The judges said on Tuesday they were "sure that the Defendant fully understood the Slogan to bear the meaning of Hong Kong Independence". Tong did not testify during the trial.
MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday (Jul 30) approved the imposition of lockdown measures in the capital region, in a bid to contain the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant and to shield the country's medical system.
The Manila capital region, a sprawl of 16 cities home to more than 13 million people, will be placed under the tightest quarantine curbs from Aug 6 to Aug 20, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a televised address. "While it is a painful decision, this is for the good of all."
The lockdown, which is expected to cost the economy US$4 billion, will prevent people leaving their homes, except for essential shopping, while indoor and al fresco dining is banned.
"Delta is all over Metro Manila already. This is proper intervention," Benjamin Abalos, chairperson of the capital's council of mayors, told Reuters.
The mayors plan to step up vaccinations by administering 250,000 doses a day, up from 150,000 now, he said.
The highly transmissible Delta variant, first detected in India, has spread rapidly across much of Southeast Asia.
The Philippines also extended a ban on travellers coming from 10 countries including India, Indonesia, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates to Aug 15.
Already battling the second-worst coronavirus outbreak in Asia, the Philippines has so far recorded more than 1.57 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 27,000 deaths.
The country has reported 216 cases of the Delta variant, but health experts say there could be more undetected cases because of the slow pace of the country's genome sequencing.
The second wave in the Philippine outbreak peaked in April but infections have started to rise again in recent weeks. Currently hospital occupancy in the capital area is 49 per cent, while the rate for intensive care beds is 58 per cent.
With only 7 per cent of the country's 110 million people fully vaccinated, tens of millions remain vulnerable to COVID-19.
The lockdown prompted investors to sell down stocks, with the Philippines' index slumping 3.5 per cent to its lowest close in more than nine weeks.
Economic Planning Secretary Karl Chua told reporters the lockdown could cost the economy 210 billion pesos (US$4.18 billion), cut 444,000 jobs and increase the number of poor people by up to 177,000.
After suffering a record 9.6 per cent contraction in 2020, the Philippines is aiming for a 6 to 7 per cent economic expansion this year.
KUALA LUMPUR: Mandy Lam had just sat down to have her dinner one day in early July when she noticed she was given a vaccination appointment on MySejahtera, Malaysia's contact tracing app.
It was 7pm but the appointment was 6pm the same day.
The corporate communications executive immediately put down her utensils and rushed over to the vaccine distribution centre, located about 45 minutes from her house.
“I drove like The Fast and The Furious over to the centre, because I heard it closes around 8pm,” she said with a laugh.
Ms Lam has been checking her MySejahtera a few times a day since registration for vaccination opened to the public in late February this year. She had also tried to snatch a slot when the government rolled out the voluntary opt-in for AstraZeneca vaccines in May, but to no avail.
A health worker prepares to administer the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines at a vaccination center at Sunway Medical centre in Sunway, outskirt of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Friday, June 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Upon arriving at the vaccination centre, her hands were trembling from the adrenaline rush. She prayed hard that she would be allowed to take her first shot before the centre closed for the day, and she was.
“If I hadn’t rushed over, who knows when I’d be eligible again, maybe next year? Hence I’d rather be late to the appointment, than not even take the chance,” said Ms Lam.
Since Malaysia received its first batch of vaccines back in late February, it’s National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (NCIP) has been gaining steam. NCIP is divided into a number of phases, beginning with immunising the country’s health and security frontliners.
Workers transfer a container carrying the first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines at the MASkargo Complex in Sepang, Malaysia on Feb 21, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Malaysia Information Department/Famer Roheni)
With a steady stream of supplies, vaccination was ramped up across the country. The programme has been breaking daily records in terms of daily doses being administered.
At the same time, however, the situation for Malaysia’s COVID-19 cases has also taken a turn for the worse, with record high infections and deaths being reported.
Increasing the vaccination capacity is the most effective way for Malaysia to get out of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said in parliament on Monday (Jul 26).
Malaysia's Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin speaking at a special sitting of parliament in Kuala Lumpur on Jul 27, 2021. (Photo: Bernama)
One hundred per cent of adults may be fully vaccinated by October, he added, ahead of the original target of 80 per cent of adults by the first quarter of 2022.
But is vaccination the silver bullet to end Malaysia's crisis? Experts cautioned that while vaccines can be a key tool, other control measures must still be enforced.
VACCINATION DRIVE GAINING TRACTION
On Wednesday, Malaysia hit another record high for new COVID-19 cases with 17,405 infections. The country has over 1.07 million cases so far.
The current record for COVID-19 deaths logged in a single day is 207, which happened both on Monday and Tuesday.
Kuala Lumpur and Selangor have been consistently contributing the bulk of cases. As such, the government launched the "Operation Surge Capacity" to accelerate the vaccination drive in the Klang Valley, with a goal of administering at least one dose for people aged 18 and above by Aug 1.
Currently, Malaysia's national vaccination programme uses Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Sinovac.
The country has also granted conditional approval for emergency use to CanSino, Sinopharm and Janssen, and procured Russian-developed Sputnik V. It will also receive Novavax from the COVAX vaccine sharing programme.
Malaysia has allocated RM5.8 billion (US$1.36 billion) to carry out the immunisation programme, which has procured enough doses to cover 130 per cent of Malaysia's population.
There are currently 2,313 vaccine distribution centres across the country, including private clinics and ambulatory care. In addition, some states and federal territories have also employed mobile vaccine trucks to speed up inoculation, as what happened back in mid-June when four vaccine tracks administered doses to some 7,000 residents in public housing projects in Kuala Lumpur.
The COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) has announced that walk-in vaccinations for Selangor and Kuala Lumpur can take place from Aug 1 onwards for those who were left out and have not received any appointment date thus far, including those without identity or travel documents.
Coordinating minister for the national immunisation programme Khairy Jamaluddin also announced on Jul 25 that guidelines for illegal immigrants and refugees to receive their COVID-19 vaccines had been approved, and that non-governmental organisations such as the Red Crescent would be involved in the immunisation exercise for such communities.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin (right) and Health Minister Adham Baba. (File photo: Bernama)
According to Mr Khairy, 38.2 per cent of Malaysia's population, or 12.49 million people, have received at least one dose of vaccine as of Jul 27. From the total, over 5.9 million or 18.1 per cent of population have been fully vaccinated.
For the adult population, 25.2 per cent are fully vaccinated, he added.
Malaysia, which has a population of 32 million, is among the fastest countries to vaccinate its people against COVID-19, said Mr Muhyiddin on Monday.
Public health researcher Lim Chee Han agreed that one would hardly complain about the speed with the current rollout rate, which has been accelerated since early last month following a slow start due to delivery delays.
Health researcher Lim Chee Han. (Photo courtesy of Dr Lim Chee Han)
“In fact, it is faster than the world’s average (13.23 per cent fully vaccinated) and Asia’s average (9.81 per cent),” he said.
On Tuesday, Labuan, the federal territory in East Malaysia, became the first in the country to fully vaccinate 80 per cent of its adult population. It has an adult population of 68,500.
LOW REGISTRATION AND INOCULATION RATE IN SOME STATES
The vaccination drive is not without challenges.
In some parts of the country, "anti-vax" movement and vaccine hesitancy are a concern.
Dr Lim said that even before COVID-19, anti-vaccination beliefs cut across different socio-economic and education levels and the urban-rural divide.
“So I do not think that vaccine hesitancy presents a clear baseline pattern of distribution, perhaps except slightly more obvious for some religious groups in parts of the north and east coast of Peninsular Malaysia on the claim of vaccines’ halal-ness,” he added, pointing out that the northern state of Kedah used to have the worst child immunisation rates prior to the pandemic.
Vaccine registration in east coast states Kelantan and Terengganu are at 62.5 per cent and 76.7 per cent respectively, while Kedah's stands at 77.9 per cent, as of Jul 27.
They are lagging behind Selangor and Negeri Sembilan as well as the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, where 100 per cent of eligible adults have registered to be vaccinated.
Sabah, meanwhile, has the lowest registration rate among all states. Only 40.5 per cent or 1.12 million people of its eligible adult population registered for the programme.
Speaking to CNA on Jul 21, Sabah State Minister for Housing and Local Government Masidi Manjun said the low registration was due to the Borneon state's geography and infrastructure, but the registration number is not the state government's main concern.
“Due to limited Internet penetration in the rural areas, many people prefer to do manual registration,” he explained.
The state minister added that there is an immunisation task force in every state district, coordinated by the district officer to ensure citizen receive their vaccines.
As for inoculation rate, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur have administered the highest number of first doses, at 2.66 million and 2.079 million respectively. By contrast, Kelantan and Sabah have only administered about 360,000 and 650,000 first shots as of Jul 25.
Mr Masidi told CNA that per ratio to population, Sabah was the lowest recipient of vaccines among the states in Malaysia. The Sabah Health Department’s inoculation capacity could hit 50,000 doses daily, but was doing an average of 12,000 doses to spread out the doses until new supplies were delivered, he said last week.
Sabah State Minister for Housing and Local Government Masidi Manjun. (File photo: Bernama)
“We would prefer to do walk-in vaccinations - register and get inoculated, and the state has made available buildings to be turned into vaccination centres. In fact, many can be used immediately,” he said.
Research assistant Sabrina Melisa Aripen was among the Sabahans who were still waiting for an appointment.
She signed up as soon as the vaccination registration function was added to the MySejahtera app, and the wait has been very frustrating. Her parents, who are 82 and 76, as well as her friends with special needs or comorbidities have not received their appointments yet as well.
“But I see young, healthy and able-bodied people who aren’t frontliners sharing that they’ve received their doses, how is this fair?” Ms Sabrina said.
Sabrina Melisa Aripea (right) with her mother and six-year-old son. Neither she nor her mother, who is in her 70s, have received their vaccine appointment. (Photo courtesy of Sabrina Melisa Aripen)
She had assumed that her turn would come quickly when the government said vaccines would be given in phases, since she is in her 40s. But she was still not vaccinated when the government announced that from May onwards, those above 18 would soon receive their appointments.
With questions on the immunisation drive’s efficiency and the selection process went unanswered, Ms Sabrina felt overlooked.
Her predicament might soon be relieved with more vaccines being delivered to Sabah.
Mr Masidi announced on Jul 21 that the state had received a total of 747, 980 doses (including 152,100 delivered previously) and another 308,990 doses were scheduled to arrive the following week.
With the arrival, daily inoculation could be ramped up. State Health Director Rose Nani Mudin said on the same day that Sabah could reach 40,000 daily jabs, from 30,000.
The appearance of the Delta variant in Sarawak, with 93 cases detected up until Jul 25, and in other states is also an impetus to vaccinate as many eligible people as possible.
In a virtual media presser, Health Ministry director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah urged Malaysians to get their jabs, stating that those inoculated were much less infectious, and unlikely to get as sick.
Dr Noor Hisham pointed out that although 2,779 healthcare workers had been infected after they were fully vaccinated, most were category one (asymptomatic) or two (light symptoms).
Meanwhile, there were only three patients each in categories three (symptomatic with lung infection) and four (requiring oxygen assistance).
However, vaccination drive is no “silver bullet” for Malaysia’s case numbers, Dr Lim cautioned.
A soldier wearing personal protective equipment disinfects an area under enhanced lockdown in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Jun 29, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Lim Huey Teng)
“From a public health and life sciences point of view, the current vaccines we have are not ‘silver bullets’, they cannot eliminate disease transmission, though they are expected to significantly reduce the number of cases and need for hospitalisation,” he explained.
Vaccination’s positive effect had yet to be observed as a large proportion of Malaysia’s populace was unvaccinated, and the number of fully-vaccinated people was still too small to significantly reduce the rising trend of local COVID-19 transmissions in certain areas, he added.
“Though currently the government seems like it's running out of ideas, and it seems that the vaccination effort is their only effective response to the current predicament, many states will only achieve at least a 50 per cent fully vaccinated population by September,” he said.
And even then, Dr Lim added, a 50 per cent fully-vaccinated population was not a magic number to prevent COVID-19 from spreading. If lockdown measures stayed unchanged, more cases could be expected, especially fatalities, he cautioned.
For public health and health economics researcher Nazihah Muhamad Noor at Khazanah Research Institute, vaccines can be a key tool in ending the pandemic, but with provisos.
Nazihah Muhamad Noor, who focuses on public health research at Khazanah Research Institute. (Photo courtesy of Nazihah Muhamad Noor)
“But only if we can vaccinate the vast majority of the global population, not just Malaysia’s, quickly enough,” she observed.
“Global vaccine inequity has left the majority of the world population vulnerable and has allowed the virus to replicate in populations that are still susceptible, contributing to the emergence of new variants that can spread and prolong the pandemic everywhere, even in countries with advanced vaccination programmes,” Ms Nazihah pointed out.
As such, other pandemic controls such as testing, contact tracing, quarantine and masks still needed to be widely practised, she added.
SYDNEY: It’s four more weeks of lockdown for Sydneysiders, with no end yet in sight. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian is still to outline a roadmap out.
Sydney feels like it is going through COVID Groundhog Day right now. And not just because many are having to cope with being confined to home or struggling to stay on top of homeschooling.
Australia’s public policy approach to COVID also hasn’t significantly shifted from the settings of 2020. Despite the advent of astonishingly powerful vaccines and lessons from across the world, Australia still seems fixated on getting cases down to zero. Leaders are also reliant on lockdowns.
Even Berejiklian, once so resistant to lockdowns, has now fallen into line.
It is vital, of course, that Australia vigorously controls the current outbreak. It can’t afford to let the virus run rampant. Too many remain vulnerable as most Australians have not yet been offered the opportunity to be fully vaccinated.
But Australia has to prepare for a new future. Despite frequent promises, leaders have no focus on the more fundamental question about transitioning to reopening and rebuilding.
How can Australia learn from the examples of other countries that have adapted their public policies in the face of the Delta variant? What plans can it start putting in place now to safely reopen to the rest of the world when vaccination rates eventually catch up?
COVID-19 will be with the world for at least the foreseeable future. Experts tell us it will become endemic. The challenge then is to learn to live with the virus effectively, protecting public health while restoring freedoms and reconnecting with each other.
Countries around the world have taken different approaches to this challenge.
The UK has placed most of its confidence in vaccinations, with almost all pandemic restrictions now lifted and a plan to allow people who were fully vaccinated in the US and the European Union, and arriving from safer countries, to begin travelling to the UK without quarantining.
FILE PHOTO: Arriving passengers queue at UK Border Control at the Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport in London, Britain June 29, 2021. REUTERS/Hannah Mckay
While there are many critics of the UK’s overall strategy, the country is also widely deploying rapid antigen home testing, which enables people to ascertain their own risk to others before they step out into crowded streets.
Infection numbers have fallen in recent weeks, with some suggesting the country is perhaps reaching endemic equilibrium.
France is taking another route, with a firmer focus on mandating vaccinations. Parliament this week approved a bill that will require a health pass (proof they are fully vaccinated, recently tested negative or recently recovered from the virus) to enter restaurants, bars, trains and planes.
In the wake of President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement of the new policies, more than 2.2 million vaccination appointments were made in under 48 hours.
And in the US, President Joe Biden has unveiled a new door-to-door campaign in which health workers are literally knocking on doors to counter misinformation about vaccines and convince people to get the jabs.
Meanwhile, many places that have pursued a zero-COVID path have struggled. Taiwan, once a success story in countering the virus, has only just emerged from more than two months of partial lockdown.
Like Australia, it has failed to vaccinate its population quickly enough – just 28 per cent of Taiwanese people have had a single dose and only 1 per cent are fully vaccinated.
(Are on-off curbs on dining in Singapore prompting F&B operators to rethink staying in the business? Find out from Ya Kun Kaya Toast's Jesher Loi and chef-owner Anthony Yeoh on this week's Heart of the Matter podcast.)
STEPS FOR AUSTRALIA
For Australia to plan its next steps, it needs to break the psychological hold that “zero Covid” has had for many months. It needs to shift its attention to a long-term strategy for minimising hospitalisations and death.
Two months ago, a taskforce we convened published a “roadmap to reopening” that called for a staged, controlled and safe re-engagement with the world.
We recommended the creation of travel bubbles prior to the conclusion of the nationwide vaccination programme – namely, piloting programmes for fully vaccinated foreign nationals with negative COVID tests to enter Australia for education or to work in specific industries, such as horticultural agriculture.
A healthcare professional prepares a dose of the Pfizer vaccine in Melbourne, Australia, February 22, 2021. REUTERS/Sandra Sanders/File Photo
We also called for improving government messaging on vaccinations to challenge the terrible misinformation that has been spread, particularly about the AstraZeneca vaccine.
And we argued that fully vaccinated people within Australia should be granted specific exemptions from some of the more onerous restrictions as a way of incentivising vaccinations further.
In addition, Australian states should be working to keep schools open – even during outbreaks – by vaccinating teachers, improving ventilation, mandating masks where required and deploying rapid testing.
The New South Wales government’s plan to introduce rapid antigen testing at schools for Year 12 students is a welcome announcement, but more needs to be done.
Lastly, we urge the Australian prime minister to make a more concrete plan to reopen the country. There should be a clear target date set for easing domestic border restrictions and reopening international borders.
Australia should also move to home quarantine restrictions for fully vaccinated travellers and those travelling with negative tests from safer countries.
All of these measures should be within grasp. Other forward-looking countries have chosen to work towards a staged, controlled and safe reopening with the rest of the world. Once the immediate crisis has passed, it’s time that became Australia’s choice, too.
Tim Soutphommasane is Professor of Practice (Sociology and Political Theory) at the University of Sydney. Marc Stears is Director of the Sydney Policy Lab at University of Sydney. This commentary first appeared on The Conversation.
KUALA LUMPUR - Long lines stretching more than 2km from the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) vaccination centre (PPV) sparked concerns of another Covid-19 cluster-in-waiting, as hundreds of workers waited to get their jabs.
Social media was set abuzz after several video clips and pictures of the situation at the vaccination centre on Wednesday (July 28) were shared on various platforms and drew criticism from the public.
"This is my everyday route to go to my building from LRT KLCC so can you imagine these three days I've been facing this situation. I'm scared!" said Twitter user @sheszerazezan, referring to the KLCC light rail transit station.
Another user identified as @1negara1 blamed employers for failing to let their workers get their shots at the appointed times.
"This is due to the irresponsible attitude of the employer. Not following the appointment. Just simply send. The government should compound their employers, follow the head count," the user said.
To accelerate vaccination among workers in the manufacturing sector, the government launched the Public-Private Partnership Covid-19 Industry Immunisation Programme on June 16. KLCC is one of the centres in the programme.
As at Wednesday, 6.105 million people, or 18.7 per cent of Malaysia's population, had been fully inoculated, while another 12.841 million people, or 39.3 per cent, had received at least their first dose.
Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, the coordinating minister for the inoculation programme, told Parliament that more than a million vaccine doses were administered over the past two days alone.
According to social media postings, long queues at the KLCC PPV were a common sight for the past three days, prompting police to issue a statement.
Dang Wangi police chief Mohamad Zainal Abdullah said employers should follow the scheduled times for their workers' vaccinations.
"We ask employers not to send their foreign workers too early to the KLCC PPV to avoid overcrowding. There will be many foreign workers from Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan who will be sent there to receive their inoculation at the KLCC PPV," he said.
However, Madam Azira Shaharuddin, who received her inoculation at the centre, said the experience was smooth.
The situation around the Vaccination Center (PPV) is quite crowded with foreigners and local as they queue to get the COVID-19 vaccine injection at Covid-19 Vaccination Centre, KLCC Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur. #vaccination#Covid_19pic.twitter.com/azlyOWrkfM
"The process was very fast, no need to stand in queue long because inside, it was very orderly and they make sure our profile on MySejahtera is low risk," the lecturer, 37, told The Straits Times, referring to the country's contact tracing mobile app. She said migrant workers were being separated from the locals.
Responding to the crowd situation, the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force said it is working with police to limit vehicles ferrying large groups coming from outside of the Klang Valley for their vaccinations.
The task force also said it had revised appointment times for some recipients to reduce the congestion.
