Coronavirus live news: Thailand confirms record community cases; Pfizer to ask for third dose approval

South Korea will raise coronavirus curbs to their highest level yet in the Seoul metropolitan area, prime minister Kim Boo-kyum said on Friday, warning that a record rise in new cases had reached “maximum crisis level”.

The country had previously been held up as a model of how to combat the pandemic, with the public largely following social distancing and other rules, but it was slow to start its vaccine rollout due to supply shortages.

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On Friday it recorded 1,316 cases, its highest daily rise since the pandemic began, with most new infections in the capital of Seoul and its surrounding areas, home to almost half the South Korean population:

Pfizer plans to ask US regulators to authorize a booster dose of its Covid-19 vaccine within the next month, the drugmaker’s top scientist said on Thursday.

The announcement was based on evidence of greater risk of reinfection six months after inoculation and due to the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of coronavirus.

And the US pharmaceutical company and its German partner BioNTech have started designing a version of their vaccine specifically to combat the highly-contagious Delta variant, Pfizer’s chief scientific officer, Mikael Dolsten, said.

However, the companies do not think they will need to replace the current version of their highly-successful shot:

Having escaped the worst when the coronavirus pandemic erupted last year, Southeast Asia is now suffering record rises in deaths and cases, while vaccination shortfalls and highly contagious variants have derailed containment efforts, Reuters reports.

As countries like Britain, Germany and France prepare to remove most remaining restrictions after devastating outbreaks, governments in Southeast Asia have been tightening measures, hoping targeted lockdowns will act as circuit-breakers in arresting dramatic spikes after cases started rising in May.

A new terminal at the Thai capital’s airport is being turned into a 5,000-bed field hospital, as the country confirmed a record case rise of nearly 10,000 new infections on Friday.

Thailand confirmed a record 9,276 community cases on Friday, as well as 73 deaths, the Bangkok Post reports. The highest-ever national daily increase in cases was reported on 17 May, when 9,635 cases were confirmed, most of which were inside prisons.

Read more about the spread of the Delta variant in the region here:

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.

Thailand confirmed a record 9,276 community cases on Friday, as well as 73 deaths, the Bangkok Post reports. The highest-ever national daily increase in cases was reported on 17 May, when 9,635 cases were confirmed, most of which were inside prisons.

Meanwhile Pfizer plans to ask US regulators to authorize a booster dose of its Covid-19 vaccine within the next month, the drugmaker’s top scientist said on Thursday.

The announcement was based on evidence of greater risk of reinfection six months after inoculation and due to the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of coronavirus.

Here are the other key recent developments:

• Holidaymakers in Portugal will be required to show a negative Covid-19 test, a vaccination certificate or proof of recovery to stay in hotels or other holiday accommodation from Saturday, the government announced.
• Foreign tourists who are not vaccinated against Covid-19 will not be allowed to enter Canada for some time, with the government unwilling to jeopardise progress made on containing the virus, prime minister Justin Trudeau said.
• Olympic organisers decided to ban spectators from the Tokyo Games after Japan’s prime minister declared a state of emergency in the host city. Olympic minister, Tamayo Marukawa left open the possibility that some venues outside Tokyo could still have fans.
• Greece is to unveil plans to mandate vaccination for specific professional groups next week, the government said, after the country’s bio-ethics experts recommended compulsory shots for health workers and staff at elderly care facilities only “as a last resort measure” if efforts to encourage voluntary inoculation proved ineffective.
• Holidaymakers from England travelling to amber list countries will not have to quarantine on return if they are fully vaccinated, but Britons living overseas will not be able to prove their vaccine status if they have been jabbed abroad.
• Luxembourg’s prime minister Xavier Bettel left hospital today after treatment for Covid-19 and will resume work this week, officials said. A statement from Bettel’s government said his condition had improved, allowing him to work from home. He had been admitted to hospital on Sunday.
• Pharmacies across Indonesia are running out of ivermectin, an oral treatment normally used to parasitic infections, AFP reported, after it was used widely and reportedly with success in India, Mexico, Bolivia, and elsewhere.
• A case brought by more than 500 families of Covid victims seeking a total of €100m in compensation from the Italian government has reached court, as the first hearing into continental Europe’s deadliest outbreak got under way in Rome.