Malaysia reports 1,745 new COVID-19 cases, over half of New Zealand border workforce receive 1st dose of vaccination

2021-03-03 12:35:57 GMT2021-03-03 20:35:57(Beijing Time) Xinhua English

HONG KONG, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Over half of New Zealand's border workforce have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccination on Wednesday, as some Asia-Pacific countries' vaccination drives were kicked off amid increasing daily cases.

Malaysia reported 1,745 new COVID-19 infections, the health ministry said, bringing the national total to 305,880. Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that two of the new cases are imported and 1,743 are local transmissions.

Thailand confirmed 35 new infections, mostly domestic, according to the country's Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA). Of the new cases, 25 were domestic infections while 10 others referred to imported cases, the CCSA spokesman Taweesin Visanuyothin said during the daily briefing.

Indian President Ram Nath Kovind got his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the capital Delhi, an official at his office said.

India's COVID-19 tally rose to 11,139,516 as 14,989 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours, said the latest data from the federal health ministry. The death toll mounted to 157,346 with 98 new deaths.

The Philippines' Department of Health reported 1,783 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 582,223. The death toll climbed to 12,389 after 20 more patients died from the viral disease.

Some 2,212 people have been quarantined at 31 accommodation centers across Laos, Deputy Director General of the Department of Communicable Diseases Control under Lao Ministry of Health Phonepaserd Sayamoungkhoun told a press conference in Lao capital Vientiane.

Some 150,000 medical workers in Laos will get vaccinated against COVID-19 in March and April using the China-donated Sinopharm vaccines, local media reported.

Tokyo reported 316 new daily COVID-19 cases, bringing the capital's cumulative total of infections to 112,345. According to the Tokyo Metropolitan government, the latest figure compares to 232 new infections confirmed the previous day and is 103 more than the same time a week earlier.

Fiji reported four new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of active COVID-19 cases to seven in the island nation.

According to a statement by Fiji's Ministry of Health, all four imported cases tested positive during routine quarantine testing, while undergoing mandatory 14-day quarantine in Nadi, Fiji's third-largest city.

Cambodia reported 34 more local cases, bringing the total number of infected people linked to the third community transmission to 374, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

Two South Koreans with underlying diseases died after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, according to Yonhap news agency.

A patient around 50 years old, who had been in a nursing hospital in Goyang, just outside of the capital Seoul, received the first jab of the full two-dose vaccines, developed by the British-Swedish drug maker, on Tuesday morning.

South Korea reported 444 more cases as of midnight Tuesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 90,816. The daily caseload was up from 344 the previous day, rising above 400 in four days.

More than half of New Zealand's estimated 12,000 border workforces have received their first jab of the COVID-19 vaccine as the third batch of vaccines arrived in the country, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said.

New Zealand reported two more cases in managed isolation facilities and no new cases in the community. Enditem

| PRINT | RSS