The cause of the new wave is also BA.4 and BA.5 Omicrons like the rest of the world. Indonesia has seen the number of Covid-19 cases increase more than 6 times in the 4 weeks of June – the highest rate of increase in the world during that period. Jakarta and neighboring localities are asking restaurants and shopping centers to accept guests at up to 75% of capacity. From July 17, Indonesia will reinstate the requirement for Covid-19 testing for tourists who have just received 2 basic injections. The number of Covid-19 cases in Thailand has also increased again after a decline in April, with about 2,000 cases/day now, not counting the number of people with rapid self-testing.
South Korean health authorities have also just confirmed a new wave of Covid-19 with the number of new infections continuously exceeding 18,000 cases in 4 consecutive days last week. Japan said that it is welcoming the 7th wave with 47 provinces and cities with a weekly increase in the number of cases, of which the highest is Tokyo with 9,482 cases on July 10, 2.5 times higher than a week ago.
A woman looks through a hole into a fenced residential area in Shanghai, China on July 11. Photo: REUTERS
Asia’s hotspot once again returned to India with 112,456 new cases and 200 deaths in the week ending July 3. This is also the country where the new sub-variant BA.2.75 is recorded, which US scientists are considering the risk of competing with BA.5.
Some other parts of the world have recorded scattered BA.2.75. “It’s still too early to say, but it seems that the rate of transmission of BA.2.75 is exponential, especially in India,” said Matthew Binniker, director of clinical virology at the Mayo Clinic system (America).
Among Asian countries, only China is still pursuing the policy of “Zero Covid-19”. On July 10, Shanghai city announced a new case of subtype BA.5.2.1. Reuters quoted the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention as saying that this sub-line was first detected in China on May 13 on a patient from Uganda entering Shanghai. Many Chinese cities continue to ramp up mass testing plus suspend some business locations.
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