Hot Off The Press

These are the top stories making the front pages of major newspapers from across Southeast Asia today.

Get up to speed with what’s happening in the fastest growing region in the world. 

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Singapore confirms first case of new Covid-19 strain from UK, a 17-year-old student who recently returned from Britain

One case of a new coronavirus strain reported in the United Kingdom to be potentially more contagious has been detected here, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Wednesday (Dec 23). The patient is a 17-year-old Singaporean girl who had studied in the UK. The Health Ministry said that with the B117 strain circulating in the UK, the National Public Health Laboratory is performing viral genomic sequencing for confirmed Covid-19 cases who arrived from Europe recently. A total of 31 imported cases from Europe, who arrived in Singapore between Nov 17 and Dec 17, were confirmed to have Covid-19 infection this month. Among them, 12 were not infected with the B117 strain, and one patient, identified as Case 58,504, has been found to be carrying the strain. Five samples cannot be sequenced due to their low viral load, said MOH, which added it is pending confirmation of the results for another 11 cases who are preliminarily positive for the B117 strain. The last two cases have not been tested yet. MOH said there is currently no evidence that the B117 strain is circulating in the community. “All the cases had been placed on 14-day stay-home notices at dedicated facilities or isolated upon arrival in Singapore, and their close contacts had been quarantined earlier,” it added. The 17-year-old Singaporean girl who was infected with the B117 strain had been studying in the UK since August this year. She returned to Singapore on Dec 6 and served a stay-home notice at a dedicated facility upon arrival. She developed a fever the next day, and was confirmed to have Covid-19 infection on Dec 8, said MOH. Her case was included in the ministry’s case count on the same day. All her close contacts had been quarantined and tested negative at the end of their quarantine period, the ministry added. “As she had been isolated upon arrival in Singapore, we were able to ringfence this case so that there was no further transmission arising from her,” MOH said. – The Straits Times

New Covid-19 mutation detected in Msia 

A new Covid-19 strain variant, dubbed A701V, has been detected in the country, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said today. He said the A701V was discovered among 60 samples taken from the Benteng LD cluster in Sabah. "The A701V and a spike in protein mutations, have also been reported in other countries including South America, Australia, the Netherlands and Singapore. "But we have yet to know the clinical impact of this variant, its infectivity rate or aggressiveness," Dr Noor Hisham told reporters. He said the Health Ministry would continue to monitor the virus mutation and its impact in gauging the Covid-19 vaccine's effectiveness. At the same time, Dr Noor Hisham said the first batch of Covid-19 vaccines procured would be given conditional registration to expedite the vaccination process. He said the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) had so far received one submission for registration from a pharmaceutical company on Dec 15 for the use of its vaccine. "We will review the data and if everything is in place, the vaccine will be approved conditionally, and that will be done before March. "Under normal circumstances, the process will take 90 to 120 days. But we will try to expedite the process to below 90 days." He said the European Medicines Agency had also adopted the practice of conditional registration. "Conditional registration comes with the rolling submission of clinical trial data, for example. The data will be continuously submitted to the NPRA. We will then continue to review the (updated) data. "The updated data should inform us of the effectiveness of the vaccine against mutation cases and side effects." – New Straits Times

Migrants get SMS virus info alerts

The Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry is working with five major mobile operators to update migrant workers on Covid-19-related information through SMS messages, as part of efforts to curb the spread of the virus. Some 2.8 million migrant workers who subscribe to the mobile operators were expected to receive the SMS messages from Wednesday afternoon. The MorChana mobile application will also be revived as another key tool to help the public assess virus infection risks and assist health authorities in tracking users in close contact with infected people. DES Minister Buddhipongse Punnakanta said the first SMS was due to be sent Wednesday afternoon. Of the 2.8 million migrant workers, one million registered with Total Access Communication (DTAC); 990,000 subscribed to Advanced Info Service (AIS); 800,000 signed up for True Move Universal Communication (TUC); 10,000 applied for CAT Telecom and the rest with TOT. Mr Buddhipongse said the first SMS messages are meant to communicate with as many migrant labourers as possible. It is also intended to reach out to their relatives who may be residing in the country unlawfully, he said. The SMS messages will be in Burmese, Khmer and English. The 1422 call centre contact number of the Department of Disease Control will be included in the SMS. Mr Buddhipongse said his ministry will examine the responses from the workers after the first lot of SMS messages are sent. As well as SMS messages, the government will continue to update migrant workers on the Covid-19 situation via other platforms. According to the minister, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) will be asked to approve the use of the MorChana app as another tool in addition to the existing contact-tracing app Thai Chana. The move is vital to strengthening the capability to curb the spread of the virus, he said. – Bangkok Post

Central Java rations processing of swab samples due to labs' limited capacity 

The Central Java administration has decided to ration the processing of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) samples because of the limited capacity of its laboratories. In the first two weeks of the month, samples piled up at several PCR laboratories in the province because some regions have no PCR laboratories and have been sending their samples to regions that do. Central Java Health Agency head Yulianto Prabowo said the province’s PCR laboratories had a total maximum capacity of 13,000 samples. “If we receive more, we will definitely have pileups,” said Yulianto on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.id. Tegal and Brebes regencies as well as Tegal city, for example, have been relying on Central Java’s Semarang Health Laboratory Center to process their swab samples. The Semarang lab center can process up to 2,000 samples per day. However, earlier in the month, the lab received 4,000 samples. Therefore, said Yulianto, the agency decided to ration the samples’ delivery and prioritized samples from hospital patients and suspected patients.  “We also prioritized members of the vulnerable group, including senior citizens, pregnant women and those with comorbidities. Samples from them will be given a special mark. If we do not ration, we face another pileup.” Read also: Pandemic priority: Anything but testing Meanwhile, Prof. Dr. Margono Soekarjo Regional General Hospital’s (RSUD) molecular biology laboratory in Purwokerto, Banyumas regency, has reportedly been overwhelmed with work, facing a pileup of some 5,000 samples.  To deal with the situation, temporary limits were set on swab sample deliveries from Banyumas, Purbalingga, Wonosobo and Banjarnegara. Wonosobo was among regions that had to limit its sample delivery down to 200 samples per day. Following the limitation, the Wonosobo Health Agency decided to temporarily stop COVID-19 PCR testing and tracing. “We now have been focusing on following up with swab tests from [COVID-19] hospitals and quarantine facilities while trying to decrease the pileup in our freezer, which comprises about 500 samples,” Wonosobo Health Agency disease prevention and control head Jaelan Sulat said on Tuesday.  “However, our delivery quota has now increased to 250 samples per day.” – The Jakarta Post

City mayors to meet on own vaccine procurement plans

A committee of the 145-member League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) will meet next week to tackle plans for direct procurement of COVID-19 vaccines by local authorities around the country, a former leader of the group said on Wednesday. Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas, who had served as LCP president and chair, said the LCP president, Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia, would call the meeting of the committee composed of city mayors to discuss the procurement of vaccines for cities in the country. “We need to discuss plans especially for cities who can afford to buy their own vaccines because the sooner we can administer these, the sooner we can return to normal,” Treñas told the Inquirer in a phone interview. He said Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who is chair of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, had given approval for the cities to procure vaccines. Treñas said he had also appealed to business organizations and employers to also procure vaccines for their employees. The Florete Group of Companies, which includes radio network Bombo Radyo and a hotel chain in Iloilo City, has already announced its plan to procure vaccines, according to the mayor. The Iloilo City government has allocated P109 million of a planned P200 million allotment for vaccine purchases. Aside from hastening the procurement of vaccines and inoculation of their constituents, the proposed move would also ease the burden on the national government’s vaccination plans, Treñas said. The national government has not released guidelines for the procurement and administration of vaccines, which are already rolling out in highly developed countries like the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. “The national government can probably focus on employees of national government agencies and offices, beneficiaries of the (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) while the cities that can afford to procure vaccines can cater to city government employees, barangay officials, senior citizens and other residents,” Treñas said. – INQUIRER.net 

Prime Minister holds phone talks with US President

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc held phone talks with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday. The leaders agreed that bilateral cooperation has advanced robustly across all fields since the two nations set up diplomatic relations 25 years ago, more so in recent years. They expressed their belief that ties will further deepen in a stable manner, bringing benefits to both countries, in which economic and trade cooperation remains a focus and impetus of the relations. A strong, independent and prosperous Việt Nam with an increasingly important role in the region is the aspiration of the Vietnamese people and this is in line with the US interests. PM Phúc and President Trump discussed the United States Trade Representative (USTR)’s ongoing investigation of Việt Nam's monetary policy and timber materials in accordance with Article 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The Government leader said that Việt Nam, as a developing country with limited economic capacity, has pursued a monetary policy in favour of inflation control and macro-economic stabilisation. He stressed the policy has not been designed to gain competitive edges in international trade. In that spirit, the two leaders agreed to assign their ministries and agencies to continue working together to comprehensively resolve the concerns of the US and Việt Nam, sustaining harmonious, sustainable and mutually beneficiary trade ties. PM Phúc congratulated President Trump on the successful development of two COVID-19 vaccines at breakneck speed. Meanwhile, the US President said he treasures the country and people of Vietnam and wishes to visit the Southeast Asian nation again in the near future. – Viet Nam News 

Over 1,000 come through three international border checkpoints

More than 1,000 migrant workers came through three international border checkpoints for the past two days with all of them being quarantined at the border centres. Khloak Huot, director of Oddar Meanchey Provincial Health Department, said for the past two days, a total of 396 Cambodian workers went through O’Smach international checkpoint and have gone into quarantine at the centres. He said that there were too many of them to accommodate at the centres in the province. “We are requesting all workers who come through the O’smach border checkpoint to have them quarantined in their respective province, because our centres in the district are full,” he said. “We have never had too many people quarantined like this. That’s why we do not have enough quarantine centres and health officials,” he said, adding that if 60 or 100 workers come a day, then the centres could still not accommodate them. Huot said that six quarantine centres were set up in the province. Khin Nhean, acting provincial governor of Oddar Meanchey province, said if all quarantine centres are full, no more workers will be accepted. “We have to transport them to their respective province,” he said. Voeun Bunreth, director of Battambang Provincial Health Department, said that for the past two days, Health Ministry officials took 100 samples from the workers to be tested. Bunreth also said that another quarantine centre in the province has received workers sent from Oddar Meanchey province. “We see that in the past the workers had their health checked and were sent to their home, but they must go into quarantine for 14 days,” he said. Ly Sary, deputy governor of Banteay Meanchey province, said that for the past two days more than 500 samples were sent to the Pasteur Institute and the results were negative for COVID-19. He added provincial authorities have set up more than seven quarantine centres. – Khmer Times