Singapore (Reuters) – India, South Korea and Thailand faced coronavirus infections on Thursday, undermining cautious hopes that Asia could emerge from the worst pandemic as safety concerns threaten to delay vaccination impulses.
India reported a record 126,789 new cases, on the third day of this week, accounts rose to over 100,000, surprisingly surprising authorities who blamed the congestion and reluctance to wear masks as shops and offices closed. reopen.
Several infectious variants of the virus could have played a role in India’s growth, some epidemiologists say, with hundreds of cases found of variants first detected in Britain, South Africa and Brazil.
Alarming numbers have led New Zealand to temporarily ban anyone arriving from India, even for the first time by blocking New Zealanders from coming home for about two weeks.
“We are temporarily suspending entry to New Zealand for travel from India,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a news conference in Auckland.
New Zealand, which has virtually eliminated the virus inside its borders, registered 23 new cases at its border on Thursday, 17 in India.
Two other countries that managed to keep the coronavirus largely under control during the first year of the pandemic also faced new waves, albeit smaller than those in India.
South Korea reported 700 new cases on Thursday, the highest daily figure since early January, and the prime minister warned that new rules on social distancing would be needed.
Thailand, which is planning a prudent reopening of its tourism industry, reported an increase in new daily infections to 405 on Thursday, bringing the total number of infections to 30,310, with 95 deaths.
In addition to Thai concerns, it detected 24 cases of a highly contagious virus variant first detected in the UK, the first to transmit internal transmission of the variant.
Cases are also rising in parts of Europe, but South America is the world’s most worrying region for infections, with cases rising in almost every country, the director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday.
SUSPENDED IMPACTS
Increasing cases in Asia are emerging as concerns grow over the safety of one of the most prominent vaccines against the virus.
The European Medicines Agency said on Wednesday that it had found rare cases of blood clots in some adults who received AstraZeneca Plc’s COVID-19 vaccine, although it said the benefits of the vaccine still outweigh the risks.
Both South Korea and the Philippines have suspended the use of the vaccine for people under 60 because of possible links to blood clots, while Australia and Taiwan have said they will continue to use it.
Vaccine concerns could delay immunization in Asia, some of which are already affected by supply problems. Campaigns in most parts of Asia are lagging behind those in places like the United Kingdom and the United States.
Australia’s vaccination program for the nearly 26 million people is over 80% of its original program.
Authorities there pledged to deliver at least 4 million first doses by the end of March, but could only deliver 670,000. The government has blamed Europe’s supply problems.
As cases in India increase, vaccination centers in several parts of the country, including the hardest-hit state in Maharashtra, have run out of supplies.
China, where the new coronavirus appeared at the end of 2019, continues its vaccination campaign, administering about 3.68 million doses on Wednesday, bringing the total number of doses to 149.07 million, authorities said.
Vaccinations in Japan are far behind those in most major economies, with a single vaccine approved, and about 1 million people have received a first dose since February, even as new cases are being fought.
Infections in Tokyo rose by 545 cases on Thursday, adding to concerns about the Olympic and Paralympic Games, postponed last year and now set to begin in late July.
The government has rushed to allay anger on social media, saying it is not trying to prioritize vaccines for its Olympic athletes, rejecting a media report that it intends to do so.
Japan does not insist that arriving athletes be vaccinated, but there will be frequent tests while in Japan. There will be no foreign spectators and no decision has yet been made on domestic.
Reporting by Reuters staff; Written by Robert Birsel; Mount by Simon Cameron-Moore