By Mark Fetalco
Amid the challenges confronting the supply and equitable distribution of COVID-19
vaccines worldwide, many countries are scrambling to control the rapid
spread of the Coronavirus believed to be caused by more infectious variants.
The disease has so far infected more than 130 million people globally.
Japan
Less than two weeks after Japan lifted a state of emergency, Osaka governor Hirofumi
Yoshimura raised alarm about an emerging fourth wave of COVID-19 infections.
With this, Japan’s government will impose emergency measures such as shorter business
hours, work-from-home arrangements and to refrain people from activities like
karaoke.
The measure will cover the prefectures of Osaka (Osaka City), Hyogo (Kobe, Ashiya,
Nishinomiya and Amagasaki) and Miyagi (Sendai) from April 5 to May 5.
Yoshimura said the Olympic torch relay should skip Osaka City, which is supposed to pass
through on April 14.
According to reports, Japan faced three waves of COVID-19 infections, each bigger than
the last.
Majority of those who were affected during the first wave in April last year were older
people, while the second wave in July 2020 consisted mostly of young people and
cluster infections. The third wave last January occurred mostly in office
buildings, restaurants, homes and apartment buildings.
While reports of mutant strains are also increasing in Japan, its vaccination for the
general public will only start on April 12 in two of their 1,718 municipalities.
Canada
The Canadian government said Ontario, which is in the third wave of the pandemic, will
return to lockdown for at least four weeks, after a sharp rise in COVID-19
infections.
Essential and non-essential services will be reduced to 50 percent and 25 percent,
respectively.
While gyms and hairdressers will also be closed, schools will remain open.
Reports have it that the number of new cases in the province for a week has reached
2,000 — double the daily cases in the beginning of March.
So far, Canada has reported 990,604 COVID-19 infections with 23,008 deaths.
France
As part of its third lockdown to curb the COVID-19 surge, schools in France will
close for at least three weeks, according to President Emmanuel Macron.
He said schools will shift to remote learning starting next week, followed by a
two-week holiday.
After which, nursery and primary will return to school while those in the middle and
high school will continue studying remotely for an extra week.
“It is the best solution to slow down the virus,” Macron pointed out in his address
to the nation.
He added that compared to other neighboring countries, France has been successful
in keeping its schools open longer during the pandemic.
France has so far reported more than 4.7 million cases, with the death toll nearing
100,000. The country is facing a peak of over 5,000 people in intensive
care units.
India
India today added 89,129 new COVID-19 infections in their tally, the highest since
September 20, according to reports.
As the number of Coronavirus cases continues to rise, the country expanded their
vaccination program to people above 45.
“88 percent of COVID-related deaths in our country have been in the age group of 45
years and above. Therefore, prioritizing vaccination for this age group is
paramount to prevent COVID-related deaths,” Dr. VK Paul, Member (Health)
NITI Aayog cited.
Based on the global tally, India, now with nearly 12.4 million cumulative cases,
ranks third in countries with the most number of COVID-19 infections after the
United States and Brazil.
Malaysia
Malaysia is also seeing a continuous uptick of COVID-19 infections as the country
recorded over 1,200 cases on Friday, bringing its total tally to 347,972.
In a press statement, Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah stated that 26 of the newly reported infections are
imported and 1,268 are local transmissions.
On April 1, Malaysia has detected nine cases of Coronavirus variant first detected in
South Africa.
Greece
For three consecutive days, Greece has recorded more than 3,000 COVID-19
infections, pressuring the country’s COVID-referral hospitals.
According to Greece’s National Organization of Public Health, a total of 753 patients
remain intubated, 83 percent of them suffer from an underlying condition.
Despite the high cases of COVID-19 in Greece, Deputy Minister for Civil Protection
Nikos Chardalias said retail shops there will reopen on Monday.
Germany
After Germany’s disease control agency reported 24,300 new cases in just one day, the
government has reinforced the Easter lockdown.
Some German authorities also warned that the country is seeing a third wave of
infections fueled by COVID-19 variants that have come to dominate the outbreak
in Germany, according to reports.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged citizens to have a “quiet Easter” as COVID-19
infections spike.
“There needs to be a quiet Easter festival. I urgently ask you to refrain from all
non-urgent travel (and) that we all consistently follow the rules,” Merkel enjoined.
Germany has so far recorded more than 2.8 million cases with 77,421 COVID-19-related
deaths.
Bangladesh
The Bangladesh government has imposed new restrictions to curb the surge in cases,
including a ban on air travelers from the European Union and 12 other
countries, a ban on all public gatherings in areas with high infection rates,
50% occupancy in public transport vehicles.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is considering the need for a partial lockdown in Bangladesh
similar to the one imposed during the country’s first wave of the pandemic.
“We had been able to contain the virus but in the last few weeks, the COVID-19
cases are increasing all throughout the world. We have to be very careful,” she
added.
On Thursday, Bangladesh has reported a record-high 6,469 new COVID-19 cases. Total
confirmed cases has reached 624,594.
South Korea
Meanwhile, South Korea confirmed it would only receive 432,000 doses instead of 690,000
and delivery would be delayed until around the third week of April.
This, after India had imposed export restrictions of AstraZeneca’s vaccines being
manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) leaving the COVAX facility
of the World Health Organization short of supplies.
“There’s uncertainty over global vaccine supplies but we’re working on a plan to ensure
no disruptions in the second quarter and making efforts to secure more
vaccines,” Kim Ki-nam, head of South Korea’s COVID-19 vaccination task force
team admitted.
Amid the increasing cases in South Korea, some critics raised concerns about the
country’s aim to achieve the herd immunity this year of 12 million people.
But Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyu has assured that “this is a very achievable
target.”
Aside from South Korea, among other Asian countries that were affected by shipment
delays of vaccines that have been promised under COVAX, are Indonesia, the
Philippines and Vietnam.
Philippines
The Philippines on Saturday reported 12,576 new cases of COVID-19, 599 additional
recoveries and 103 more deaths.
This brings the total to 784,043 cases, 604,905 recoveries and 13,423 fatalities.
Of the total confirmed cases, 165,715 or 21.1% are active cases, 96.5% of which
have mild symptoms, 2.2% are asymptomatic, 0.5% are critical, 0.5% are severe
and 0.30% moderate.
Seven laboratories were not able to submit their data to the COVID-19 Document
Repository System (CDRS) on April 2.
To recall, the country has added 15,310 new cases to the nationwide tally
yesterday, the highest recorded since the pandemic has started.
However, the Department of Health (DOH) explained that of this number, 3,709 were
backlogs from March 31, after their system “encountered some issues in
uploading cases”.
The Philippines’ Interagency Task Force against COVID-19 just announced that the Enhanced
Community Quarantine (ECQ) which covers the National Capital Region and four
nearby provinces (Rizal, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna) supposedly until Easter
Sunday, April 4, shall remain until April 11.
This affirmed the DOH’s earlier recommendation to extend the strictest quarantine
measure in NCR Plus areas for another week.
