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 Sydney isolated as COVID-19 clusters build
Australia's largest city, Sydney, re-introduced "soft touch"
COVID-19 curbs on Wednesday to contain a widening outbreak of the
Delta variant, mandating masks in offices while neighbouring states
closed their borders.
New Zealand raised the alert level in its capital of Wellington over
exposure concerns after an Australian tourist tested positive for
the virus upon returning to Sydney from a weekend visit to the
neighbouring nation.
The latest virus cluster in Australia's most populous state of New
South Wales has swelled to more than 30 in a week, prompting New
Zealand to halt quarantine-free travel.
Tokyo 2020 bans booze, high-fives
Alcohol, high-fives and talking loudly will be banned for the
reduced numbers of Olympic ticket holders allowed into venues as
organisers conceded a "sense of celebration" would be limited at a
Games already postponed by a year.
Alcohol sales have been restricted in and around Tokyo after health
officials warned drinking would encourage close contact and mingling
in bars that could help spread the virus.
Japan's daily rate of vaccinations has reached a crucial milestone
of 1 million, government data showed on Wednesday, as authorities
scramble to recover lost time in inoculating the population.
Taiwan to extend COVID-19 curbs
Taiwan will extend its coronavirus curbs by two more weeks until
July 12, as the situation has yet to reach a point where they can be
relaxed, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said on Wednesday.
Taiwan has been dealing with a rise in domestic infections since May
after months of relative safety, leading the government to limit
personal gatherings and close entertainment venues. Those
restrictions were meant to end on June 28.
Chen announced 104 new domestic infections, up from up from 78 on
Tuesday.
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 China's Shenzhen suspends
direct flights to Beijing
Direct flights from the southern city of
Shenzhen to Beijing have been suspended until at
least July 1, booking apps showed, ahead of
celebrations for the Chinese Communist Party's
founding in the capital on that date.
China's most populous province Guangdong is
battling a COVID-19 outbreak, with 170 confirmed
local cases between May 21 and June 21. No new
confirmed local cases were reported for June 22.
Of the cases, eight were recorded in Shenzhen,
while 146 were reported in the provincial
capital Guangzhou, though direct flights were
still available to Beijing as of Wednesday.
AstraZeneca, Pfizer vaccines effective against
variants
Vaccines made by AstraZeneca and the Pfizer-BioNTech
alliance remain broadly effective against Delta
and Kappa variants of the novel coronavirus,
according to a scientific study, underpinning a
continued push to deliver the shots.
The study by Oxford University researchers,
published in the journal Cell, investigated the
ability of antibodies in the blood from people,
who were vaccinated with the two-shot regimens,
to neutralize the highly contagious Delta and
Kappa variants.
The University of Oxford said on Wednesday it
was testing anti-parasitic drug ivermectin as a
possible treatment for COVID-19, as part of a
British government-backed study that aims to aid
recoveries in non-hospital settings.
(Compiled by Linda Noakes; Editing by Emelia
Sithole-Matarise)
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