Lockdown in Kerala as troops enforce virus rules in Sydney

NEW DELHI: India’s southern state of Kerala on Thursday announced a two-day lockdown as federal authorities planned to send experts to fight the spread of infections in the country’s leading COVID-19 hotspot.

India reported on Thursday 43,509 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the government said in a statement.

The country’s total caseload now stands at 31.53 million infections. The COVID-19 death toll rose by 640 in the last 24 hours, with the total reaching 422,662.

“Special intensified stringent restrictions are being implemented in the areas where the test positivity rate is high,” the state’s department of disaster management said in a statement announcing a “complete lockdown” from Sunday.

On Thursday, the federal government said it was sending half a dozen experts to monitor Kerala’s worst-hit areas and work with state authorities on strategies to contain the outbreak.

India’s central government has left decisions on lockdowns and reopenings to local state authorities, leading to an uneven response that experts say has allowed new hotspots to develop even as infections fall in previous epicentres.

ARMY IN SYDNEY: Australia’s military will help enforce a lockdown in Sydney after the city of 6 million posted a record daily rise in COVID-19 cases on Thursday and state authorities said the outbreak was likely to get worse.

Despite an extended lockdown in Sydney since an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant, 239 new locally acquired coronavirus cases were recorded in the city over a 24-hour period, the biggest daily rise since the pandemic began.

With little sign that of restrictions reducing infections, Gladys Berejiklian, the premier of New South Wales state said new curbs would be imposed on the southwestern and western areas of Sydney where the majority of COVID-19 cases are being found.

Residents there will be forced to wear masks outdoors and to stay within five km of their homes.

With even tighter restrictions set to begin on Friday, New South Wales Police said it had asked for 300 military personnel to help enforce lockdown orders.

The personnel will deploy on Friday, Defence Minister Peter Dutton said, and will begin assisting police with ensuring compliance with restrictions next week.

UAE CASES: The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) announced that it conducted 302,236 additional COVID-19 tests and detected 1,550 new coronavirus cases.

MOHAP also announced five deaths due to COVID-19 complications.

The Ministry also noted that an additional 1,508 individuals had fully recovered from COVID-19.

The Ministry also announced that 31,558 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered during the past 24 hours.

The total number of doses provided up to Thursday stands at 16,676,766 with a rate of vaccine distribution of 168.62 doses per 100 people

PAK VACCINATION DEADLINE: The federal government in Pakistan on Thursday set Aug.31, 2021, as deadline for COVID-19 vaccination, following which only vaccinated staff and people would be allowed to enter both public, private sector offices, businesses and high risk sectors.

The National Command and Operation Centre ( NCOC) had already a made decision earlier that unvaccinated people would be barred from traveling in domestic flights from Aug.1, 2021, likewise teachers and staff would also not be allowed to enter educational institutions unvaccinated from this date, APP news agency reported.

VIRUS AT OLYMPICS: Two people attending the Tokyo Olympics from overseas have been admitted to hospital with COVID-19, a Tokyo 2020 spokesperson said on Thursday, as daily cases in the host city and Japan as a whole hit new highs.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga denied there was any link between the games and the simultaneous rise in cases in the country. He said the government will decide on Friday whether to extend a state of emergency, already imposed on Tokyo and Okinawa, to additional regions, without saying where.

THAILAND SHUTS AIRPORT: Health authorities in Thailand raced to set up a large field hospital in a cargo building at one of Bangkok’s airports on Thursday as the country reported record numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths.

Other field hospitals are already in use in the capital after it ran out of hospital facilities for thousands of infected residents.

Workers rushed to finish the 1,800-bed hospital at Don Mueang International Airport, where beds made from cardboard box materials were laid out with mattresses and pillows. It is to be ready for patients in two weeks.

4 BILLION DOSES OF VACCINE: Although more than four billion doses of ANTI-COVID-19 vaccines have been administered around the world, poorer countries are still struggling to secure precious shots despite recent donations.

At least 4,014,302,550 doses had been injected into people’s arms by 1100 GMT on Thursday, according to an AFP tally based on official sources.