The highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus appears to be spreading in Asia, with record spikes in infections reported in Tokyo, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Sydney. The Japanese capital, Tokyo, which is hosting the Olympics, along with Thailand and Malaysia, announced record numbers of COVID-19 cases on Saturday, most of which are attributed to the Delta variant.
Cases have also surged in Sydney, Australia, where police imposed a security cordon around the central business district to prevent protests against strict lockdown measures that will continue until the end of August. The police in Sydney closed train stations and prohibited taxis from dropping off passengers in the city center, deploying about a thousand officers to set up checkpoints and disperse any gatherings.
The New South Wales government reported 210 new Delta variant infections in Sydney and its surrounding areas. Tokyo authorities announced that the number of new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours reached 4,058, surpassing 4,000 for the first time, according to Reuters. Organizers of the Olympic Games reported 21 new COVID-19 infections related to the events, bringing the total to 241 cases since July 1. This new record comes a day after Japan's decision to extend the state of emergency in Tokyo until the end of August and expand it to three nearby prefectures and the western Osaka prefecture due to the recent increase in infection cases.
Malaysia, one of the epidemic hotspots, reported 17,786 new cases of the virus on Saturday, marking a record high. More than 100 people gathered in downtown Kuala Lumpur to express their discontent with the government's handling of the pandemic, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. Thailand recorded a record increase in new infections with 18,912 cases, raising the total to 597,287. The country also reported 178 deaths, another daily record, bringing the total to 4,857. The government states that the Delta variant accounts for more than 60% of cases in the country and 80% of cases in the capital, Bangkok.
China is also battling a Delta outbreak in the eastern city of Nanjing, attributed to airport sanitation workers who cleaned an aircraft that arrived from Russia. Vietnam, facing its worst COVID-19 outbreak, announced stricter measures, stating that it will impose severe movement restrictions in 19 cities and provinces across the southern part of the country for another two weeks starting Monday.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently published an internal document stating that the Delta variant, first detected in India, is as contagious as chickenpox and is more transmissible than the common cold or influenza. Meanwhile, the global number of COVID-19 infections has risen to over 197.33 million across more than 210 countries and regions since the first cases were discovered in China in December 2019, with deaths from the pandemic exceeding 4.37 million.
