World / Asia

Japan widens virus emergency to three more prefectures 14 May 2021 - 02:22 pm

TOKYO: Japan is declaring a state of emergency in three more prefectures hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, it said on Friday, in...

Vietnam seeks 31 mln doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in 2021 14 May 2021 - 02:05 pm

HANOI: Vietnam is seeking 31 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech in 2021, its health ministry said...

Singapore tightens COVID-19 measures, travel bubble unlikely 14 May 2021 - 01:06 pm

SINGAPORE - Singapore further tightened its COVID-19 measures as it sought to control an increase in untraceable coronavirus infections in the city-state. From...

Taiwan community COVID-19 transmissions spread, 29 more cases 14 May 2021 - 12:51 pm

TAIPEI - Taiwan reported a record rise in domestic COVID-19 cases on Friday with 29 new cases, as community transmissions in part of...

Passengers miss India-Australia flight because of COVID-19 14 May 2021 - 12:31 pm

CANBERRA, Australia - Around half the passengers due to arrive on a flight from India to Australia on Saturday after a two-week travel...

Philippines to ease COVID curbs in capital as daily cases decline 13 May 2021 - 07:26 pm

MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday approved the easing of some coronavirus restrictions in the capital and nearby provinces, with daily COVID-19...

Singapore reports most COVID-19 cases in 8 months amid airport cluster 13 May 2021 - 04:32 pm

Singapore: Singapore's health ministry on Thursday reported 24 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, the highest daily number since mid-September, with 17 of the fresh...

Malaysia's new COVID-19 cases highest in 3 months 13 May 2021 - 04:24 pm

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia on Thursday reported its highest number of new coronavirus cases in more than three months, as the Southeast Asian country...

Australia seeks deal with Moderna for domestic production of mRNA vaccines 13 May 2021 - 04:12 pm

CANBERRA: Australia is in talks with Moderna Inc to establish domestic manufacturing of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines such as the company's COVID-19...

Taiwan proposes $7.5 bln in spending as domestic COVID-19 cases rise 13 May 2021 - 03:42 pm

TAIPEI: Taiwan's government proposed on Thursday an extra T$210 billion ($7.5 billion) in spending to help the economy deal with the COVID-19 pandemic,...

More than 2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines to become available India soon, govt advisor says 13 May 2021 - 02:54 pm

Mumbai: More than 2 billion doses of coronavirus vaccines will likely be available in India between August to December this year, a top...

Maldives approves Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine 13 May 2021 - 02:31 pm

Moscow: Maldives have approved Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine for domestic use, the 64th country to do so outside of Russia, the Russian...

Taiwan, hit by power outage, works to restore supply by evening 13 May 2021 - 12:52 pm

Taipei: Tech powerhouse Taiwan started phased blackouts islandwide on Thursday after an outage at a coal- and gas-fired power plant hit 6 million...

Indian states turn to anti-parasitic drug to fight COVID-19 against WHO advice 13 May 2021 - 10:54 am

Bengaluru: At least two Indian states have said they plan to dose their populations with the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin to protect against severe...

Japan vaccine chief blames drug approval system for slow inoculation drive 13 May 2021 - 10:37 am

Tokyo: Japan's Covid-19 vaccine chief has blamed a rigid drug approval system for a slow inoculation campaign that is relying on only one...

Sri Lanka imposes mandatory quarantine for all travelers until May 31 12 May 2021 - 11:39 pm

With the spike in number of COVID-19 cases recorded in Sri Lanka, the quarantine process for passengers arriving in the country has been...

Australia tracing source of COVID-19 case in Victoria state 12 May 2021 - 05:20 pm

SYDNEY: Authorities in Australia's second most populous state warned on Wednesday the next few days would be critical to preventing a coronavirus outbreak...