COVID-19 Outbreak: Weekly Global Report for Friday, August 13, 2021
AdvaMed recognizes that its members, particularly those with global government affairs responsibilities, are tracking COVID-19 related developments around the world to assess the public health and economic impacts on their businesses. Knowing that companies are consuming information from a variety of sources, AdvaMed's global team would like to provide members with a weekly snapshot of the key statistics, policy developments and advocacy initiatives underway in our priority markets. If you have any suggestions, we welcome your feedback.
Global
- Weekly COVID-19 statistics: global cases reached a new milestone of 205 million cases. Deaths around the world have exceeded 4.33 million. The countries with the most reported cases continue to be the U.S. (36.2 million), India (32 million) and Brazil (20.3 million). Indonesia has emerged as a new global hotspot, with over 1 million new cases reported in the past month.
- U.S. cases exceeded 36.2 million with deaths increasing to 618,500.
- Staff Contact: Ralph Ives (rives@advamed.org).
China
- The latest: The highly transmissible Delta variant is posing the most severe test of Beijing’s “zero tolerance” policy to date. China is currently facing its largest COVID outbreak since the initial outbreak in Wuhan and is averaging around 100 local cases each day. Authorities throughout the country have enacted the strictest containment measures since February of last year. All travel into Beijing has been cut off, as a top CCP official asserted that the capital city must be protected “at any cost.” Mass testing is underway in a handful of Chinese cities. The world’s third largest container port, in Ningbo, has been partially shut down after a single COVID case was reported there. Observers outside and inside China worry that this “zero tolerance” policy could have downsides. Alongside recent flood damage in parts of the country, the latest virus controls are already curbing spending on air travel and tourism.
- Overview of China’s containment strategy: Despite a massively efficient vaccine roll-out since May, the Chinese government has given no indication it intends to change its current COVID playbook of closed borders, strict quarantine for foreign arrivals, and aggressive lockdowns and mass testing when flareups arise. Beijing remains ever cautious as the Delta variant circulates worldwide and the efficacy of China’s vaccines is questioned. Many businesses expect that China may retain stringent travel restrictions through February 2022, when Beijing will host the Winter Olympics. Chinese regulators the other week completed an expert review of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine developed by Germany's BioNTech and Fosun Pharma. Chinese authorities plan to use the vaccine, which goes by the brand name Comirnaty, as a booster shot for those people who have received an inactivated-virus vaccine—i.e., nearly the entire Chinese population.
- China partially shuts down world’s third busiest container port: China partly halted all inbound and outbound container services at Meishan terminal in Ningbo-Zhoushan port, the world’s third-busiest container port, after a worker became infected with COVID, threatening to further disrupt global trade. According to a statement on the port’s electronic data platform, the decision was due to a “system disruption.” This is the second shutdown of a Chinese port due to an outbreak recently, after the closure of Yantian port in Shenzhen from late May for about a month. That disrupted already strained international shipping, and an extended closure at Ningbo could be even more damaging, because trade volumes usually rise toward the end of the year as companies ship Christmas and holiday products. Josh Brazil, vice president of marketing at the supply-chain intelligence firm, project44, observed that these situations may have far-reaching downstream consequences going into Black Friday and holiday shopping seasons, and the next 24 hours would determine the possibility of a large outbreak.
- New hotspot emerges in Jiangsu province: China is mobilizing massive resources to stop the spread of the coronavirus in the city of Yangzhou in Jiangsu province, the country’s latest pandemic hotspot, where Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan warned the situation was not yet under control. Sun asked local authorities to strictly enforce quarantine for high-risk communities and to protect nursing homes, while completing contact tracing on people at risk should within 24 hours, state news agency Xinhua reported. Testing stations should also be better managed to avoid large crowds from gathering. More than 70,000 Communist Party members in work teams of 2,500 had been deployed to the city to support quarantined residents, state broadcaster CCTV said on Thursday. Yangzhou launched its sixth round of mass testing on Wednesday, along with two air-inflated laboratories which can screen samples from 1.5 million people per day, in batches of 10 to speed up testing. Daily necessities worth 300 yuan (US$46) would also be distributed to 5,000 households in need in the main urban area.
- New containment measures caused by Nanjing airport “gap”: The current outbreak in China has been traced to Nanjing Lukou International Airport’s “failure” to control infections among its staff. As a result, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said in a notice published on Tuesday that airline and airport staff exposed to international travelers, imported goods, and flight equipment will all be required to undergo daily nucleic acid tests. Airlines must also reserve the back three rows of aircraft seats as emergency isolation zones, strip back in-flight services in areas of the country with high numbers of cases, clean and sterilize aircraft facilities more frequently and reduce access to the cockpit, the notice said.
- Status of vaccination campaign: Over one billion Chinese citizens have received at least one COVID vaccine dose to date, accounting for one-third of total global vaccinations. China’s CDC has revised upwards its threshold to reach herd immunity from 70% to 80-85%. Several local governments in China are planning to bar residents who haven’t been vaccinated against COVID-19 from accessing public venues, stirring controversy as the country makes a push for herd immunity.
- Debate within China on making vaccines mandatory: As countries weigh up making COVID-19 vaccination mandatory in certain circumstances, heated debate has erupted in China over orders issued by some cities to deny the unvaccinated entry to places such as shops and schools. Some say such hardline measures will persuade hesitant people to sign up for the shots, but more have argued that it is discriminatory and amounts to mismanagement by local governments. Public health experts have said such restrictions should be imposed with caution, or they could reduce public confidence in pandemic control measures. On Friday the National Health Commission finally weighed in to assure the public that Covid-19 vaccinations were still “consensual and voluntary”. It said it had noted restrictions in some areas and responded with “timely guidance and supervision”. The NHC’s statement came after some cities in 10 provinces announced various restrictions on unvaccinated people on entering public places, from hospitals to nursing homes and markets.
- Weekly COVID-19 statistics: China’s total COVID cases now stand at 106,249, an increase of 1,395 cases over the previous week. The number of reported deaths remained unchanged over the previous week, at 4,848.
- China’s vaccines and approval date: Sinopharm (approved Dec. 31, 2020); Sinovac’s CoronaVac (approved on Feb. 5); CanSino Biologics and a second Sinopharm vaccine (both approved in April). Three other vaccines have been approved in May and June.
- Post-COVID healthcare system upgrade: China will provide funding to build new institutions and infrastructure to fight infectious diseases and improve healthcare, the state planning body said in a "five-year plan" for the sector. The central government will subsidize the construction of new "prevention bases" for infectious disease and new grassroots medical facilities across the country, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in the plan, published this Thursday. It said China was facing difficult healthcare challenges, including new emerging infectious diseases, the increasingly heavy burden of chronic illnesses as well as the growing need for mental health services. "The public health system is in urgent need of improvement, and the ability to prevent, control and treat major epidemics is not strong," it warned. High-quality medical resources are also insufficient and not evenly distributed, and there are also gaps when it comes to treating women and children, it added.
- BioNTech vaccine: Chinese regulators completed an expert review of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine developed by Germany's BioNTech and Fosun Pharma and the shot is now in the administration review stage, Caixin reported. China hasn't approved any COVID-19 vaccine developed overseas but has greenlighted several domestic brands. Chinese authorities plan to use the vaccine, which goes by the brand name Comirnaty, as a booster shot for people who have received inactivated-virus vaccines, people close to regulators told Caixin. Most people in China have received inactivated-virus vaccines made by Sinovac and state-owned Sinopharm Group that have demonstrated lower efficacy than mRNA vaccines.
- China’s own mRNA vaccine: China’s first messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccine, is expected to start phase three tests in many overseas countries soon, the chief executive officer of Suzhou Abogen Biosciences, the vaccine’s developer, said this week. Together with Chinese clinical contract research organization Tigermed, Abogen is preparing to conduct overseas Phase III clinical trials using 28,000 volunteers in countries including Mexico, Columbia and Pakistan. The vaccine can be stored at temperatures of between two and eight degrees centigrade for at least seven months, making it convenient for mass distribution. The clinical trials will not select specific variants, and will also not reject any strains, Ying told Yicai Global. The Suzhou, eastern Jiangsu province-based firm is also developing a separate mRNA vaccine candidate that will target the variants that were first found in South Africa and India.
- Vaccine diplomacy: CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping reportedly said this Thursday that China will aim to provide two billion doses of COVD-19 vaccines to the world by the end of this year. Xi also declared that the COVAX global vaccine distribution initiative would receive a donation from China of $100mln. China has already supplied over 770 million vaccine doses to other countries, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- Dispute over COVID-19’s origins: In a rare departure from his usual deference to powerful member countries, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the other week that getting access to raw data had been a challenge for the international team that traveled to China earlier this year to investigate the source of COVID-19. Tedros also said there had been a “premature push” to rule out the theory that the virus might have escaped from a Chinese government lab in Wuhan - undermining WHO’s own March report, which concluded that a laboratory leak was “extremely unlikely.”
- China’s response to Tedros’s remarks: While China has consistently rejected the lab leak hypothesis, officials sought to draw a line in the sand this Thursday, signaling Beijing won’t engage on the origin hunt if the theory remained in play. It was China’s most direct pushback to date on calls from the WHO and others to investigate the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s high-level lab, which studied bat-borne pathogens and other coronaviruses. “The plan on the second phase of the origin study, it contains language that does not respect science or common sense,” said Zeng Yixin, vice minister of the National Health Commission. “We won’t follow such a plan.”
- As China continues to push its own lab-leak theory: The South China Morning Post reports that Beijing, in seeking to counter the hypothesis that the virus may have escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, is pushing its own hypothesis that the virus originated from Fort Detrick, about an hour’s drive from Washington and the original home of the US biological weapons program. While most Americans may be unfamiliar with Fort Detrick, hundreds of millions of Chinese netizens are familiar with the Detrick name and its supposed links to COVID-19, mostly thanks to China’s so-called Wolf Warrior diplomats. They have said dozens of times in social media posts and press conferences that Fort Detrick, half a world away from China in the state of Maryland, needs to be investigated as a potential source of the virus.
- “The U.S. leads world in pandemic failure”: A group of Chinese think tanks have accused the United States of being the worst in the world at handling the pandemic and revived Covid-19 origin conspiracy theories as Beijing tries to shift the focus of the hunt for the disease’s origins beyond China. The Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University, the Taihe Institute and the Intellisia Institute said they aimed to reveal “the truth about America’s fight against Covid-19”. The document draws mainly from reports in the US media to say the US was a “failed country” and a “suspected source of the outbreak”. It concludes by renewing Chinese foreign ministry calls for an international investigation into the origins of Covid-19 in the US, linking it to the 2019 closure of a US military lab and to the white-tailed deer in Maryland. Chongyang Institute director Wang Wen said that the report was “not meant to engage in a war of words with the US” but to reflect on past failings to gain lessons for future pandemic responses.
- China’s economy: China's tighter social restrictions to fight its latest COVID-19 outbreak, now in its fourth week and involving more than a dozen cities, are hitting the services sector especially travel and hospitality in the world's second-largest economy. China has refrained from full lockdowns of major cities such as those seen during the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak in Hubei province, to avoid totally paralyzing the economy. Airline seat capacity plunged 32% last week, hastening a decline in the country that began at the end of July, based on data from aviation specialist OAG. The surge in Chinese cases has dealt a fresh blow to tourism on the mainland during the peak summer holiday.
- S.-China relations: China's new ambassador to Washington, Qin Gang, arrived last month, wishing the United States victory against COVID-19 and saying great potential awaited bilateral relations. Qin's arrival comes days after high-level talks in the Chinese city of Tianjin between U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and senior Chinese diplomats ended with both sides signaling that the other must make concessions for ties to improve. Qin, aged 55, is a former vice foreign minister whose recent past portfolios have included European affairs and protocol. He replaces China's longest-serving ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, 68, who last month announced his departure after eight years in Washington.
- Staff Contact: Kyle Churchman (kchurchman@advamed.org)
India
- Weekly COVID-19 statistics – 32,076,974 total cases, 387,987 active cases/429,669 deaths/ discharged 31,260,050 (John Hopkins & MoHFW) as compared to 31,526,622 total cases, 403,840 active cases/422,662 deaths/ discharged 30,701,612 (John Hopkins & MoHFW) last week. 52,36,71,019 people have been vaccinated.
- After a spurt of 7.5% in the week before last, India’s daily Covid-19 case count has been dipping slowly but steadily. The decline continued with fresh cases staying below 39,000 on Tuesday. On Monday, the day when cases fall sharply every week, India had reported 27,275 new cases, the lowest daily count in 147 days since March 15. On Tuesday, the number climbed to 38,350 (with Nagaland’s data yet to come), but remained lower than the count on the same day last week (42,497).
- Dr Naveet Wig, Head of Department (HoD) of Medicine, AIIMS, on Wednesday, August 11, said that strong measures are required to control the COVID-19 transmission that involves micro containment. Dr Wig, while speaking to ANI, said: "I think we should not go into R-factor or other things. It is important to know how to handle the pandemic. This is both a local problem and a global problem. It has to be handled locally and globally.
- Home-grown pharmaceutical companies have ramped up production and built up inventories of raw material to prepare for potential third wave of pandemic, likely to spike the demand for drugs used in treatment of Coronavirus. Drug manufacturers have expanded capacity utilizations to enhance production of Covid-19 related drugs and cold medicines amid apprehension the third wave may strike anytime between rainy to cold season.
- Even as India is inching closer to covering almost half of its adult population with at least the first dose of Covid vaccines, the Centre is concerned about the low uptake of jabs among women, particularly in states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Overall, about 46% of total 52.2 crore doses administered so far have been given to women. “At present, the gap between the coverage among male and females is about 7-8%.
- The Supreme Court on Monday, August 09, said that it would examine how prepared the country was to face a third wave of Covid-19 and asked the Centre to file an actiontaken report (ATR) on the suggestions of the court-appointed National Task Force on allocation of oxygen to states and Union Territories.
- Mylab Discovery Solutions on Monday, August 09, said it has partnered with US-based Hemex Health to develop next-generation diagnostic solutions for point-of-care (POC) testing of coronavirus and other diseases. Generally, point-of-care testing refers to any tests that are performed on a patient at the site where care or treatment is provided and results are typically available relatively quickly.
- Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila's three-dose COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D is expected to get an emergency-use nod from the expert committee this week, sources said. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya last week during the question hour in the Rajya Sabha had said.
- Many Indians working and living in the UAE who have been stranded in Kolkata when travel to the Emirates was suspended in April were relieved on Monday when the authorities there agreed to recognise vaccination in India and permitted them to fly.
- A study by ICMR involving 98 people, 18 of whom had inadvertently received Covishield as first dose and Covaxin as the second in Uttar Pradesh, showed that combining these two COVID-19 vaccines elicited better immunogenicity than two doses of the same vaccine. The study also found that immunisation with combination of Covishield and Covaxin was safe and the adverse effects were also found to be similar when compared to the same dose regimen.
- Johnson and Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine is given approval for Emergency Use in India last week. Johnson and Johnson Pvt Ltd has applied on Friday, August 06, for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine in India.
- Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla on Friday, August 06 said he is hopeful that Covovax, another COVID-19 vaccine being manufactured by his company in India, will be launched in October for adults and for children by the first quarter of 2022. He also thanked the government for all the support provided to Serum Institute and said the company is always trying to expand its Covishield production capacity to meet the demand.
- Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin has received Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) compliance certificate from Hungary, the vaccine maker said on Thursday, August 05 in a tweet. "Another milestone in our account as COVAXIN receives GMP certificate from Hungary.
- Staff Contact: Abby Pratt (apratt@advamed.org).
Japan
- Weekly COVID-19 statistics – 1,090,260 reported cases and 15,372 reported deaths compared to 987,163 reported cases and 15,254 reported deaths the previous week.
- Japan continues to set daily records for new COVID cases. The country had its highest daily total ever on August 12, reaching over 18,000 cases compared to fewer than 2,000 cases daily in early July. Emergency measures in Tokyo have been reinstituted in the prefecture through August 22. The government expanded the state of emergency to Osaka and three prefectures neighboring Tokyo.
- Japan’s Prime Minister indicated that only patients with severe cases of COVID-19 can be admitted to hospitals, based on concerns about growing hospital bed shortages.
- Japan had been making good progress ramping up its vaccination efforts, but it now faces a shortage of vaccines. About 36% of the population is fully vaccinated. Prime Minister Suga said that his goal is to complete all vaccinations by November.
- Japan provided final approval to the Moderna vaccine and the Astra Zeneca vaccine on May 21. The Pfizer vaccine was approved in February. J&J submitted its application for approval of its vaccine on May 24. It is expected to be approved and available for use around the beginning of 2022.
- Moderna will provide 50 million doses of the vaccine by September. It is being used at mass vaccination centers in Tokyo and Osaka, as well as elsewhere. AstraZeneca has contracted to provide 120 million doses, which the government will stockpile for later use.
- The central government has asked companies to reduce the number of workers going to the office by 70% and facilitate telecommuting and staggered commuting hours.
- Prefectural governments are urging hospitals to open up more Covid-19- dedicated beds, which is putting further pressure on patients to avoid elective surgeries.
- The Japanese government continues to maintain its controls on foreign nationals entering the country. Reciprocal business travel arrangements that were forged with China, South Korea, Singapore, and Vietnam remain suspended. While Tokyo’s restrictions on foreign entries except for returning nationals remain in place, the government is making exceptions for athletes entering the country for the Olympic Games.
- Staff Contact: Phil Agress (PAgress@AdvaMed.org).
Korea
- South Korea’s numbers have increased slightly from last week (last week’s number is in parens) with 1,986 (1,775) new daily cases. The country’s numbers are concerning but remain overall low.
- Korea’s cases are increasing more rapidly in recent weeks and now stand at 218,192 total cases, 25,519 active with 2,138 deaths. Total cases per million population have remained low compared to most of the world but Korea is now above the 4k threshold with 4,252 cases per million. (S. Korea ranks still as one of the lowest among the more highly populated countries). Deaths per million remain comparatively low as well at just 42.
- South Korea has administered approximately 28,909,812 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. However, South Korea has only fully vaccinated 16.1% (approximately 8.2 million) of its population. But there has been a large increase, to 42.6% (approximately 21.8 million) in the number of people who have received at least one shot.
- After showing modest signs of recovery, South Korea’s economy is going to face pressure from the ongoing fourth wave of COVID-19 starting from this month, the country’s top economic policymaker said Thursday. “As the ripple effect of the fourth wave of the pandemic seems to be inevitable to some extent from August, it is necessary to stay alert to minimize the shock and to maintain the recovery trend,” Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said during an economic meeting at the government complex in Seoul. Latest economic indicators, data mostly collected in July, showed that the economy has managed to keep the recovery trend alive with exports and credit card spending moving upward. But the country is at critical juncture in its COVID-19 fight once again with daily infections hitting new record highs as the highly transmissible delta variant runs rampant.
- A government decision to put half the country’s population under a semi-lockdown for a month inevitably put its own goal of attaining an economic growth of over 4 percent this year under threat.
- The greater Seoul area, the epicenter of the latest wave of the outbreak, has been under the Level 4 distancing measures, the highest in the country's four-tier system, since July with most other areas being under Level 3.
- The government tightened restrictions last week across most of the country ahead of the country's peak summer holiday period. Seoul and surrounding regions have banned private gatherings of more than two people after 6 p.m. and any gatherings of more than four people are prohibited in the rest of the country.
- Korea’s Prime Minister said the restrictions were crucial to stamping out cases and ensuring a safe reopening of schools in two weeks. Health experts had called for tougher social distancing rules as the number of severe COVID-19 cases has doubled in three weeks, driven largely by young, unvaccinated people and a slow vaccination drive.
- Amid the spiking cases, the country's vaccination rate has been slower than expected, mainly due to problems in securing vaccines on time.
- As Korea’s schools are set to start opening amid the latest surge in infections, health concerns are emerging from unvaccinated students, parents and teachers.
- The Ministry of Education plans to gradually increase in-person classes, but some concerned students and parents are demanding a full review of the policy in posts on the website of presidential Blue House.
- South Korean political and health leaders are standing firm on their goal of getting to COVID-19 herd immunity in November, which has been marked as a point of return to normalcy, after reaching a vaccination threshold of 70 percent of the population. So far, the term herd immunity has been loosely defined by those in political circles and public health offices alike. But the concept has been largely understood as some degree of a return to normal life and retirement from social distancing.
- What herd immunity would look like when Korea gets there in November has been more concretely laid out for the first-time during Health Ministry’s closed-door briefing Thursday. Health Ministry spokesperson Son Young-rae told reporters that even after herd immunity is reached in November, face masks and other safety steps will remain necessary.
- Asked how the administration was defining herd immunity, Son said it was “when transmissions slow and fatality rates fall as large proportions of Koreans are immunized against COVID-19.” “The day-to-day operations of the society will be significantly close to normal,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean we can do away with face masks or other basic health protocols.” Herd immunity is “thought to be a situation where risks are controlled through continued compliance with basic health protocols,” he said.
- South Korea has secured enough vaccines to inoculate some 190 million people in a country of 52 million. The vaccines are made by five pharmaceutical firms -- AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson's Janssen, Moderna and Novavax. "Experts say the COVID-19 outbreak will not end immediately and will continue for some time, and numerous variants are expected to proliferate," Vice Health Minister Kang Do-tae said. "The government is thoroughly preparing to secure vaccine bottles for next year." However, just under 29 million doses have been received so far.
- Foreigners arriving at South Korean airports face a mandatory 14-day quarantine procedure and must present a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) coronavirus test taken within 72 hours of their departure to the nation. However, some people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in countries other than Korea will be exempt from the 14-day self-quarantine requirement, meaning they can move around freely as soon as they enter the country. A similar exemption has been in place since May for those who were vaccinated in Korea.
- The new exemption applies only to people who were fully vaccinated at least two weeks before traveling to Korea. It also applies only to those who have received a COVID-19 vaccine that is approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization. The list includes those from Pfizer, Janssen, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm and Covishield. All international arrivals still have to show a negative result from a COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of departing for Korea. Without one, you can still be refused entry.
- The exemption also only applies to those visiting Korea for business or academic purposes, for the public interest or to visit immediate family members. Otherwise, you still have to self-quarantine for two weeks upon entry. Immediate family members are defined as spouses, lineal ascendants or descendants, and lineal ascendants or descendants of spouses. You will have to fill out forms and prove your intent to visit them. The necessary forms are available online from Korean embassies and consulates abroad or other government agencies.
- Those coming from countries experiencing the spread of certain COVID-19 variants are also ineligible for this exemption.
- Resources: http://ncov.mohw.go.kr/en/.
- Staff Contact: Joseph Gatewood (jgatewood@advamed.org).
ASEAN
Cases
- ASEAN now has 8,398,339 reported cases and 180,443 reported deaths compared to 7,734,732 reported cases and 160,807 reported deaths last week.
- The number of new cases across the ASEAN region continues to grow significantly, but the rate of growth fell slightly from the previous week.
- Indonesia: Cases have declined from their July peak nationwide, but travel and work-from-home restrictions scheduled to be relaxed on August 9 have been extended to August 23 in an effort to reinforce this trend. Authorities have increased hospital capacity in Jakarta, while hotels are being converted into isolation centers. Indonesia is now reporting 3,774,155 total cases and 113,664 total deaths compared to 3,568,331 total cases and 102,375 total deaths the previous week. Indonesia accounts for 63% of total deaths in ASEAN since the start of the pandemic.
- Malaysia: Malaysia has extended its nationwide lockdown indefinitely amid a continuing high caseload. Only essential businesses, such as supermarkets and medical clinics, may operate. Schools and shopping malls are closed and only two people per household may venture out to buy essentials or for medical services, with movement limited to a 10km radius. However, the government is beginning to adjust restrictions for the vaccinated. Fully vaccinated individuals may now quarantine at home following overseas travel, visit long-distance spouses, travel within the country to meet children under 18 years old, and visit houses of worship. Reported cases have grown from 1,203,706 to 1,342,215 over the past week. Total deaths have grown from 10,019 to 11,691 over that timeframe.
- Thailand: The number of total cases and total deaths reported by Thailand have both grown more than 225% over the past four weeks. The country is experiencing new daily records of COVID fatalities, and beds designated for patients in critical condition at all state-run hospitals in Bangkok are now fully occupied with COVID-19 infected patients. Thailand is converting several airport terminals into field hospitals. Amid rising COVID-19 cases, the Thai government announced that beginning August 2, 9pm–4am curfew hours and other strict measures would be imposed in Bangkok and 28 other provinces. The measures will last 14 days and will be reviewed on August 18 to determine whether to extend the lockdown until the end of the month. Reported cases grew from 693,305 to 839,771 over the past week and reported deaths have increased from 5,663 to 6,942 over that time.
- Philippines: Manila will be put under the strictest enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) from August 6- 20 to stem the rise in COVID-19 cases. Under ECQ, only essential sectors such as health, food production, and distribution, banks, energy, telecommunications, airlines, etc. can operate fully. The movement of all persons will be limited to accessing goods and services from and working in permitted establishments. The Philippines is now reporting 1,700,363 total cases, up from 1,619,824 total cases last week. Total reported deaths have increased from 28,231 to 29,539 over that time.
- Cambodia: The number of reported cases has grown more than 34-fold in Cambodia since April 1. Total reported cases increased from 79,639 to 83,384 over the past week. Reported deaths grew from 1,448 to 1,614 over that period.
- Vietnam: Vietnam continues to experience a massive surge in cases and deaths. Ho Chi Minh City is the new epicenter of the fourth COVID-19 wave. On August 2, Vietnam announced it would extend strict curbs on movement in Ho Chi Minh City and another 18 cities and provinces in the south for another two weeks to help combat its worst COVID-19 outbreak. Hanoi has also imposed movement restrictions and suspended non-essential businesses and services amid the rising COVID-19 threat. These restrictions were extended until August 22 after a three-fold increase in infections. Cases of COVID-19 infection grew from 181,756 to 241,543 over the past week. The total number of deaths grew from 2,327 to 4,287.
- Singapore: Reported cases increased from 65,410 to 65,953 over the past week. The total number of deaths increased rose from 39 to 43.
- Laos: Laos reported a significant growth in total cases from 7,305 to 9,161 over the past week. It has reported 8 deaths from COVID since the outset of the pandemic, including one in the past week.
Vaccinations
- Indonesia authorized the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use on July 15. It will be given to Indonesians aged 12 years and up. The country is currently in the second stage of vaccinations following the vaccination of medical workers in the first stage. It reportedly has 76 million doses of the vaccine on hand. It has been administering the Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines. Only 9.5% of the population is fully vaccinated.
- The government revoked its ill-received self-paid COVID-19 vaccination program, following demands that the vaccine should be free for all.
- Malaysia announced that it will stop using China’s Sinovac vaccine in favor of the Pfizer shot. The country approved both AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines for emergency use on March 2 after previously approving the Pfizer vaccine. It has granted conditional approval to the J&J vaccine manufactured in Belgium, and on July 16 it granted conditional approval for emergency use to the Sinopharm vaccine. Mass vaccinations began on February 24 using the Pfizer vaccine and the government aims to vaccinate 80% of its 32 million population by next February. So far, it has fully vaccinated 29.8% of its population. One million doses of the Pfizer vaccine donated by the U.S. arrived in Malaysia on July 5.
- The Philippines began its immunization program after receiving its first batch of the COVID-19 vaccine (600,00 doses of Sinovac Biotech's CoronaVac, donated by China). It is due to receive another 25 million doses of CoronaVac this year.
- However, there is little public support for the inoculation drive. Polls show that fewer than one third of Filipinos are willing to be vaccinated due to fears of the potential side effects. Currently, only 11.1% of the population is fully vaccinated.
- Singapore aims to have two-thirds fully vaccinated by August 9. Currently, 68.3% of the population is fully vaccinated.
- Thailand began a mass vaccination program using the AstraZeneca vaccine on June 7. Currently, 6.6% of its citizens have been fully vaccinated. Thailand has granted emergency use authorization for the Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Sinovac vaccines, although only the latter two are actually available. Thailand announced it is on track to receive six million AstraZeneca vaccine doses this month.
- Thailand's Food and Drug Administration has approved Siam Bioscience as a manufacturing facility for the COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine. Thailand plans to export the vaccines to eight Southeast Asian countries.
- Vietnam’s health ministry said the country will have nearly 125 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines this year. The total includes 5 million doses from Moderna, 20 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine, and 31 million doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer. Vietnam will also acquire 30 million AstraZeneca doses and 38.9 million doses through the Covax initiative. The U.S. shipped 2 million doses of the Moderna vaccine to Vietnam in July. The country has fully vaccinated 1.1% of its population to date. Meanwhile, a Vietnamese pharmaceutical company has begun second phase trials on a coronavirus vaccine.
- Cambodia has fully vaccinated 40.3% of the population, making it the second-highest country with total inoculation in Southeast Asia, after Singapore.
Travel
- Singapore has suspended its Reciprocal Green Lane (RGL) arrangements with Malaysia, Germany, South Korea, and Brunei due to a resurgence of COVID-19 cases. The move does not affect Singapore’s Periodic Commuting Arrangement with Malaysia, which includes longer-term workers and business travel.
- Singapore and Hong Kong agreed to postpone their travel bubble that had been scheduled to start May 26 due to an outbreak of cases in Singapore.
- Indonesia has closed its border to foreign nationals to mitigate the increased spread of COVID-19. The policy provides exemptions for holders of diplomatic visas and official visas related to foreign officials at the ministerial level, holders of limited stay permits, and permanent resident permits.
- Thailand’s Prime Minister announced in mid-June his goal of fully opening the country to foreign visitors within 120 days to pave the way for economic recovery. As of April, Thailand reduced its mandatory quarantine from 14 to seven days for foreigners arriving in the country who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus. Vaccinations must be administered within three months of the travel period and visitors will still be required to show negative COVID-19 test results within three days of their departure. Those not yet inoculated but with coronavirus-free certificates would be quarantined for 10 days.
- Vietnam has temporarily restricted the entry of foreigners and overseas Vietnamese to focus on COVID-19 preventative measures. It has also increased the quarantine period for incoming travelers and close contacts of confirmed cases to 21 days.
- Staff Contact: Phil Agress (PAgress@AdvaMed.org)
Europe
- The story in Europe this week is again persistently high levels of daily cases but with smaller increases in new daily cases than we saw last week. The UK now leads Europe in new daily cases, France is second and Russia is third. Italy and Germany continue to settle at much lower levels. Belgium is spiking slightly. The UK has the unfortunate distinction of reporting the most deaths in Europe (other than Russia).
- Increases in new cases per day (New Daily Cases) tend to benchmark increasing COVID incidence. We’ve put the new daily case numbers in the chart below. Additionally, here are the current figures with prior week figures in parentheses. France 30,920 (28,874); Spain 17,023 (21,874); Russia 21,571 (22,589); UK 29,489 (29,182), Italy 6,965 (6,590); Germany 5,478 (3,655); and Belgium 1,748 (1,740).
- In terms of total cases in Europe, see chart below for the specific numbers. Russia, France, and UK are top 3 (in that order). Spain, Italy and Germany are 4,5, and 6. Poland, Ukraine, Netherlands, and Czech Republic round out the top 10 countries with the largest number of cases in Europe.
- In terms of cases per million in Europe, Czech Republic remains 3rd highest in Europe with 156,131. Netherlands is 8th with 110,154, Sweden is 9th with 109,066. Spain remains at 12th with 99,636. Belgium is 13th with 98,159; France is 15th with 97,357. The UK is 16th at 90,016, and Italy is in good shape, comparatively, at 28th with 73,110.
- Russia's reported numbers on COVID remain problematic, now over 6.5 million, the most in Europe and fourth worst in the world (behind the USA, India, and Brazil). Russia recorded its highest number of daily COVID-19 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic on Thursday with 808 lives lost. The official COVID-19 death toll in Russia now stands at over 167,000 — the fifth highest in the world. The real tally is likely to be much higher. The country's statistics agency Rosstat, which has a broader definition of what constitutes a COVID-19 death, reported more than 300,000 fatalities by the end of June. Russia reports one of the lowest death rates in the world at just 1,145 per million. By comparison, Germany, with more than 2.6 million fewer cases, reports 92,332 deaths and a death rate of 1,098 per million.
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