Coronavirus: New Zealand arrests anti-vaccine convoy protesters; Philippines welcomes back foreign tourists
- Police arrested more than 50 people and removed many others who blocked streets near the parliament for three days with their trucks, cars and motorbikes
- Elsewhere, South Korea launched a self-treatment scheme for patients with mild virus symptoms as new infections hit a fresh high
Inspired by the truckers demonstrations in Canada, which is into its 13th day with protesters blocking two border crossings with the United States, several thousand people this week blocked streets near the parliament in capital Wellington with their trucks, cars and motorbikes.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Thursday told the protesters to “move on”, saying the demonstration “is not reflective of where the rest of New Zealand is out right now.”
“All of us want to actually move on. We are working very hard to put ourselves in the best possible position to do that,” Ardern told reporters after visiting a Covid-19 vaccination centre in Auckland.
As of 14.45 local time, about a thousand protesters remained at the site, defying warnings and efforts by the police to clear them.
Speaker Trevor Mallard on Thursday authorised the closure of grounds around the distinctive “Beehive” parliament building, after which demonstrators quickly confronted police officers, banging drums and screaming insults. Some were seen throwing empty plastic bottles at the police.
As the crowd pushed against barriers, police pulled them out and wrestled them to the ground, a witness said. Dozens were handcuffed and taken away amid cries of “Shame on you!” from the crowd.
Many protesters, who said they were vaccinated but were against mandating jabs, were seen holding placards saying “Freedom”, “Leave our kids alone” and “Let me work”.
“We are not going anywhere. We will hold the line and see this through,” said one demonstrator who gave his name only as Adam, and said he had come from Palmerston North, about 140km north of Wellington.
“We want our freedom back,” said another protester, identifying himself as Dave. “Jacinda [Ardern] has turned her back on us. Kiwis are not dumb. We are losing our jobs and our lives due to these mandates and restrictions.”
Police said those arrested will face trespass and obstruction charges, and will be bailed to appear in court. Authorities have also appealed to the owners or drivers of vehicles blocking streets surrounding parliament grounds to remove them or face enforcement action.
New Zealand has put in place some of the toughest restrictions for the last two years to deal with the coronavirus that have helped keep infections and deaths lower than in many comparable nations.
A country of five million people, New Zealand has reported just over 18,000 confirmed cases and 53 deaths since the pandemic began. About 94 per cent of eligible people there are vaccinated.
But the restrictions have frustrated many, and with borders still closed, tens of thousands of expatriate New Zealanders are cut off from families while tourism businesses are struggling to stay afloat.
Ardern said every New Zealander had the right to protest but that should not disrupt others’ lives, adding the decision to remove protesters was an operational matter for police.
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Philippines welcomes back foreign tourists
Foreign travellers from 157 countries with visa-free arrangements with the Philippines who have been fully vaccinated and tested negative for the virus will be welcomed back and will no longer be required to quarantine upon arrival. The government also ended a risk classification system that banned travellers from the worst-hit countries.
“We will begin the next chapter in the road to recovery,” Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat said. She added the border reopening would restore jobs and generate revenue across tourism-related enterprises and communities.
The Philippines imposed one of the world’s longest lockdowns and strictest police-enforced quarantine restrictions to quell a pandemic that caused its worst economic recession since the 1940s and pushed unemployment and hunger to record levels.
More than a million Filipinos lost their jobs in tourism businesses and destinations in the first year of the pandemic alone, according to government statistics. Tourism destinations, including popular beach and tropical island resorts, resembled ghost towns at the height of pandemic lockdowns, and a volcanic eruption and typhoons exacerbated losses.
The reopening had been set for December 1 but was postponed as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus spread.
Less than a thousand new cases were added daily during the Christmas holidays, when large crowds of shoppers trooped back to malls and restaurants despite constant government warnings. The subsequent surge peaked above 39,000 infections in a day in mid-January, but has since eased. Health officials reported about 3,600 infections on Wednesday, with 69 deaths and have declared the entire archipelago, except for one southern region, at “low to moderate risk.”
More than 60 million of nearly 110 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus and 8.2 million have received their booster shots in a campaign that has been hampered by vaccine shortages and public hesitancy.
President Rodrigo Duterte warned Filipinos in televised remarks on Monday that “we are not over the hump” and urged the unvaccinated to get immunised soon.
“If you’re unvaccinated and you die, well, I’ll tell you, ‘good riddance,’” the tough-talking president said. “You can walk around and if you get contaminated, you will be awfully very, very sorry for yourself and your family.”
South Korea’s record surge continues
South Korea has largely been a Covid-19 mitigation success story, thanks to aggressive testing and tracing, social distancing and mask wearing.
But as the Omicron variant began spreading, the government this month started to shift its strategy away from testing and tracing and towards self-monitoring, diagnosis and at-home treatment.
From Thursday, authorities will only provide care to Covid-19 patients aged 60 and older or with underlying conditions, while others monitor themselves and seek medical help from designated clinics if their conditions worsen.
Medical kits including an oxygen saturation measurement device, a thermometer and a fever remedy – previously available to all patients who treat themselves at home – would now be distributed only to priority groups.
Officials have estimated around 13.5 per cent of new cases would be classified as high risk groups.
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The government had already scrapped contact tracing and mandatory self-isolation reports based on global positioning system technology.
“The previous scheme is no longer realistic in light of our limited resources, and takes massive social and economic costs compared with our medical needs,” health ministry spokesman Son Young-rae told a briefing on Wednesday.
“The goal of our new Omicron response system is to minimise serious cases and deaths by focusing on diagnosing and treating high risk groups, and to prevent the saturation and collapse of our medical capacity.”
South Korea’s daily number of new cases hit another daily record of 54,122 for Wednesday, bringing its total infections to 1,185,361 among its 52 million people, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
But new deaths remain low at 20, bringing the total to 6,943.
The daily count has surged more than twofold in less than a week, and could reach some 170,000 cases later this month with up to 1 million in home treatment, the KDCA has said.
The KDCA said some 551,000 doses of Novavax vaccine, locally produced by South Korea’s SK Bioscience Co Ltd, were delivered on Thursday.
South Korea’s food and drug safety ministry authorised the vaccine last month, after approving products made by AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen.
The Novavax shots will be administered for unvaccinated people, especially of high risk groups, KDCA official Lim Sook-young told reporters.
A total of over 1 million doses are expected to be shipped this week. About 96 per cent of South Korean adults have been fully vaccinated and almost 65 per cent received a booster shot.
Tonga cases jump
The Omicron variant coronavirus entered Tonga for the first time in the wake of last month’s volcanic eruption, officials confirmed on Thursday, as the number of Covid-19 cases in the kingdom almost doubled to 64.
Health Minister Saia Piukala said 31 new cases had been detected in the previous 24 hours, a record for the island nation which was virus-free until last month’s blast.
Piukala said samples sent to Australia confirmed the variant of the virus spreading in Tonga was the Omicron strain.
The source of the coronavirus infection remains unknown, but suspicion has fallen on ships delivering aid from countries including Australia, China, France, Japan and New Zealand despite strict quarantine rules on the handling of goods.
Australian defence chiefs have denied it came from the Covid-hit warship HMAS Adelaide, saying the vessel did not unload its humanitarian supplies at the wharf in Nuku’alofa, where the virus was first detected.
The nation of about 100,000 remains in lockdown, with stay-at-home orders meaning all businesses and schools are closed and only essential services are allowed to operate.
The restrictions are hampering disaster relief efforts after the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted with a force scientists said was more powerful than a nuclear bomb.
The blast generated massive tsunami waves and blanketed the island nation in toxic ash, claiming three lives.
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Tonga enters full Covid-19 lockdown as foreign aid continues to arrive after volcano disaster
Japan extends curbs
Top medical adviser Shigeru Omi said on Thursday that health centres would shift towards focusing on care for the elderly and those at risk of developing serious illness.
“While infections are still increasing, there’s a relative slowing trend among working people in their 20s and 30s,” he told reporters after a health task force meeting.
Japan will on Friday begin a long weekend that have in the past coincided with increases in cases.
Virus restrictions in Tokyo and 12 prefectures that had been due to expire on Sunday will be extended until March 6, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Wednesday.
An expert panel said that while the rate of infections was slowing, the medical system remained under pressure and hospitalisation may continue to rise.
Tokyo reported 18,287 new infections on Wednesday, down from a record 21,576 on February 2 in the first week-on-week decline in almost two months.
Nationwide data show the same flattening trend, while cases in the southern prefecture of Okinawa, where this latest wave first gained momentum, continue to ebb.
Reporting by Reuters, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse
