Asean reported over 25,000 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday
The number of Covid-19 cases crossed 14.46 million across Southeast Asia, with 25,204 new cases reported on Wednesday (December 15). New deaths are at 485, bringing accumulated Covid-19 deaths in Asean to 298,562.
Philippines’s Department of Health advised on Wednesday all passengers on two airlines, which brought a Filipino and a Nigerian on separate flights to the country and who were later found positive for the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, to check themselves for symptoms of Covid-19.
The 48-year-old returning overseas Filipino had a cough and a cold when he flew back from Japan on December 1 on Philippine Airlines flight PR 0427. The 37-year-old Nigerian arrived from his home country on November 30 aboard Oman Air flight WY 843. They are the Philippines’ first two detected cases of the Omicron variant.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s National Institute for Hygiene and Epidemiology has issued a notification on the expiry extension of a further seven batches of Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines to be distributed to local health authorities throughout the country. These batches will be usable for an additional three months compared to the expiry dates on the packaging/labels, according to the notice.
