SYDNEY: Singapore suspended quarantine-free travel bookings and Australia renewed its vaccination push on Wednesday as surging Omicron infections just days before Christmas forced authorities to impose new curbs and expedite booster shots.
Governments globally have tightened social mobility restrictions and made urgent pleas for citizens to vaccinate as Omicron emerges as the dominant strain of the coronavirus, upending reopening plans that many hoped would herald the start of a post-pandemic era in 2022.
Singapore will freeze all new ticket sales for flights and buses under its programme for quarantine-free travel into the city-state from Thursday to Jan. 20, the government said on Wednesday, citing risk from the fast-spreading Omicron.
"Our border measures will help to buy us time to study and understand the Omicron variant, and to strengthen our defences, including enhancing our healthcare capacity, and getting more people vaccinated and boosted," the health ministry said in a statement.
In Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd said it would cancel some passenger flights in January after the Asian financial centre tightened quarantine rules.
Japan reported its first suspected case of community transmission of Omicron on Wednesday while India has urged its states to prepare for surges and allowed them to impose restrictions on crowds and gatherings.
India's Omicron cases have nearly doubled over the past week.
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday promised half a billion free rapid Covid-19 tests and warned the quarter of American adults who are unvaccinated that their choices could spell the "difference between life and death".
Countries are also looking to shorten the time between second vaccination shots and boosters. However, wary of public lockdown fatigue, there is reluctance to return to the strict curbs imposed during the spread of the Delta variant earlier this year.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday announced new vaccination funding for clinics and pharmacies. He also urged the country's states to reopen hundreds of vaccination hubs, shut down when double-dose rates in adults topped 80 per cent.
Australia on Wednesday reported more than 5,000 daily infections for the first time during the pandemic, with the bulk of cases in its most populous states of New South Wales and Victoria.
Despite the Omicron surge, Morrison on Wednesday repeated strict lockdowns would not be brought back.
There was also resistance to new lockdowns in South Korea, where authorities announced restrictions on gatherings and operating times for restaurants, cafes and bars.
While polls show wide support for South Korea's fresh curbs, some of its strictest yet, many small businesses have complained that restrictions leave them overstaffed and overstocked, having prepared for a holiday season under looser rules. — Reuters
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