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 Australia's New South Wales state sees cause for optimism
Australia's most populous state on Tuesday reported its lowest
one-day rise in new COVID-19 cases in nearly a week, fuelling
optimism that contact tracing and social distancing were working to
bring a new outbreak in Sydney under control.
The source of the outbreak, which ended a run of nearly two weeks
with zero locally acquired infections nationally, is believed to
have been a returning traveller from the United States.
Virus carriers have visited more than 100 venues around the city of
more than 5 million people, including restaurants, cafes, gyms and
post offices, heightening the risk of wider community transmission.
So far, however, tests have shown the outbreak is contained to the
northern beaches.
All Australian states have now moved to close their borders to NSW,
with hundreds of police and military personnel deployed to ensure
compliance. The outbreak has also seen the annual Sydney-to-Hobart
yacht race cancelled for the first time in 76 years, while the
cricket test between Australia and India scheduled to start at the
Sydney Cricket Ground on Jan. 7 is under threat.
S.Korea orders ski resort, winter tourism shutdown
South Korea on Tuesday moved to shut down all ski resorts and winter
tourist spots in a bid to stop the coronavirus from spreading as a
third wave of the pandemic proves much tougher to contain in the
densely populated region of the capital city.
Gatherings of more than four people will not be permitted, said
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, speaking during a televised briefing,
while tighter anti-virus curbs will be imposed on restaurants to
tamp down infections.
The national government has so far resisted calls to impose Phase 3
in the country's anti-COVID-19 plans, the toughest of all
categorized social distancing rules that would essentially lock down
Asia's fourth-largest economy.
Japan PM Suga shies away from calling state of emergency
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Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, too, reiterated there was no need for
Japan to call a national state of emergency, even as healthcare
authorities declared their own state of emergency for the medical
system on Monday as coronavirus infection rates continue to rise.
While medical workers are growing increasingly alarmed over whether
the system can withstand the rise in cases, those concerns appear to
have taken a backseat politically, said Koji Wada, professor of
public health at the International University of Health and Welfare
in Tokyo.
"Medical groups are concerned about the medical workers and
patients, whereas the government expert panel must take the entire
population into account," including restaurant workers and people
who might lose their jobs, he said.
Singapore gets Asia's first batch of Pfizer's vaccine
Singapore received its first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19
vaccine on Monday, according to its flag carrier, ahead of a rollout
in the city-state. Singapore is the first Asian country to receive
the Pfizer-BioNTech shots after it said last week that it had
approved the companies' vaccine.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, 68, has said he would be among the
early recipients of the vaccine in the nation of 5.7 million people,
which has one of the lowest coronavirus fatality rates globally.
The government plans to first administer the vaccine to healthcare
workers and the elderly. Health ministry official Kenneth Mak had
last week said the first jabs could be given "within the next two to
three weeks" if safely delivered.
(Compiled by Karishma Singh; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
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