![]() The Games will be closed to foreign spectators. Last week, a union of hospital doctors in Japan said the Olympics should be called off as the games would risk the circulation of potentially vaccine-resistant variants. Between 15,000 and 17,000 patients are reportedly being left without medical care, and the Osaka governor has warned that fatality rates could continue to rise. In Osaka, where the volume of weekly infections is the highest in the country, critical-care beds are nearly full. Three other prefectures were listed as being in “quasi-emergency.” Combined, the measures put about 70% of Japan’s population under restrictions. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced last week that Hokkaido, Okayama and Hiroshima would join six prefectures, including Tokyo and Osaka, already under state of emergency measures until the end of the month. “Lots of them live alone and don’t have children around to help them.” “None of my neighbors have been vaccinated so far,” Fukushima said. Her eldest daughter finally got her one for June. Despite calling more than 150 times over five days, Fukushima failed to get a vaccination appointment. Hiroko Fukushima, a 79-year-old who lives on her own in Japan’s Ehime prefecture, was desperate to get a shot so her youngest daughter could visit her safely to observe the seventh anniversary of her husband’s death. Less than 3% of Japan’s population of 126 million has been fully vaccinated in a program besieged by accusations of mismanagement, line-jumping and a poorly designed booking system. Even a rich country like Japan, which is undergoing a fourth wave of infections, has failed to deliver shots at rates anywhere near other nations of similar economic standing. Middle-income nations such as Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia have vaccination rates in the low single digits. It’s not just poor countries in Asia that are struggling to get doses. ![]() That’s why we need a fair distribution of vaccines.” looks great, but if a variant mutates, it will eventually reach the U.S. ![]() “The world needs to realize no one is safe until everyone is safe,” Rimal said from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital, which entered its third lockdown last month. The spike in cases in Southeast and East Asia on the heels of massive outbreaks in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives underscores how quickly new variants are spreading, said Abhishek Rimal, the Asia Pacific emergency health coordinator at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. All public spaces such as cinemas, libraries and recreation centers were ordered shut, and public schools will remain closed until at least the end of the month. The self-governing island reported several hundred infections in the last week after months without any. For the first time since COVID-19 emerged, Taiwan has imposed strict lockdown measures to stop a virus that’s killed more than 3.3 million people worldwide. That feeling of defeat is most profound here. Nations that were lauded and often envied for the way they controlled COVID-19 - keeping death tolls low and allowing millions to work, attend schools and dine out - are now beset by new lockdowns, dwindling hospital beds and growing fatigue as the pandemic wears on. The sudden reversal in Taiwan’s status mirrors setbacks unfolding across Asia. Only active recreation, like swimming, running, and surfing, is allowed, meaning that more leisurely beach-going endeavors like sunbathing are not considered valid reasons to hit the beach.While much of the world is moving beyond the pandemic, Taiwan, which for so long had kept the virus at bay, is unnerved by scenes countries have long forgotten: listless streets, shuttered shops, a run on toilet paper and untold empty seats on subways. It's not written in stone that the county's stay-at-home orders will remain as is for the next three months, but Ferrer said they won't budge unless there's a "dramatic change to the virus and tools at hand." As things stand, the county's fatalities and new infections are rising daily, and testing capacity reportedly remains limited, so change is not considered a likely possibility, the Times reports.īeaches are still set to re-open Wednesday, albeit with restrictions. There likely won't be any further rollbacks until at least the end of July, the county's Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said during a Board of Supervisers meeting Tuesday. Los Angeles County, which has more than 32,000 coronavirus infections and accounts for more than half of California's COVID-19 fatalities, is expected to pump the brakes on re-opening, despite loosening some lockdown measures last week, the Los Angeles Times reports.
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