International

Malaysia swore in a new prime minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, yesterday as the southeast Asian nation battles its worst Covid-19 surge and public anger grows over mismanagement of the pandemic.  The appointment of Ismail Sabri, 61, restores the role to a party facing graft accusations, after he secured a parliamentary majority from the same alliance that collapsed this week and replaced Muhyiddin Yassin.  Ismail Sabri, formerly Muhyiddin’s deputy, was sworn in at the national palace after being picked by King Al Sultan Abdullah, the constitutional monarch. He took the oath of office in front of the monarch and other coalition leaders, including former prime minister Najib Razak. King Al-Sultan Abdullah has previously said the new prime minister would have to face a confidence vote in parliament to prove his majority. Ismail Sabri starts his job at a time when Malaysia’s infections and deaths relative to population rank as southeast Asia’s highest. An online petition started this week drew 350,000 signatories opposing Ismail Sabri’s appointment, citing his handling of the pandemic. Friday’s 23,564 cases were a record for a third straight day, taking the tally beyond 1.5 million. Public anger has grown as infections spread despite multiple extended lockdowns and ramped up vaccinations. Since last month, Malaysians in need have hoisted white flags at their homes to seek public help. Although Malaysia escaped the worst of the pandemic last year, a regional election led to a steady spike in infections since the fourth quarter of 2020, with the Delta variant worsening the situation in recent months. Flip-flops on lockdown measures, failure to act against politicians who violated rules and months of politicking have soured the public. The pandemic has also dampened economic growth, with the central bank slashing its 2021 forecast twice this year. With Ismail Sabri in office the post is being returned to the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which governed for more than six decades since independence, but was defeated in a 2018 election over a scandal at state fund 1MDB. He becomes Malaysia’s third prime minister since the 2018 election, after UMNO pulled its backing for Muhyiddin last month, citing his failure to manage the pandemic. Najib was convicted over 1MDB but has denied wrongdoing and appealed the ruling.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urged New Zealanders yesterday to adhere to her strategy to eliminate the fast-spreading Delta variant as she extended a strict lockdown amid a surge in infections. Ardern’s critics are questioning if she can repeat last year’s feat of almost stamping out Covid-19, as her government struggles to get the population vaccinated in the face of the more infectious Delta variant. “We have been here before...we know the elimination strategy works,” Ardern told a news conference. “Cases rise and then they fall until we have none. It’s tried and true...we just need to stick it out.” Ardern extended the lockdown for the population of 5.1 million until midnight on Tuesday as the outbreak widened beyond the largest city, Auckland, to the capital, Wellington. Friday’s 11 new cases, three in Wellington, took New Zealand’s tally of infections to 31. The Wellington sufferers had recently travelled to Auckland, visiting locations identified as having been exposed to the outbreak. “We just don’t quite know the full scale of this Delta outbreak,” Ardern added. “We want the whole country on high alert right now.” New Zealanders had been living virus-free and without curbs until Ardern on Tuesday ordered a snap 3-day nationwide lockdown, with a seven-day shutdown for Auckland, after the discovery of the first case since February. Health chief Ashley Bloomfield warned that the lockdown in outbreak epicentre Auckland could be widened further. Ardern’s tough lockdowns and international border closure in March 2020 helped rein in Covid-19, but the government now faces questions over a delayed vaccine rollout, as well as rising costs in a country heavily reliant on an immigrant workforce.

New Zealand reported a breakthrough Thursday in tracing the source of a Covid-19 outbreak that plunged the nation into lockdown, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying it should help "stamp out" the virus. Health officials have been trying to determine how an Auckland man contracted the coronavirus this week, ending a six-month run of no community cases in New Zealand. Tests showed the man had a version of the Delta strain found in Australia, and Ardern said investigations narrowed down the origin to a person who arrived from Sydney on August 7. She said the traveller had been in quarantine and hospital since touching down, indicating the virus had not been in the community as long as initially feared. "We believe we have uncovered the piece of the puzzle we were looking for," Ardern told reporters. She said finding the outbreak's source also increased the "ability to circle the virus, lock it down and stamp it out". Case numbers grew by 11 overnight to a total of 21, she said. Ardern ordered a three-day national lockdown -- New Zealand's first in 15 months -- when the first case emerged on Tuesday, with Auckland and nearby Coromandel facing restrictions for a week. "We're all prepared for cases to get worse before they get better, that's always the pattern in these outbreaks," she said. But she said there were grounds for cautious optimism "because we believe it wasn't here for long before it was found". The infected traveller arrived from Sydney on a so-called "red zone" flight, arranged to bring back New Zealanders stranded when Wellington suspended a trans-Tasman travel bubble due to multiple outbreaks in Australia. The person tested positive two days later and was hospitalised a week after that. Officials said it was still unclear how the virus spread into the community and 1,000 close contacts of positive cases were being assessed. A decision is due Friday on whether the three-day lockdown will be extended or end by Saturday. - 'Covid zero' strategy - New Zealand has adopted a policy of eliminating the virus in the community, rather than containing it, which has resulted in only 26 deaths in a population of five million. Neighbouring Australia has been pursuing a similar "Covid zero" strategy, but is struggling to contain outbreaks of the Delta variant. Health authorities on Thursday urged mass Covid testing for an entire Outback town in far western New South Wales, where an outbreak that began in Sydney two months ago is spreading. The area is grappling with Australia's first significant outbreak in Aboriginal communities, with specialist military health teams deployed this week to boost sluggish vaccination efforts. Early in the pandemic, Wilcannia's roughly 750 residents put up signs on the town's limits asking travellers not to stop -- fearing the virus could obliterate an already vulnerable community, where more than 60 percent identify as Indigenous.

New Zealanders must brace for additional Covid-19 cases from an outbreak that has plunged the previously virus-free country into a snap lockdown, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern warned yesterday after six more positive tests. Ardern confirmed New Zealand was dealing with the highly transmissible Delta variant linked to the outbreak in Australia that authorities have so far been unable to contain. Ardern said the rapid rise to a total of seven cases justified her decision to issue nationwide stay-at-home orders on Tuesday after the first case was identified. “It demonstrates, at this stage, Level 4 (hard lockdown) is the right place to be,” Ardern told TVNZ. She said one of the new cases was a nurse at Auckland Hospital and another was a teacher at a high school, both representing high-risk environments for rapidly spreading the virus. “We’re expecting more,” she said as officials revealed modelling predicted the cluster grow to 120 cases, even with stringent restrictions in place. The initial infection, a 58-year-old Auckland man, ended a six-month run without community transmission in New Zealand, which has recorded only 26 Covid-19 deaths in a population of 5mn since the start of the pandemic. Ardern said investigators were trying to work out how the man caught the strain linked to Australia. “Our case has originated in Australia, now the job we have is to work through how and when it got here,” she said. “The natural place to start is to look at our managed isolation (border) facilities.” The national lockdown — New Zealand’s first in 15 months — is scheduled to last three days, with Auckland and the nearby Coromandel area facing restrictions for a week.

Pope Francis said getting the coronavirus vaccine was "an act of love" Wednesday, as the head of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics joined a campaign to boost confidence in Covid-19 jabs. "Thanks to God and to the work of many, we now have vaccines to protect us from COVID-19," Francis said in a message for the US-based "It's Up to You" initiative. "They grant us the hope of ending the pandemic, but only if they are available to all and if we work together," he said in the video, aimed at communities disproportionately affected by the virus in North, Central and South America. "Being vaccinated... is an act of love," the 84-year old said. "And contributing to ensure the majority of people are vaccinated is an act of love. Love for oneself, love for one’s family and friends, love for all people". Coronavirus has killed at least 4,370,427 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP compilation of official data. Despite mass vaccine campaigns, conspiracy theories and distrust of governments or pharmaceuticals are fuelling transmission of the virus. In the US, the worst-affected country in terms of Covid-19 deaths, the vast majority of new fatalities and serious cases are among the unvaccinated. Francis was joined by cardinals and archbishops from Brazil, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico and Peru for the campaign by the Ad Council and COVID Collaborative and the Vatican's Dicastery for Integral Human Development.

New Zealanders must brace for additional Covid-19 cases from an outbreak that has plunged the previously virus-free country into a snap lockdown, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern warned Wednesday after nine more positive tests. Ardern confirmed New Zealand was dealing with the highly transmissible Delta variant linked to the outbreak in Australia that authorities have so far been unable to contain. Ardern said the rapid rise, taking the total number of cases to 10, justified her decision to issue nationwide stay-at-home orders Tuesday when just one case had been identified. "It demonstrates, at this stage, Level 4 (hard lockdown) is the right place to be," Ardern told TVNZ. She said one of the new cases was a nurse at Auckland Hospital and another was a teacher at a high school, both representing high-risk environments for rapidly spreading the virus. "We're expecting more," she said as officials revealed modelling predicted there could already be up to 120 cases in the community linked to the cluster. The initial infection, a 58-year-old Auckland man, ended a six-month run without local transmission in New Zealand, which has recorded only 26 Covid-19 deaths in a population of five million since the start of the pandemic. Ardern said investigators were trying to work out how the man caught the strain linked to Australia. "Our case has originated in Australia, now the job we have is to work through how and when it got here," she said. "The natural place to start is to look at our managed isolation (border) facilities." The national lockdown -- New Zealand's first in 15 months -- is scheduled to last three days, with Auckland and the nearby Coromandel area facing restrictions for a week.   - 'Unpredictable and disruptive' -   Ardern said there had been three positive border cases this month from Sydney, where an outbreak continues to rage even though stay-at-home orders have been in place since late June. Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said there were no obvious links between the border cases from New South Wales -- of which Sydney is the capital -- and the 10-strong cluster in Auckland, four of whom were flatmates in their 20s. "They've been out and about a lot and I'm flagging there will be large numbers of places of interest," Bloomfield added, saying some of the flatmates had visited a church and Auckland's Sky City casino. Ardern was confident that even with more cases, her government's strategy of eliminating the virus, rather than just containing it, would succeed. "Yes, Delta poses a greater threat, but the same tools that have worked before will do so again if we follow the rules," she said. She said wastewater testing in Auckland had detected no sign of the virus, giving cause for optimism. Police confirmed four people had been arrested at a small anti-lockdown protest in Auckland, with supporters of high-profile conspiracy theorists Billy Te Kahika saying on his social media platforms that he was among those detained. "It is disappointing that some choose to put others at risk," Ardern told reporters, saying most people were following the rules. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand cited the latest lockdown as a reason for keeping its base interest rate at a record low of 0.25 percent. Analysts had predicted before the outbreak that the central bank would lift rates amid improving economic signs.  "Today's re-introduction of Level 4 restrictions to activity across New Zealand is a stark example of how unpredictable and disruptive the virus is proving to be," it said.

New Zealand imposed a snap three-day lockdown yesterday after identifying a single case of locally transmitted Covid-19 suspected to be the Delta variant, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. Ardern said New Zealand, which had not recorded any infections in the community for six months, could not take any chances with the “game changer” Delta strain. “We have seen what can happen elsewhere if we fail to get on top of it. We only get one chance,” Ardern said in a televised national address. The New Zealand leader cited Australia’s struggles to contain the highly transmissible variant for her “short, sharp” response after a 58-year-old Auckland man was diagnosed with coronavirus from an unknown source. “We are better to start high and be cautious, then move out as soon as we are comfortable doing so, than to start low and be in that phase (lockdown) for much, much longer,” she said. “You only need to look at Australia to see the alternative.” The initial plan is for New Zealand to remain in lockdown for three days, with Auckland and the nearby Coromandel area facing the restrictions for a week. Officials said a major factor behind the strong response was the fact that the Auckland case has no obvious connection to the border or managed isolation. “This case was identified in Auckland but is a national issue,” director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield said. “Because we cannot link it to the border it’s possible there could be other cases around in Auckland and other chains of transmission (outside the city).” New Zealand has won widespread praise for its coronavirus response — centred on eliminating the virus rather than containing it — and has recorded just 26 deaths in a population of 5mn. It had not needed to impose national stay-at-home orders for more than a year and life has remained close to normal, with no limits on social gatherings and limited mask use. It also maintains strict border controls — with mandatory two-week quarantine for international arrivals. “The reason New Zealand has been held up as an example is because we’ve used strategies like this before and they’ve worked...the best thing we can do to get out of this as quickly as we can is to go hard,” Ardern said. Ardern said New Zealand was one of the last places in the world to record Delta in the community, giving it the advantage of learning from others’ experience. But she said it was safest to presume the strain was now present, even though laboratory tests would not offer confirmation until today. “Every case we’ve had at MIQ (border quarantine) recently has been the Delta variant and Delta is surging around the world,” she said. “We need to assume this will be too and this has shaped all the decisions we have made.” Auckland has previously been forced into three brief periods of lockdown since an initial eight-week national state of emergency at the beginning of the pandemic last year. The most recent stay-at-home orders in the city of 2mn ended in March. Officials earlier yesterday outlined details of unrelated virus cases found at a border quarantine facility in Auckland that showed how easily the Delta strain spreads. An investigation found three people sharing a room were infected by a Delta case staying across the corridor after their doors were both open at the same time for just three to five seconds.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday said the scale of natural disasters that have hit Russia this year has been "absolutely unprecedented".  Speaking at a video conference with officials on the effects of Siberia's record-setting forest fires, he said it was "important" to work on the climate agenda "systematically."  While Siberia sees an annual wildfire season each summer, the fires have burned with an increasing intensity in recent years, which Russian weather officials and environmentalists have linked to climate change. The leaders of Siberian regions affected by the fires, as well as of a southern Russian region affected by floods, took part in the conference.  "In the south (of Russia), the monthly norm of rainfall now falls in a few hours and in the Far East on the contrary, forest fires in drought conditions are spreading rapidly," Putin said.  He called on authorities to be ready to evacuate more people living in areas affected by the fires, as well as provide economic support for them.  He also called on officials to calculate the effects of the fires and make plans to reconstruct houses.  The Russian leader said it was important to do everything to "save the forest riches" and "minimise damage for animals of the taiga", a word used to describe northern Russian forests.  This week Russia launched a national response centre and deployed additional firefighters to battle the devastating Siberian fires. In Yakutia, one of the hardest-hit regions this year, fires have already burned through more than 9.4 million hectares (23.2 million acres) -- an area larger than Portugal.   

The Covid-19 pandemic continued to surge around the world this week, driven by a worsening situation in the United States and Canada. Here is the global state of play according to a specialised AFP database. - Five percent increase - The average number of new daily cases globally increased by five percent over the week to 645,400, according to an AFP tally to Thursday. The pandemic has continued to gain ground for the past two months largely due to the highly contagious Delta variant which is predominant in a number of countries. The confirmed cases only reflect a fraction of the actual number of infections, with varying counting practices and levels of testing in different countries. - Flare up in North America -  The number of new infections was by far the worst in the US-Canada zone, with 31 percent more cases compared to the previous week. The pandemic also picked up speed, but more slowly, in the Middle East, which saw a seven percent increase, and in Europe where the number of cases increased by three percent. It was stable in Africa and Asia. There was a slow-down of four percent in Latin America and the Caribbean and by 31 percent in Oceania. - Biggest spikes - On a country basis, Azerbaijan saw the biggest pick up in cases, with an increase of 111 percent. Switzerland and Canada followed with 76 percent more, Israel with 52 percent more and Lebanon 48 percent more. - Biggest drops - Fiji saw the biggest drop of 47 percent this week, followed by Colombia (minus 36 percent), Mozambique and Zimbabwe each 34 percent less and Peru (minus 28 percent). - Most new cases - The United States continued to register the most daily cases over the week with 129,400 a day, an increase of 31 percent, followed by India (37,900, minus six percent) and Iran (37,500, an increase of 13 percent). On a per capita basis the country that recorded the most new cases this week was Georgia with 746 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Cuba (538) and the Dominican Republic (497). - Indonesia mourns most deaths -  Indonesia continued to mourn the highest number of daily deaths, with 1,613 per day, followed by Brazil (884) and Russia (791). At a global level the number of daily deaths increased by two percent to 9,540. - Vaccinations - Ecuador led the vaccination race, among countries with more than a million inhabitants, jabbing 1.59 percent of its population every day this week.  Malaysia followed with 1.42 percent, Sri Lanka (1.37 percent), Singapore (1.22 percent), Panama (1.20 percent, Turkey (1.15 percent) and Trinidad and Tobago (1.02 percent).  While they are vaccinating more slowly, among the countries with the most advanced vaccination drives are the United Arab Emirates with 175 first and second doses per 100 inhabitants, Singapore (142), Israel (139), Denmark (137), Canada (136), Chile and Belgium (134 doses each), Spain (129), the United Kingdom (128) and China (127).  Some of these countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Chile have started administering third doses.

New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern yesterday said strict border controls would remain this year but she hoped to cautiously reopen to the rest of the world in 2022 while maintaining the country’s virus-free status. She said the changes would be “careful and deliberate” to avoid allowing variants such as the highly contagious Delta strain into New Zealand, where there is no local transmission and domestic life is close to normal. “Rushing could see us in the situation many other countries are finding themselves in,” she said, citing an outbreak of the Delta variant in neighbouring Australia that has forced its two largest cities into renewed lockdown. Ardern won widespread praise for her decisive early response to the pandemic, resulting in just 26 deaths in a population of 5mn. But New Zealand’s vaccine rollout has been less stellar, with under 20% of the population fully inoculated. The centre-left leader has faced calls to ease border measures from sectors such as healthcare, hospitality and agriculture, which are facing acute labour shortages due to the absence of foreign workers. Ardern said vaccinations would ramp up with the goal of offering jabs to all the eligible population by year’s end, allowing a relaxation of border policies. Under the proposed changes, international arrivals would be assessed on vaccination status and whether they have travelled from a country deemed high, medium or low risk. They could face the full two-week quarantine, a shorter period of isolation, home isolation or quarantine-free entry if they are vaccinated and come from a low-risk country. “Our ultimate goal is to get to quarantine-free travel for all vaccinated travellers,” Ardern said, without providing a timetable. She said international travel would never be the same as it was before the pandemic. “Vaccines, border testing and maybe a bit of monitoring of symptoms when you travel will eventually become our baseline. And we will get used to it,” she said. New Zealand’s tentative attempts to relax border controls have so far met with mixed success. A travel bubble with Australia faced numerous disruptions and was finally suspended in June as multiple outbreaks spread across the Tasman Sea. Quarantine-free travel is allowed with the tiny Cook Islands, and New Zealand this month launched a scheme to bring in seasonal workers from Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu without having to self-isolate.

Greek firefighters battled Thursday to bring under control two major fires raging near Olympia and on the island of Evia as the country swelters in a record-breaking heatwave. More than 170 firefighters, around 50 trucks, six helicopters and water-bombing aircraft were deployed near the ancient archeological site, the birthplace of the Olympic games, on the Peloponnese peninsula. After destroying around 20 houses, "the fire's front is now heading towards Lalas," a wooded mountainous area to the north west of Olympia, local official Nektarios Farmakis told the ANA news agency.  Olympia, usually thronging with tourists at this time of year, as well as six nearby villages, were evacuated the day before.  A similar number of firefighters were also battling to contain a blaze on Evia, some 200 kilometres (120 miles) east of Athens.  At least 150 houses were destroyed on the island as the fire surrounded a monastery and a dozen villages. Two more villages were evacuated early on Thursday, ANA reported.  The mayor of the town of Mantoudi, Giannis Tsapourniotis, said the fire was moving on four fronts, with one particularly difficult to control near the Saint David Monastery, which was evacuated on Wednesday.  On Thursday, strong winds made it difficult for firefighting aircraft to reach the blazes, with poor visibility due to the thick smoke, ANA said.  The fire brigade said Thursday that it had had to deal with 92 forest fires over the past 24 hours, on top of the 118 from the previous day.  "We're waging a battle of the titans," deputy minister for civil protection Nikos Hardalias told journalists. "The hardest is still to come." Neighbouring Turkey is also suffering its worst fires in at least a decade, claiming the lives of eight people and forcing hundreds to evacuate in southern areas popular with tourists. Experts have warned that global warming is increasing both the frequency and intensity of such fires. 

Three Armenian troops died in border clashes with Azerbaijani forces on Wednesday, Yerevan said, in the deadliest military incident between the arch-foes since their war last year over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. "As a result of armed action launched following an attack by Azerbaijani forces, there are three dead and two wounded from the Armenian side as of 08:30 (0430 GMT)," the defence ministry in Yerevan said. It said an intense shootout took place near the village of Sotk at the north-eastern sector of the border shared by the Caucasus neighbours. Armenia's foreign ministry said that "the Azerbaijani side is deliberately escalating the situation as its forces remain illegally on Armenia's sovereign territory." Azerbaijan's defence ministry accused Armenia of a military provocation, saying "two Azerbaijani servicemen were wounded" after Armenian forces opened fire towards Azerbaijani positions in the district of Kelbajar, in the early hours of Wednesday. "Armenia bears full responsibility for the escalation of tensions along the two countries' shared border," it said. Tensions between Baku and Yerevan have been running high since May, when Armenia accused Azerbaijan's military of crossing its southern frontier to "lay siege" to a lake shared by the two countries. The six-week war between Armenia and Azerbajan last autumn claimed about 6,500 lives and ended in November with a Russian-brokered ceasefire under which Armenia ceded territories it had controlled for decades. Both countries have reported occasional shootouts in recent months along their shared border, sparking fears of a flare up in the territorial dispute. Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan as the Soviet Union collapsed, and the ensuing conflict has claimed around 30,000 lives.

Singapore's health ministry said it would retighten some restrictions on social gatherings, including allowing only two people to dine-in at restaurants, from next week to combat a recent rise in Covid-19 cases.  However, authorities will allow fully vaccinated individuals to continue to eat inside in groups of up to five at restaurants that have sufficient checks in place.

Authorities in Kyrgyzstan said Tuesday the bodies of six people had been recovered and two children were missing after landslides swept rural areas of the Central Asian country. Fatal landsides affect mountainous Central Asia every year around springtime, blocking roads in a region lacking transport infrastructure and forcing families to rebuild homes from scratch. On Monday, landslides swept through the Aksy district in the west of the mountainous country, the emergency ministry said, destroying homes and bridges. "Two children in the village of Tashtak were washed away by the torrent. In total, mudflows carried away 8 people, 6 of them were found," it said in a statement Tuesday. Amateur footage posted by a local news organisation showed rapid flows of earth and water carrying dozens of downed trees and branches near rural homes in the region. President Sadyr Japarov ordered the government to take "all necessary measures as soon as possible" to provide assistance and offered condolences to the families of the victims. The emergency services said that some 20 rescuers and dozens more locals were working to locate those missing. In neighbouring Tajikistan in May, at least eight people were killed and property damaged in landslides in rural regions.

South Korea reported 1,378 new coronavirus (Covid-19) cases yesterday, a record high for the third day in a row as the country prepared to impose its highest-level curbs in the greater capital area next week. The country had previously been held up as a model of how to combat the pandemic, with the public largely following social distancing and other rules, but it was slow to start its vaccine roll-out due to supply shortages. More than 1,000 of the new cases were in the capital Seoul and its surrounding areas, home to around half the South Korean population. Clusters have recently surfaced in areas, including schools, offices and shopping malls, with people in their 20s and 30s – most of whom are not yet eligible for vaccinations – driving up the numbers. Only about 11% of the country’s 52mn population is fully vaccinated, according to health authorities. On Friday, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said the record spike in new cases left authorities no choice but to implement the highest-level curbs. Under the new restrictions, set to come into force tomorrow and last for two weeks, gatherings of more than two people will be banned after 6pm and schools will be closed. Nightspots will be shut, while cafes and restaurants are allowed limited seating and dine-in services are prohibited after 10pm. Australia’s New South Wales state meanwhile reported yesterday its biggest daily rise in locally-acquired coronavirus infections this year, with authorities warning that worse may yet to come for Sydney, which is in a three-week hard lockdown. There were 50 new cases of community transmission in the country’s most populous state, up from 44 a day earlier, the previous 2021 record high. This brings the outbreak of the highly-infectious Delta variant to 489 cases. Of yesterday’s cases, 26 were people who had spent time in the community while they were infectious, deepening concerns that the lockdown of more than 5mn people in Sydney and surroundings will be extended. “When you know that there are 26 cases infectious in the community, the only conclusion we can draw is that things are going to get worse before they get better,” state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told a televised briefing. “I think it is pretty clear that unless we reduce that level of people in the community that are infectious, we won’t be able to turn things around as quickly as we can or as quickly as we should,” she added. There are 47 cases in hospital, or about one in 10 people infected in the current outbreak. Of those, 19 people are under the age of 55 and 16 people are in intensive care, including a teenager. No fully vaccinated people have required hospital care and 79% of those admitted have not had any doses, health authorities said. Vaccinations are available in Australia for now only to people over 40 and those in risk groups either due to their health or work. The country has fared much better than many other developed countries in keeping its Covid-19 numbers relatively low, but its vaccination rollout has been among the slowest due to supply constraints and changing medical advice for its mainstay AstraZeneca. Yesterday Vietnam reported 1,853 Covid-19 infections, a new record daily increase. Most of the cases were in the epicentre Ho Chi Minh City, which on Friday began 15 days of broad movement restrictions. Vietnam has meanwhile received 2mn doses of the Moderna vaccine donated by the US government, the American embassy in Hanoi said yesterday. The shipment, delivered via the Covax sharing facility, is part of the 80mn vaccine doses that President Joe Biden committed from US vaccine supplies to support global needs, the embassy said in an e-mailed statement. Half of the doses that arrived yesterday – the country’s first Moderna shots – will be funnelled to Ho Chi Minh City’s 9mn people, state media said. Vietnam has received around 8mn vaccine doses so far, mostly under the international Covax sharing facility. More than 4mn doses have been administered, but only about 258,000 people have been fully vaccinated out of a population of 98mn. The health ministry said on Friday that it aimed to vaccinate 50% of people aged 18 or older by the end of the year and 70% by the end of March 2022.

Portraits of dozens of anime characters, each with a small altar for fans to leave flowers, adorn the wall of a Bangkok gallery – a tribute to fictional heroes who met an untimely death. The 2D Afterlife exhibit is made up of 50 of these creations from artist Jinnipha Nivasabut, who wanted to mourn the deaths of her favourite characters in popular shows and manga series. The core concept “is to explore the idea of why the deaths of these fictional characters could have such an impact on real people”, the 22-year-old anime lover said. Eschewing anime’s cartoon style, she instead painted the fallen heroes with the realism of stately oil portraits. “In my memories, I see these characters as real persons. They’re like members of my family so I decided to draw these characters to resemble real persons as much as possible,” Jinnipha said. Japanese anime and manga enjoy mainstream popularity in the kingdom, with frequent conventions held in pre-pandemic Bangkok that would draw massive crowds of cosplayers. Jinnipha said she wanted her work to not just serve as fan art, but as a participation experience for both her and the massive fan base supporting each series. Below each portrait, a small shelf acting as an altar allows the public to place flowers and Fanta soda drinks – typical Thai offerings to the dead. Sasha Braus, a beloved character from the ultra-popular Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) series, had a potato left on her shelf – a reference to her love for food on the show that earned her the nickname “Potato Girl”. “They know that she loved potatoes so one of them came here and put it on the shelf for her,” said gallery visitor Kullanit Assawawongkasem, 19, who added that she was “devastated” when the character was killed. However, “seeing these portraits, especially of Sasha, I’m not exactly sad”, she said. “It’s the opposite – I’m kind of glad that people still think of her.” The exhibit, hosted at Palette Artspace in Bangkok, ends on August 3.

An earthquake struck eastern Tajikistan on Saturday morning, killing at least five people, according to authorities in the mountainous Central Asian country. Tremors from the 5.9 magnitude quake could be felt in the capital of Dushanbe, 165 kilometres southwest of the epicentre. "Dozens of houses were destroyed," the Tajik committee for emergency situations said. "Power lines were also partly damaged" in three villages in the district of Tajikabad, where all the victims lived. The quake struck at 7:14 am (0214 GMT) and at a depth of 10 kilometres, according to the committee and state news agency Khovar. Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon has ordered a commission of enquiry headed by the prime minister, Russian media reported. Turkmenistan, bordering Afghanistan, is frequently hit by earthquakes.

Fiji has announced plans to make the coronavirus vaccine compulsory for all workers as it battles a runaway outbreak of the Delta variant, with the prime minister issuing a blunt message: ‘no jabs, no job’. Frank Bainimarama said all public servants in the South Pacific nation of 930,000 must go on leave if they have not had their first injection by August 15 and would be dismissed if they did not receive their second by November 1. Private sector employees must have their first jab by August 1, with individuals facing hefty fines if they fail to comply and companies threatened with being shut down. ‘No jabs, no job -- that is what the science tells us is safest and that is now the policy of the government and enforced through law,’ Bainimarama said in a national address late Thursday. The hardline policy comes amid government frustration at the widespread flouting of virus safety measures such as social distancing and wearing masks, blamed in part for a huge spike in infections. Until April, Fiji had recorded no community cases for a year but a quarantine breach saw the highly contagious Delta variant, first detected in India, rapidly gain a foothold, with the country now recording 700-plus new cases a day. - 'Reckless rule-breakers' -The under-resourced health system has been stretched to breaking point, with the country's largest hospital in Suva this week saying its mortuary was at capacity and urging the families of virus victims to collect their loved ones. Bainimarama has resisted calls to lock down the entire country, citing the economic cost and the practicalities of enforcing such a move in densely-populated squatter settlements. ‘A hard lockdown, as some are calling for, cannot be strictly enforced everywhere in Fiji and our experts tell us it would not kill off the virus,’ he said. ‘But it would kill jobs and it could kill our country's future.’ Instead, Bainimarama has imposed localised lockdowns in infection hotspots, including the capital Suva, while rolling out the Astra Zeneca vaccine. While almost 340,000 adults have received their first injection, Bainimarama said online misinformation was discouraging some people, assuring them he had experienced no serious side effects from the inoculation. ‘I have not been magnetised or micro-chipped by the vaccine, I have not received the mark of the beast or any other creature -- the vaccine does not do that to anyone,’ he said. The rugby-mad country's national team has thrown its weight behind the inoculation drive and will wear shirts emblazoned with the message ‘vaccinate Fiji’, rather than their sponsor's logo, during their two-Test series against New Zealand starting this weekend. Bainimarama said spot fines were being introduced for ‘reckless rule-breakers’ who did not wear marks, attended social gatherings or violated quarantine orders. Australia's minister for international development and the Pacific, Zed Seselja, told AFP on Friday that his country had delivered 70,000 more doses to Fiji in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to around 400,000. He vowed Australia would ‘continue to up our effort when it comes to sharing vaccines in the region. I expect it will continue to ramp up right throughout this year.’  

A heavily armed commando unit that assassinated Haitian President Jovenel Moise this week comprised 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans, authorities said on Thursday, as the hunt went on for the masterminds of the brazen killing. Moise, 53, was fatally shot early on Wednesday at his home by what officials said was a group of foreign, trained killers, pitching the poorest country in the Americas deeper into turmoil amid political divisions, hunger and widespread gang violence. Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano said initial findings indicated that Colombians suspected of taking part in the assassination were retired members of his country's armed forces, and pledged to support the investigations in Haiti. Police tracked the suspected assassins on Wednesday to a house near the scene of the crime in Petionville, a northern, hillside suburb of the capital, Port-au-Prince. A firefight lasted late into the night and authorities detained a number of suspects on Thursday. Police Chief Leon Charles paraded 17 men before journalists at a news conference late on Thursday, showing a number of Colombian passports, plus assault rifles, machetes, walkie-talkies and materials including bolt cutters and hammers. ‘Foreigners came to our country to kill the president,’ Charles said, noting there were 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans. He revealed that 15 of the Colombians were captured, as were the Haitian Americans. Three of the assailants were killed and eight were still on the run, Charles said. Jorge Luis Vargas, director of Colombia's national police, said he had received information requests from Haiti on six suspects, two of whom had apparently been killed in an exchange with Haitian police. The other four were under arrest. The foreign ministry in Taiwan, which maintains formal diplomatic ties with Haiti, said 11 of the suspects were captured at its embassy after they broke in. Haiti's minister of elections and interparty relations, Mathias Pierre, identified the Haitian-American suspects as James Solages, 35, and Joseph Vincent, 55. A State Department spokesman could not confirm if any US citizens were among those detained, but US authorities were in contact with Haitian officials, including investigators, to discuss how the United States could assist. Officials in the mostly French- and Creole-speaking Caribbean nation said on Wednesday the assassins appeared to have spoken in English and Spanish. ‘It was a full, well-equipped commando (raid), with more than six cars and a lot of equipment,’ Pierre said. Officials have not yet given a motive for the killing. Since taking office in 2017, Moise had faced mass protests against his rule - first over corruption allegations and his management of the economy, then over his increasing grip on power. An angry crowd gathered on Thursday morning to watch the police operation unfold, with some setting fire to the suspects' cars and to the house where they had hunkered down. Bullet casings were strewn in the street. ‘Burn them!’ shouted some of the hundreds of people outside the police station where the suspects were being held. POWER VACUUM Charles said the public had helped police find the suspects, but he implored residents of the sprawling seafront city of 1 million people not to take justice into their own hands. A 15-day state of emergency was declared on Wednesday to help authorities apprehend the killers. Still, interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph said on Thursday it was time for the economy to reopen and that he had given instructions for the airport to restart operations. Moise's death has generated confusion about who is the legitimate leader of the country of 11 million people, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. Haiti has struggled to achieve stability since the fall of the Duvalier family dictatorship in 1986, grappling with a series of coups and foreign interventions. A UN peacekeeping mission - meant to restore order after a rebellion toppled then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004 - ended in 2019 with the country still in disarray. ‘I can picture a scenario under which there are issues regarding to whom the armed forces and national police are loyal, in the case there are rival claims to being placeholder president of the country,’ said Ryan Berg, an analyst with the Center for Strategic & International Studies. Haiti's 1987 constitution stipulates the head of the Supreme Court should take over. But amendments that are not unanimously recognized state that it be the prime minister, or, in the last year of a president's mandate - the case with Moise - that parliament should elect a president. The head of the Supreme Court died last month due to Covid-19 amid a surge in infections in one of the few countries yet to start a vaccination campaign. There is no sitting parliament as legislative elections scheduled for late 2019 were postponed amid political unrest. Moise just this week appointed a new prime minister, Ariel Henry, to take over from Joseph, although he had yet to be sworn in when the president was killed. Joseph appeared on Wednesday to take charge of the situation, running the government response to the assassination, appealing to Washington for support and declaring a state of emergency. Henry - considered more favorably by the opposition - told Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste that he did not consider Joseph the legitimate prime minister and he should revert to the role of foreign minister. ‘I think we need to speak. Claude was supposed to stay in the government I was going to have,’ Henry was quoted as saying.  

Haitian police killed four ‘mercenaries’ they said were behind the assassination of President Jovenel Moise Wednesday and took two more into custody, as the impoverished and crisis-hit Caribbean nation was pitched into uncertainty. Police did not identify the suspects or say what their motives were for the gun attack on Moise and his wife Martine, who survived, at their private residence in the capital Port-au-Prince early Wednesday. Police chief Leon Charles said there were still more members of the hit squad at large. ‘As I speak, the police are engaged in battle with these assailants,’ he said late Wednesday. ‘We are chasing them so that either in the exchange of fire they will be killed or we will apprehend them.’ Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph declared a national ‘state of siege’ and said he was now in charge. At the UN Security Council, members unanimously called ‘for the perpetrators of this abhorrent crime to be swiftly brought to justice,’ and for ‘all parties to remain calm, exercise restraint’ and avoid ‘any act that could contribute to further instability.’ An emergency meeting on the crisis has been set for midday Thursday. The airport was closed in Port-au-Prince, but witnesses said the city was quiet with the streets deserted and no extra security forces on patrol. ‘Four mercenaries were killed, two were intercepted under our control. Three policemen who had been taken hostage have been recovered,’ said Charles, the head of Haiti's national police. The attack took place around 1:00 am (0500 GMT) at Moise's home. Shell casings could be seen on the street outside as forensics experts combed the scene for evidence. A nearby car was peppered with bullet holes. Magistrate Carl Henry Destin told the Nouvelliste newspaper that the president's body had twelve bullet holes in it, from large caliber rifles and smaller 9mm weapons, to the forehead, chest, hips and abdomen. ‘The president's office and bedroom were ransacked. We found him lying on his back, blue pants, a white shirt smeared with blood, his mouth open, his left eye gouged out,’ he said. Moise's wife was first treated at a local hospital then rushed by air ambulance to the Ryder Trauma Center in Miami. Joseph said she was ‘out of danger’, later adding that ‘her situation is stable.’ Their daughter Jomarlie was in the home during the attack but hid in a bedroom, Destin, the magistrate, said. He said a maid and another domestic staff member had been tied up by the commandos who allegedly shouted ‘DEA operation’ as they burst in. Joseph said the president was ‘assassinated at his home by foreigners who spoke English and Spanish.’ ‘This death will not go unpunished,’ Joseph said in an address to the nation. Haiti's ambassador to Washington, Bocchit Edmond, also said the killers were ‘professional’ mercenaries disguised as US Drug Enforcement Administration agents. - 'Another earthquake – The unpopular Moise had ruled Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, by decree after legislative elections due in 2018 were delayed. In addition to the political chaos, kidnappings for ransom have surged in recent months. The capital's streets were at a standstill in the hours after the assassination, with just a handful of citizens outdoors. ‘We didn't expect it. This is another earthquake in Haiti,’ said a mother of two who gave her name only as Bernadette, referring to deadly 2010 quake. ‘I can't believe it, I can't believe it,’ said 50-year-old Jacquelyn. Haiti will observe two weeks of national mourning from Thursday. - 'Horrific' – Joseph -- who spoke by telephone to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Wednesday -- has only been in his post for three months, and was due to step down within days after Moise named his replacement on Monday. As well as presidential, legislative and local elections, Haiti was due to hold a constitutional referendum in September after it was twice postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. US President Joe Biden condemned the killing as ‘horrific’ and said Washington was ready to assist in any way. Washington also called for Haiti to proceed with the elections, with the State Department spokesman saying a fair vote would ‘facilitate a peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected president.’ UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Haitians to ‘remain united’ and ‘reject all violence.’ European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned of ‘risk of instability and a spiral of violence.’ - Governed by decree – Moise, a successful businessman, burst onto the political stage in 2017 and campaigned as a populist. He was sworn in in February 2017. The end date of his mandate however became the source of a standoff, as Moise maintained that his term of office ran until February 7, 2022, but others said it ended on February 7, 2021. The disagreement is because Moise was elected in a 2015 vote that was cancelled for fraud, and then re-elected in November 2016. Without a parliament, the country fell further into crisis in 2020. - Delayed elections – Many feared Haiti could tip further into violence. ‘How much worse can hell get?’ asked Haiti expert Irwin Stotzky at the University of Miami. ‘Haiti faces even more violence and death and failure as a democratic nation than ever before, which is hard to imagine given its recent and chaotic history.’ The killing comes days after Moise appointed Ariel Henry, a French-trained neurosurgeon, as Haiti's new prime minister. Henry, 71, is close to the opposition, but his appointment was not welcomed by the majority of opposition parties.