Travel update: Fresh curbs in Melbourne, New Zealand pauses travel with Victoria

From Vietnam banning indoor dining and parks closing in Hanoi amid Covid-19 spike to New Zealand suspending quarantine-free travel with Victoria and Melbourne imposing new restrictions to curb coronavirus spread, catch all the travel updates here

The US State Department said Americans should avoid traveling to Japan, where a state of emergency in several cities has fueled doubts about Tokyo’s plans to host the Olympics in less than two months.

Hong Kong said employers, companies and mall owners could offer incentives for people to get vaccinations, as the government seeks to encourage inoculations by a reluctant populace. China is offering to arrange vaccine shipments to Taiwan and may consider sending medical experts, according to a Xinhua report.

In Vietnam, indoor dining was banned and parks were closed in Hanoi amid a new outbreak in the country’s north. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is ordering government agencies and ministries to call for donations for Vietnam’s vaccine fund.

Key Developments:

• Global Tracker: Cases top 167 million; deaths exceed 3.46 million
• Vaccine Tracker: More than 1.68 billion doses have been given
• You Do Realize Covid-19 Might Come Back in the Fall?: Justin Fox
• Why ‘Long Covid’ Could Outlast the Pandemic: QuickTake

New Zealand to Suspend Quarantine-Free Travel With Victoria (12:09 p.m. HK)

New Zealand is pausing travel with the Australian state of Victoria for 72 hours, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said in an emailed statement.

The suspension will be in effect while the source of infection of five cases announced in Melbourne in the last two days is being investigated. “While the case announced today is not unexpected as a contact of a case announced yesterday, New Zealand officials have assessed that the most cautious option is to pause the travel bubble with Victoria as there are still several unknowns with the outbreak,” Hipkins said.

Vietnam Calls for Donations for Vaccine Fund (11:45 a.m. HK)

Hanoi authorities increased restrictions amid a growing virus outbreak in northern Vietnam, banning indoor dining, parties and closing parks and hair salons beginning from noon Tuesday, according to a post on the government’s website.

The order follows a rising number of infections in the capital with a dozen untraceable cases, it said. Residents are encouraged to work from home, the city government said on its website.

Prime Minister Chinh called on government agencies and ministries to seek donations to the nation’s vaccine fund, according to a post on the government’s website. Vietnam’s finance ministry has proposed setting up a fund to speed up purchases of vaccines. The health ministry estimated it will cost the country about 25.2 trillion dong ($1.1 billion) to acquire 150 millions of doses for 75 million people.

Hong Kong Private Sector Urged to Offer Vaccine Incentives (10:22 a.m. H.K.)

While it may not be appropriate for the Hong Kong government to offer cash or any in-kind incentives to boost vaccinations, employers, companies and mall owners could instead offer such incentives, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said at a briefing.

According to Bloomberg data, enough doses have been administered to cover 14.5% of a population of 7.5 million since late February. That’s behind the U.K. and Singapore, where available doses are so in demand that most of the adult population has not yet been inoculated. In Hong Kong, so many shots are languishing that the government has warned people that some will expire in September.

China Offers Vaccine, Expert Assistance to Taiwan (8:27 a.m. HK)

China is willing to send emergency vaccine shipments to Taiwan, according to a Xinhua report, citing the website of the State Council’s Taiwan affairs office. China is also willing to send medical experts to Taiwan to help control an increasing case count there, Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson of the office, was quoted as saying.

With only about 1% of its population vaccinated so far, a wider outbreak in Taiwan has the potential to disrupt the chip industry that dominates the local economy, and which is critical to an already-squeezed global supply.

The Taiwanese government will start distributing 410,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccines to hospitals as soon as Thursday, deputy interior minister Chen Tsung-yen said at briefing. Priority will be given to medical workers and pandemic prevention workers, the agency said.

New Restrictions in Melbourne (8:12 a.m. HK)

Group restrictions will be imposed in Melbourne as authorities race to clamp down a small cluster of Covid-19 cases in Australia’s second-most-populous city.

Private gatherings in homes will be limited to five visitors per day from 6 p.m. Melbourne time on Tuesday, while public gatherings will be restricted to 30 people, Acting Premier James Merlino told reporters in Melbourne. Masks will be mandatory when indoors in public spaces for people aged 12 and older, including in workplaces.

Malaysia Tops India in Cases Per Capita (6:50 a.m. HK)

Malaysia has overtaken the global pandemic hotspot of India in confirmed coronavirus infections per capita. The Southeast Asian nation’s new Covid cases reached 216 per million on May 23, higher than 175 in India, according to data compiled from Johns Hopkins University and the United Nations. However, there’s a statistical caveat that India’s numbers may have undercounted cases especially in the villages, and the country’s death rate is higher.

Malaysia on Sunday reported nearly 7,000 new Covid cases, the fifth straight day that infections have stayed above 6,000, and the record surge prompted the government to further tighten restrictions on movement.

US Could Pursue One Shot for 10 Diseases (6 a.m. HK)

The US could pursue a single shot to protect against the top 10 infectious diseases and an mRNA vaccine to shield against common cancers as part of a $6.5 billion research center sought by President Joe Biden.

The details, from National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, are the first specifics of potential research that may be pursued by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. Biden’s proposal is modeled on initiatives at the Pentagon and the Department of Energy that paved the way for the internet and GPS.

US Issues Do-Not-Travel Advisory on Japan (1:45 p.m. NY)

The US raised its travel advisory on Japan to say Americans shouldn’t visit the country, where sections are under a state of emergency that could be extended.

The State Department issued the upgraded travel advisory on Monday. The move is another blow to Japan’s plans to host the Olympic Games starting on July 23.

Seychelles Says Cases Fall 38% (12:01 p.m. NY)

Seychelles, which has vaccinated a greater proportion of its people against Covid-19 than any other nation, said active cases of the disease fell 38% in the week to May 22 as a recent surge in infections continues to abate.

The Indian Ocean archipelago has 1,179 active cases, the health ministry of the nation of 98,000 people said in a statement on Monday. Hospitalizations declined and to date no one who has been fully vaccinated has died of the disease, it said.

NY Tops 10 Million Vaccinated (11:55 a.m. NY)

Governor Andrew Cuomo said New York has surpassed 10 million vaccined residents, more than half the state, but that the rate of shots has dropped off precipitously as the “youthful and the doubtful” resist the shots. Only 43% of residents age 16 to 25 are vaccinated, compared with 85% among people age 65 to 74. Cuomo said the state would set up vaccine centers across state parks ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

US Cases Slow to Pandemic Low (10:10 a.m. NY)

With more than 61% of US adults having received at least one vaccine dose, the rate of new coronavirus infections continues to slide. New cases rose 0.5% in the past week, the slowest increase since the pandemic began in March 2020, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg.

The total number of infections in the week ended Sunday, 175,990, was the lowest since the seven days ended June 14. Sunday’s total of 13,310 new cases was the lowest for any single day since March 25, 2020, as the nation was heading toward lockdowns.

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