Xinhua Asia-Pacific news summary at 1000 GMT, May 12
12 May 2021, 22:18 GMT+10
JAKARTA The CoronaVac vaccine developed by the Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech has effectively reduced the risk of COVID-19 symptoms in medical workers by 94 percent, showed a study by the Indonesian Health Ministry. The research team s head Pandji Dhewantara said on Wednesday that the study conducted from Jan. 13 to March 18 this year involved 128,290 medical workers who were not infected with COVID-19. (Indonesia-China-Vaccine) - - - - TOKYO The number of patients designated as having severe symptoms as a result of COVID-19 reached a fresh record high of 1,189 on Wednesday, rising by 13 compared to the previous day s record, the health ministry said.
Women wearing face masks to curb the spread of coronavirus outbreak walk past a at stall selling masks during the last week of Ramadan at a market in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 4, 2021. People flock markets and shopping malls in the capital as they shop for food and new clothings in preparation for Eid al Fitr holiday that marks the end of the holiest month in Islamic calendar. - AP
HANOI, May 4 (Bernama): The Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand on May 3 reported thousands of new Covid-19 cases, while Indonesia announced that it detected several new infections of a new SARS-CoV-2 variant in Jakarta, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported.
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Reused nose swabs: Indonesian firm faces lawsuit over Covid-19 test ‘fraud’ Aisyah Llewellyn in Medan, Indonesia llewellynaisyah@gmail.com Human rights lawyers in Medan, Kamal Pane (left) and Ranto Sibarani say they will sue Kimia Farma for compensation. Photo: Aisyah Llewellyn
A pair of Indonesian lawyers are planning to sue a state-owned pharmaceutical firm after it was discovered to have allegedly reused nasal swabs for coronavirus tests for thousands of people.
Last week, police arrested five workers at Kimia Farma, including its Medan business manager, who were accused of washing and repacking cotton swabs at the company s main office in the city, and then sending them to Kualanamu International Airport where they were used on unsuspecting travellers.
May 05, 2021
Human rights lawyers in Medan, Kamal Pane (left) and Ranto Sibarani say they will sue Kimia Farma for compensation.
South China Morning Post
A pair of Indonesian lawyers are planning to sue a state-owned pharmaceutical firm after it was discovered to have allegedly reused nasal swabs for coronavirus tests for thousands of people.
Last week, police arrested five workers at Kimia Farma, including its Medan business manager, who were accused of washing and repacking cotton swabs at the company’s main office in the city, and then sending them to Kualanamu International Airport where they were used on unsuspecting travellers.
[BenarNews/S.Mahfuz]
The highly contagious “Indian variant” of the coronavirus has reached the shores of Malaysia and Indonesia, health officials said Monday.
Malaysian hospitals, meanwhile, are dangerously close to running out of beds for COVID-19 patients, with the country recording 60,000 new infections since early April, the Health Department chief said.
“We have detected one case of the [Indian] variant at our international gateway, and so far, we had only seen variants from South Africa and the U.K.,” Malaysian Health Minister Adham Baba said.
Making matters worse is a rise in infections from the other two highly contagious strains.