A woman looks at her phone while commuting on a train in Tokyo on March 5, 2021. (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)

SEOUL / ANKARA / AMMAN / TOKYO - Japan's health ministry reported nine new incidents of people experiencing severe allergic reactions after receiving a coronavirus vaccine, with the minister in charge of vaccination efforts saying Wednesday that such incidents were high in Japan.

The minister in charge of vaccination efforts Taro Kono said occurrences of anaphylaxis after receiving the coronavirus vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech SE, were higher in Japan than in the United States and Europe.

The total cases of anaphylaxis among health care workers being inoculated here has risen to 17, the health ministry said.

Anaphylaxis is a potentially lethal and acute allergic reaction to an antigen to which the body has become hypersensitive.

"It's true, this seems to be more than in the United States and Europe," Kono told a parliamentary committee, after detailing 17 cases of anaphylaxis reported among the 107,558 health care workers who had been inoculated as of Tuesday.

By comparison, five cases of anaphylaxis in every 1 million doses given in the United States have been reported and 20 cases per 1 million in Britain.

Japan's public broadcaster NHK said the ratio of those going into anaphylactic shock after receiving the Pfizer jab in Japan was about one in 6,300 people.

According to the health ministry, medical facilities reported that female medical workers aged in their 20s to 50s were the ones to experience anaphylaxis after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

The symptoms of anaphylaxis include, but are not limited to, coughing, wheezing, tightness in the chest, general pain, trouble breathing, rapid heartbeat, swollen or itchy throat, tightness in the throat, vomiting, diarrhea and a weak pulse, health experts here said.

They added that when someone goes into potentially life-threatening anaphylactic shock, which among the symptoms will almost certainly include their blood pressure suddenly dropping, a narrowing of their airways, and the blocking of normal breathing, they need immediate emergency medical attention.

If the reaction is not treated immediately, it can result in serious complications and can be fatal, they said.

In addition, according to the experts, as many as one out of every five people may have a second anaphylactic reaction within 12 hours of the first, known as biphasic anaphylaxis.

The health ministry here said the women who experienced anaphylaxis received the Pfizer jabs on Monday and despite displaying severe reactions, all have since recovered.

An investigation led by a panel of experts at the health ministry here has been charged with investigating whether the Pfizer jabs were responsible for sending the health workers into anaphylactic shock.

Japan's health minister Norihisa Tamura said a ministry panel will look into the issue on Friday and try to determine whether the symptoms in Japan were as serious as those overseas.

Tokyo on Wednesday reported 340 new daily COVID-19 cases, bringing the capital's tally since the outbreak of the pandemic here to 114,201.

Indonesia

Those COVID-19 patients with kidney disease in Indonesia have a 13.7 times higher mortality risk than those without any comorbidity, an official said on Wednesday.

This conclusion is based on a study of SARS CoV-2 infection in Indonesia during the first six months of the outbreak.

"Comorbidity has a very important role. The condition of our bodies affects our resilience against COVID-19," said Dewi Nur Aisyah, head of Data and Information Technology for the COVID-19 Task Force.

Aisyah pointed out that COVID-19 patients with heart disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, immune disease, cancer, liver disease in Indonesia have a higher risk of dying.

Patients with heart disease have a nine times higher mortality risk, while diabetes mellitus is 8.3 times, she noted.

The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 5,633 within one day to 1,398,578, with the death toll adding by 175 to 37,932, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

According to the ministry, 5,556 more people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 1,216,433.

Singapore

Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 10 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the country's total tally to 60,062.

The new infections are all imported cases.

On Wednesday, six more patients were discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 59,911 patients have fully recovered from the coronavirus epidemic, the ministry said.

South Korea

South Korea said on Wednesday it will exempt business people working to secure supply of auto chips from two-week COVID-19 quarantine requirements and prioritise the vaccination of people key to auto chip procurement.

The move comes as South Korea tries to limit the damage from a chip shortage that has plagued global automakers and forced production cuts worldwide, including at Volkswagen and General Motors. Germany and the United States have also ramped up efforts to resolve the shortage.

South Korea’s leading automaker Hyundai Motor has so far kept factories running, but a Hyundai union official told Reuters on Tuesday that overtime production of less-popular models had stopped and production schedules were changing from week to week.

South Korea reported 470 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Tuesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 93,733.

Vietnam

Vietnam recorded three new cases of COVID-19 infection on Wednesday, including two imported and one locally transmitted, according to its Ministry of Health.

The new infections brought the total confirmed cases in the country to 2,529 as of 6 p.m. local time Wednesday, said the ministry.

The imported cases included a Vietnamese citizen and a foreign expert who recently entered the country from abroad and were quarantined upon arrival. The community case was reported in the northern Hai Duong province, the country's largest COVID-19 hotspot at the moment.

Bangladesh 

Bangladesh reported 1,018 new COVID-19 cases and seven new deaths on Wednesday, making the tally at 553,105 and death toll at 8,496, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.

The official data showed that 17,032 samples were tested in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh.

The total number of recovered patients in the country stood at 506,613 including 1,264 new recoveries on Wednesday, said the DGHS.

According to the official data, the COVID-19 fatality rate in Bangladesh is now 1.54 percent and the current recovery rate is 91.59 percent.

Thailand

Thailand on Wednesday confirmed 39 new COVID-19 cases, down from Tuesday's tally of 60 and Monday's 71, according to the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

Of Wednesday's new cases, 34 were domestic infections while five others referred to imported cases, said CCSA spokeswoman Apisamai Srirangsan.

Those domestic cases included 19 in Samut Sakhon, eight in Pathum Thani and one in Bangkok, among other provinces, she said.

Pakistan 

Pakistan on Wednesday began vaccinating its people aged 60 years and over against COVID-19, according to Special Assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister on Health Faisal Sultan.

The group of elderly people have been planned to receive the vaccine in the second phase of a nationwide vaccination drive, Sultan told Xinhua.

Pakistan started its COVID-19 vaccination drive in February after the arrival of China-gifted vaccine doses, with the frontline health workers given the priority for inoculation.

Last week, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan further approved the emergency use of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for people over 60 years of age. 

Cambodia 

Cambodia on Wednesday confirmed 64 more local COVID-19 cases, raising the tally linked to the third community transmission to 613, said a Ministry of Health (MoH) statement.

The new cases were found in Phnom Penh Municipality, Kandal, Preah Sihanouk, Prey Veng, and Siem Reap provinces, the statement said.

"They were all involved in the third community outbreak of COVID-19 on Feb. 20," the statement said, adding that they are undergoing treatment at various designated COVID-19 hospitals.

In a bid to contain the virus, the country has closed down all schools, sports facilities, museums, cinemas, and entertainment venues in cities and provinces, where the virus has been detected.

Mongolia

Mongolian Deputy Prime Minister Sainbuyan Amarsaikhan and Mayor of Ulan Bator Dolgorsuren Sumiyabazar on Wednesday received their first shots of a COVID-19 vaccine donated by China.

Mongolia launched a COVID-19 vaccination campaign across the country on Feb. 23, and more than 30,400 people have been vaccinated so far, according to the country's Health Ministry.

The country plans to vaccinate at least 60 percent of its 3.3 million people using four types of COVID-19 vaccines, and 20 percent will be vaccinated under COVAX, a global initiative for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, said the ministry.  

A total of 109 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Mongolia in the last 24 hours, the highest daily increase since the pandemic hit the country, the National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said on Wednesday.

Malaysia 

Malaysia is allowing travel between states subject to the Recovery Movement Control Order, Defense Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said in a briefing late Tuesday. 

Travel must be for tourism purposes only, and travelers must use the services of registered travel agencies, using their vehicles to cross state lines. Malaysia will also allow live performances with an audience present, subject to COVID-19 protocols, from today.

Malaysia reported 1,448 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the national total to 317,717, the health ministry said on Wednesday.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that 10 of the new cases are imported and 1,438 are local transmissions.

Another five deaths have been reported, pushing the death toll to 1,191.

Some 2,137 patients have been released after recovery, bringing the total cured and discharged to 298,516, or 94 percent of all cases.

New Zealand

New Zealand, which tops Bloomberg’s COVID Resilience Ranking measuring which places best-handled the pandemic, will have a targeted rollout of vaccines over the next three-to-four months to reach 2 million people in the most at-risk groups. Those in South Auckland aged over 65 or with underlying conditions will get shots from the end of this month.

The country has already started inoculating border and managed isolation facility workers and their families, along with 480,000 frontline workers and people living in high-risk settings. From May, shots will go to 1.7 million people who are at higher risk.

“The rest of the population will be able to be vaccinated from July onwards and our plan is to have as many people as possible vaccinated by the end of the year,” COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said in a statement. “Every New Zealander will be able to get a vaccine and the vaccine will be free.”

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Turkey

Turkey's decision to gradually ease COVID-19 restrictions in the country has brought hope and relief to citizens and businesses but it could easily be compromised without full compliance to health measures, experts warned.

On March 1, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a "controlled normalization" process after months of strict restrictions and lockdowns following a second wave of COVID-19 infections since November, 2020.

On the basis of a four-risk categorization (low, medium, high and very high) for cities, the government has removed restrictions on cafes, restaurants, spas and other businesses without imposing an inter-city travel ban.

The daily number of new coronavirus cases in Turkey rose to two-month highs near 14,000 on Tuesday, Health Ministry data showed, more than a week after President Tayyip Erdogan announced an easing of measures to curb the pandemic.

The number of new cases amounted to 13,755, the highest level since Jan. 6, bringing the total number of cases up to 2,807,387.

On Monday last week, Erdogan announced the partial opening of cafes, restaurants and schools, as well as an easing of weekend lockdowns among measures which he called a “controlled normalisation”.

The number of daily cases on that day was below 10,000.

Australia

Australia’s pace of COVID-19 immunisation drive is not a cause for concern and the vaccination programme will be completed by the end of October, authorities said on Wednesday, as the country finished administering more than 100,000 first doses.

Australia last month began inoculating its 25 million population but the immunisation drive is running behind schedule as officials slowed vaccinations after two elderly people were inadvertently given four times the recommended dose.

“This is not a race, we have no burning platform in Australia. We are taking it as quickly and carefully and safely as we can,” Health Secretary Brendan Murphy told reporters.

“We’re not like the US or the UK or most other countries in the world where they’ve got people in hospital dying. We can take our time, set up our systems, do it safely and carefully, we are expanding our rollout every day.”

Murphy said the country will finish the vaccination programme on time by the end of October despite the initial delays as the weekly dosage target is expected to reach 1 million by March-end when CSL Ltd begins to locally produce AstraZeneca doses.

Australia has secured about 54 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which Murphy called the “the workforce vaccine for Australia”, with 50 million to be locally produced.

Jordan

Jordan announced on Tuesday its decision to suspend in-class education at all schools from Wednesday as the number of COVID-19 cases surges.

The announcement came during a joint press briefing held by Minister of State Affairs Sakher Dudin and Minister of Education Mohammad Khair Abu Qadais.

All vocational training centers will stop working starting March 10 until April 1, Dudin said during the press conference, adding additional preventive and restrictive measures will be taken in the coming days.

In-campus teaching for college and university students who were previously excluded from online learning due to the practical and technical nature of their studies will be also suspended, the Jordanian official noted.

On Tuesday, Jordan reported 7,072 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total caseload in the kingdom to 442,202, and 59 more deaths, taking the death toll to 5,046, according to a joint statement issued by the Prime Ministry and the Ministry of Health.

Israel

Israel's Ministry of Health reported 3,164 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, raising the tally of confirmed cases in the country to 807,755.

The death toll from the COVID-19 in Israel reached 5,926 after 11 new fatalities were added, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 689 to 660, out of 1,071 hospitalized patients.

The total recoveries in Israel rose to 763,988, with 2,630 newly recovered cases, while the number of active cases increased to 37,841.

The number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 in Israel has reached nearly 5.02 million, or 54 percent of its total population, since the vaccination campaign began on Dec. 20, 2020.

The country's COVID-19 reproduction number, also known as the R number, decreased from 0.99 to 0.95.

The R number is an indicator used to determine how fast the COVID-19 is spreading, as an R number greater than 1 means that the number of patients increases at an exponential rate and multiplies from time to time.

Iraq

The Iraqi Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday 4,610 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total nationwide infections to 735,626.

It also reported 22 new deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 13,618, while the total recoveries in Iraq climbed by 3,692 to 668,153.

A total of 7,194,244 tests have been carried out across the country since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020, with 37,461 done during the day.

Separately, the ministry said in a brief statement that the Iraqi Council of Ministers voted in favor of a decision to pay 10 million Iraqi dinars, or about 7,000 U.S. dollars, to each family of coronavirus victims from the employees of the ministry in appreciation of the sacrifice.

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Lebanon

Lebanon registered on Tuesday 3,939 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections to 401,810, the Health Ministry reported.

Meanwhile, the number of deaths from the virus went up by 45 to 5,134 in the country.

Kuwait

Kuwait reported on Tuesday 1,157 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 203,055.

The Kuwaiti Health Ministry also announced eight more deaths, taking the death toll to 1,141. The tally of recoveries nationwide rose by 1,045 to 188,167, while 13,747 coronavirus-related patients are receiving treatment.

Abdullah Al-Sanad, the ministry's spokesman, urged on Tuesday everyone in Kuwait to comply with the precautionary measures against the coronavirus and maintain social distancing.

Iran

Iran will start its vaccination program against COVID-19 for the general population in May using the domestic vaccine COV-Iran Barekat, an official was quoted as saying on Tuesday by news agency Tasnim.

"We have a big potential in the mass production of this vaccine, and after the next two to two and a half months, we will not have any concerns about stocks of COVID-19 vaccines," said Mohammad Mokhber, head of the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam Khomeini (HEOIK).

Speaking during the unveiling of a mobile hospital in Tehran, the official said the vaccination program is expected to be launched in May.

Mokhber noted that the mobile hospital being inaugurated is the biggest of its kind in Iran, and explained the necessity for its creation pointing to the frequency of earthquakes and floods in remote areas of the country.

Myanmar

Myanmar reported 14 more COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the tally in the country to 142,059, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health and Sports.

No new death was reported on Tuesday and the death toll of COVID-19 has registered 3,200 in the country so far, the statement said.

According to the ministry's figures, a total of 131,702 patients have been discharged from hospitals and over 2.5 million samples have been tested for COVID-19 so far.

Fiji 

The South Pacific island nation of Fiji started on Wednesday the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, aiming to fully vaccinate 6,000 frontline workers including health care workers, members of the disciplined forces and border control workers who operate the COVID-19 border control and quarantine services.

According to a statement by Fiji's Health Ministry, the first batch of 12,000 Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, procured through the COVAX facility, will provide two doses each of vaccination for the target group. Additional vaccines sent through COVAX will arrive in staggered shipments in the weeks to come.

India

India's COVID-19 tally rose to 11,262,707 on Wednesday as 17,921 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours, said the latest data from the federal health ministry.

According to the official data, the death toll mounted to 158,063 with 133 new deaths.

There are still 184,598 active cases in the country, while 10,920,046 people have been discharged from hospitals after medical treatment. There was a decrease of 2,864 active cases during the previous 24 hours, as the northern state of Punjab saw an increase of 502 cases.

The number of daily active cases had been on the rise over the past few days, as another wave of COVID-19 looms large in India.

As many as 9,102 new cases were reported between Jan. 25 to 26, which was the lowest in the previous 237 days. Prior to that, the lowest number of daily new cases, 9,304 registered on June 4, 2020.

The Philippines

The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported on Wednesday 2,886 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the Southeast Asian country's total tally to 603,308.

The death toll climbed to 12,545 after 17 more patients died from the coronavirus epidemic, the DOH said. It added that 221 more patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 546,293.

Treatment czar of the National Task Force Against COVID-19 Leopoldo Vega alerted people of the "uptrend" in COVID-19 infections in densely populated Metro Manila and other regions in recent days, saying that it might put a strain on hospitals if the transmission continues.

Vega said the transmission that Metro Manila and other regions are experiencing now "is almost a repeat of what happened" in July-August last year.