Southeast Asian countries need more help securing COVID-19 vaccines, as the region struggles to contain record infections and deaths driven by the Delta variant, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.
The region escaped the worst when the pandemic erupted last year, but in recent weeks has seen the highest deaths globally, as soaring infections push fragile health care systems to the brink and expose sluggish vaccination rollouts.
“This COVID-19 surge driven by the Delta variant is claiming a tragic toll on families across Southeast Asia and it’s far from over,” Alexander Matheou, Asia Pacific Director, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said in a statement.
It noted that most Southeast Asian countries including Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia have been posting record COVID-19 infections or fatalities.
Malaysia on Wednesday reported 22,242 coronavirus cases, a daily record, while Thailand announced 312 deaths, a record increase for a second day in a row. Indonesia reported 1,128 fatalities, down from its worst levels above 2,000 late last month, but still the highest daily death toll for any country in the world.
Yet while countries like Canada, Spain and Britain have fully vaccinated more than 60 percent of their people, and the United States more than 50 percent, Southeast Asian countries are well behind, according to a Reuters COVID-19 tracker.
By contrast, Indonesia and Philippines, the most populous countries in Southeast Asia, have only fully vaccinated around 10-12 percent of their people, while Vietnam sits at below 2 percent.
“In the short-term, we need much greater efforts by richer countries to urgently share their millions of excess vaccine doses with countries in Southeast Asia, said Matheou, adding that vaccine companies and governments also needed to share technology and boost production. “These coming weeks are critical for scaling up treatment, testing and vaccinations, in every corner of all countries in Southeast Asia,” he said, adding that there must be a target for vaccination rates of 70-80 percent.
Red Cross: Southeast Asia needs coronavirus vaccine access to curb record deaths
https://arab.news/92bgt
Red Cross: Southeast Asia needs coronavirus vaccine access to curb record deaths
- ‘This COVID-19 surge driven by the Delta variant is claiming a tragic toll on families across Southeast Asia and it’s far from over’
Nigerian gunmen free kidnapped Muslim religious travelers
- Kidnappings for ransom are common in the west African country
JOS, Nigeria: Gunmen have released a group of people they kidnapped in central Nigeria who were traveling for a Muslim religious event, the brother of one of the victims told AFP Saturday.
On December 21, unidentified attackers abducted 28 people, including women and children, in Plateau state while they were traveling to a Malud gathering to mark the birth of the Prophet Muhammad.
Kidnappings for ransom are common in the west African country. But the abduction in Plateau state came after a spate of mass kidnappings in November that drew international scrutiny over the country’s grim security situation.
“Yesterday at night, an official of the State Security Service called and told us that our people have been rescued,” said Ibrahim Musa, a brother of one of the victims.
Musa told AFP he and others “are eagerly waiting to receive our people” once they’re handed over by security forces to their families.
The Plateau abduction occurred on the same day authorities secured the release of 130 schoolchildren — the last batch of more than 250 snatched from their Catholic boarding school in north-central Niger state.
It was unclear how the Plateau travelers were freed. Paying ransoms is technically illegal in Nigeria, though the government is often suspected of doing so.
Neither the police nor the State Security Service — also known as the Department of State Services (DSS) — immediately responded to a request for comment.
US President Donald Trump has latched onto the insecurity in Nigeria, focusing on the killing of Christians and putting Abuja under diplomatic pressure.
In late December the US launched strikes on what it and the Nigerian government said were militants linked to the Daesh group.
Nigeria’s myriad armed conflicts kill people across religious lines, and some experts have warned Trump’s focus on Christian victims may inflame communal tensions.
