Southeast Asian nations continue to see new COVID-19 infections

The Philippines detected 5,404 COVID-19 cases on March 15, a record in a day in seven months, according to the country’s Department of Health.

COVID-19 vaccination among medical staff in Manila, the Philippines

In the past 24 hours, the country saw eight COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 12,837. So far, the country has reported 626,893 COVID-19 cases.

Secretary of Health Francisco Duque said that the country has seen a sharp rise in new infections since March 4 due to the loosening of travelling restrictions, violations of pandemic control regulations, and the presence of new variants of SARS-CoV-2.

Amid the situation, the Manila capital region, home to about 13 million people, has resumed restriction measures from March 15.

The same day, Indonesia found 5,589 new COVID-19 infections and 147 deaths, raising the respective figures to over 1.42 million and 38,573. Currently, Indonesia is the country with the highest number of infections and deaths in Southeast Asia.

At the same time, a representative of an Indonesian state pharmaceutical firm said that the country expects to receive 20.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines developed by Moderna of the US and China's Sinopharm from the second quarter to use in a private vaccination scheme.

Honesti Basyir, CEO of Bio Farma, told a parliamentary hearing on March 15 that it had ordered 15 million doses from China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) and 5.2 million from Moderna.

The Sinopharm vaccine could arrive by the end of the second quarter, and the Moderna vaccine in the third quarter, he said.

Indonesia aims to inoculate 181.5 million people within a year in an effort to reach herd immunity in a vaccination drive that began in January.

Meanwhile, Thailand also detected additional 78 COVID-29 cases in the past 24 hours, including 74 found in the community.

Thailand has so far seen 27,005 COVID-19 cases, including 87 deaths.

Also on March 15, Cambodia confirmed 20 new COVID-19 infections, raising the country’s count to 1,325. Phnom Penh alone saw 18 community-infected cases.

Cambodia has suffered the third wave of COVID-19 since February 20, with at least 810 infections. The country has closed schools, sport centres, museums, cinemas and entertainment facilities in localities with COVID-19 patients./.

VNA