China, ASEAN states cooperate to curb Covid-19 pandemic

Residents line up to give swabs for Coronavirus tests during a mass testing camp in Xixia district of Yinchuan in northwest China. Pic/AP/PTI

China and ASEAN member states, especially Vietnam, have fostered practical cooperation on curbing the spread of COVID-19 and accelerating economic recovery amid the prolonged outbreaks and their devastating impacts on the region as well as the world.

To date, China has provided ASEAN member states, including Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, with over 300 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines as well as a great number of emergency medical supplies, and has also sent medical expert teams to help build virus-testing labs and work on vaccine trials with ASEAN countries, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Vietnam is among ASEAN members hard hit by COVID since last year, especially since the ongoing fourth wave starting in the country on April 27, with many socio-economic activities having come to a halt, or at least having been disrupted from time to time. The Vietnamese Health Ministry on Monday reported 3,639 local COVID patients, lifting the country's infection tally since the beginning of the pandemic to 892,579.

Vietnam starts vaccinating children

Vietnam on Wednesday started to vaccinate children as part of an effort to reopen schools after more than half-a-year of closures due to COVID. About 1,500 teenagers between 16 and 17 years old in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam were among the first to receive jabs before the inoculation programme is rolled out nationwide in November.

Germany to not extend ‘epidemic situation'

The German parliament will not extend the "epidemic situation of national scope" when it expires next month, but will keep in place certain measures to check the spread of Coronavirus, lawmakers said on Wednesday. Leading members of the country's parliament, or Bundestag, said that although Coronavirus infections have been rising again recently, they did not see the need to prolong the "epidemic situation".

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