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Agencies

Australia was bracing for more Covid-19 infections and hospitalisations, officials said on Saturday, even as it moves toward gradually easing pandemic restrictions with the vast majority of its people getting vaccinated against the virus.
Sydney, in a lockdown for more than 100 days, is to ease some key restrictions for the fully vaccinated from Monday, a day described by many as “freedom day”. More than 70 per cent of people across New South Wales state, of which Sydney is the capital, have been fully vaccinated.
“We know that as we open up, case numbers will increase,” said New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet. “But what has been key to keeping people safe is our high vaccination rate.”
Australia’s most populous state recorded 580 new infections on Saturday, all of the Delta variant, and 11 deaths.
As Australia plans border reopening, stranded citizens still have doubts
From Monday, pubs, restaurants and shops will throw open their shutters and welcome back the fully vaccinated.
Five-kilometre travel restrictions will also be lifted, although state and international borders will remain closed for now.
Neighbouring Victoria, its capital Melbourne in a lockdown since early August, reported a record 1,965 cases and five deaths. The state, home to around a quarter of Australia’s 25 million people, has inoculated around 57 per cent of its population.




The federal government is completing a plan to bring in 2,000 nurses and doctors from overseas over the next six months to help with the expected higher demand, Health Minister Greg Hunt told The Age newspaper.
“This will be a one-off boost to provide additional support,” Hunt said.
Hospitals in Melbourne and Sydney have been under strain in recent weeks, with Ambulance Victoria, the state’s provider of pre-hospital emergency care and ambulance services, reporting four of its five busiest days ever over the past two weeks.
Australia’s Covid-19 cases remain, however, far lower than many comparable countries, with some 125,000 infections and 1,421 deaths.
Neighbouring New Zealand, which was largely virus-free for most of the pandemic until a Delta outbreak in mid-August, reported 34 new local cases, down from 44 on Friday.
Singapore and South Korea to launch quarantine-free travel lane
More than 30 million fully vaccinated in South Korea
The number of fully vaccinated people in South Korea has surpassed 30 million, data showed Saturday, as the government speeds up inoculations and seeks to gradually roll out its “living with Covid-19” plan.
Around 30.3 million people, or 59.1 per cent of the total population, have been fully inoculated since the country launched its vaccination programme in February, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
South Korea plans to complete vaccinating 70 per cent of the population by the end of this month.

Singapore Covid-19 ‘new normal’ could take up to 6 months
Singapore may need as much as six months to get to a “new normal” in terms of easing restrictions and people resuming their previous routines in the Covid-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said.
“It will take us at least three months, and perhaps as long as six months, to get there,” Lee said in an address to the island nation, which has largely kept the virus at bay since last year with masks, contact tracing and a closed border.
Singapore recently reimposed some social curbs in an attempt to clamp down on the rising number of daily infections that have neared 3,700 and threaten to overwhelm the healthcare system. Even though 83 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, the country has struggled to return to a life of normalcy amid growing anxieties over a constantly-changing plan to live with the virus.
Fiji to reopen for tourism
Fiji will ease Covid-19 restrictions and announce its reopening for international travel after the country hit a vaccination milestone.
Changes to the country’s virus restrictions would be announced on Sunday afternoon after 80 per cent of the adult population received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said.
Last month officials said once the target was reached, Fiji would reopen travel for “green list” locations, including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Singapore and parts of the United States.
Visitors must be fully vaccinated and test negative for Covid-19 before departure under the previously announced plan.
Once in Fiji, they would stay in designated zones where all contacts, from hospitality staff to tour operators, would be fully vaccinated.
Tokyo daily cases fall to one-year low
Tokyo’s government said that new daily infections in the Japanese capital declined to 82, the lowest since October 19 last year.
Cases have been on the decline since peaking at more than 5,000 a day in August in a wave driven by the highly infectious Delta variant. Tokyo and much of Japan last week exited a state of emergency that had lasted for almost six months.
Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Bloomberg and Korea Times


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Coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus: Sydney nears ‘freedom day’; Fiji to reopen for tourism

Stay-at-home orders will be lifted for the Sydney’s five-million-plus people now that 70 per cent of state residents over 16 have been double jabbed. Photo: Reuters

A man sits amongst empty seats at a free movie screening as restrictions on social gathering are tightened due to the surge of cases in the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Singapore, September 29, 2021. REUTERS/Edgar Su

Coronavirus: as Australia plans border reopening, stranded citizens wait with anxiety, trepidation

A pedestrian crosses Bourke Street in Melbourne, Australia. Photo: AP

epa09485069 Large crowds of beachgoers are seen at Bronte Beach Sydney, Australia, 24 September 2021. The New South Wales Government is slowly relaxing some restrictions in some local government areas as vaccination numbers continue to climb, but stay at home orders still remain in place for Greater Sydney. EPA-EFE/DEAN LEWINS (RESEND)

epa09462956 Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks to the media during a press conference at Kirribilli House in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 12 September 2021. The Australian Government announced on the day that it has secured an additional one million Moderna doses from European Union (EU) member states to further bolster Australia's COVID-19 vaccination programme. EPA-EFE/JOEL CARRETT AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT

Coronavirus: Singapore and South Korea to launch quarantine-free travel lane from November 15

Travellers at Changi Airport in Singapore. Photo: AFP

FILE PHOTO: Commuters wearing masks to avoid contracting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) walk on a zebra crossing in Seoul, South Korea, September 24, 2021. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo

epa09189335 Visitors walk through the departure hall in Terminal 3 of the Changi Airport in Singapore, 10 May 2021. A cluster of eight COVID-19 cases have been detected at the Changi Airport. The Ministry of Health has begun testing for all workers in the airport. Amongst the patients are cleaning staff, as well as a SATS passenger escort and a Certis Cisco officer who has received the vaccination. EPA-EFE/WALLACE WOON

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Australia’s largest city will emerge from 106-day lockdown Monday
Fiji will reopen for international travel after hitting vaccination milestone



Australia’s largest city, in a lockdown for more than 100 days, was to ease some key restrictions for the fully vaccinated from Monday.


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South Korea

Coronavirus: Sydney nears ‘freedom day’; Fiji to reopen for tourism

Australia’s largest city will emerge from 106-day lockdown Monday Fiji will reopen for international travel after hitting vaccination milestone

Australia’s largest city will emerge from 106-day lockdown Monday

Fiji will reopen for international travel after hitting vaccination milestone