Millions of people in some of the worst Covid hotspots in Southeast Asia are in no rush for inoculation or just saying no, swayed by
disinformation on social media from both local sources as well as anti-vaccination movements in the U.S.

Indonesia said it will impose new emergency curbs on peoples’ movements in Java and Bali from July 3 to July 20 in order to limit the spread of coronavirus infections. Sydney’s delta-variant coronavirus outbreak is proving difficult to bring under control, with 24 new locally acquired cases in the past 24 hours, despite Australia’s most-populous city being in lockdown for almost a week.

Phuket reopens for tourists starting Thursday, as the Thai resort city seeks to get its tourism industry going again despite the spread of the more virulent delta strain of coronavirus in the region. Tourism accounts for more than 90% of Phuket’s economy and employment.

Key Developments:

India Virus Count, Covishied Efforts (1:55 p.m. HK)

India added 48,786 new cases Thursday, pushing the total tally of Covid-19 infections to 30.4 million. Deaths rose by 1,005 to 399,459, a day after country’s top court said the government is bound to give monetary assistance to families of Covid-casualties. The second worst-hit nation has so far administered almost 336 million vaccine doses, according to latest data from the health ministry.

The Serum Institute of India, which makes Astrazeneca’s Covishield vaccine, said it expects approval from Europe’s health care regulator in a month. This would help it get added to the region’s ‘Green Pass’ list so that Indians or others, fully vaccinated with Covishield, won’t face any hurdles in international travel.

South Africa Deaths Hit Record in Business Hub (12:34 p.m. HK)

Excess deaths, seen as a more precise way of measuring total fatalities from the coronavirus, rose to their highest level in the South African commercial hub of Gauteng since the pandemic began.

In the week to June 20, a total of 2,242 more deaths than normal were recorded in the province that includes Johannesburg, the biggest city, and Pretoria, the capital, according to a report from the South African Medical Research Council. That compares with the 475 deaths officially attributed to Covid-19.

Excess deaths in the province, which are measured against a historical average, have risen for seven straight weeks from 229 in the week to May 2, highlighting the severity of another wave of coronavirus infections.

Indonesia Clampdown (12:14 p.m. HK)

Indonesia will enforce a new set of “emergency curbs” in economic centers of Java and Bali to arrest a steep rise in coronavirus infections, President Joko Widodo said in Jakarta.

Jokowi, as the president is known, refrained from explaining what the new curbs entail, passing the baton to Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, coordinating minister for maritime and investment affairs, who’s been appointed to coordinate the response. Panjaitan will speak later on Thursday.

The government considered full work-from-home orders for non-essential sectors, closure of shopping centers and a ban on dining-in at restaurants, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on Wednesday.

Eastern Europe Races to Use Covid Shots (12 p.m. HK)

Demand for inoculations has plunged in Romania and Bulgaria, leaving stockpiles of shots that officials need to use fast before their expiry dates.

Hesitancy in the two countries stems from a long-standing distrust in the authorities, as well as skepticism about some vaccines, particularly after the AstraZeneca Plc safety concerns. In Romania, just 24% of the population is fully vaccinated, and Bulgaria’s figure is half that.

With spare doses piling up, shots are being sold or donated to other countries, governments want deliveries delayed, and Bulgaria’s hotel industry is pushing to have free vaccinations given to foreign visitors. Demand in Romania has dropped to such an extent that members of Argentina’s national rugby team were able to get their shots in Bucharest this month ahead of a match.

Sydney Struggles to Curb Delta Cases (9:48 a.m. HK)

Australia’s most-populous city is at the center of new coronavirus outbreak that have placed about half of Australia’s population of 25 million people into lockdown.

Half of the new cases announced Thursday were from people in the community while infectious, creating “a cause of concern,” New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said. “In too many examples we are seeing workers who are leaving the house with symptoms or going to work.”

The outbreaks are ramping up pressure on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to increase the pace of a tardy vaccine rollout, which has been hit by supply-chain hold-ups.

CureVac Vaccine Data Disappoints (6:15 a.m. HK)

CureVac NV said its messenger RNA-based Covid-19 vaccine provided full protection against hospitalization and death for people under 60, though its overall efficacy trailed that of similar shots already in use around the world.

The German company said its vaccine was 48% effective at preventing disease of any severity, slightly higher than seen in a preliminary readout of the trial results but well behind the efficacy rates of more than 90% shown by Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc.’s mRNA shots. U.S.-traded shares of CureVac tumbled more than 10% in after-hours trading in New York.

Shanghai Inoculations Climb (8:47 a.m. HK)

Chinese financial hub Shanghai has fully vaccinated 77.6% of its adult population, with more than 35 million doses given. In mid-June, the Chinese capital Beijing said it has fully vaccinated more than 80% of adults, making it the first major city in the world to have enough inoculations to help reach herd immunity against the coronavirus.

Nationwide, China has reached a target of vaccinating 40% of the population by the end of June after giving out more than 1.2 billion doses across the country.

Phuket Welcomes Tourists Again (7 a.m. HK)

Thailand is pushing ahead with plans to jump-start its crucial tourism industry by reopening the popular resort island of Phuket to vaccinated travelers, even as the more virulent delta strain of coronavirus
sweeps through the region.

Inoculated tourists from low- and medium-risk countries such as the U.S. and Spain will be allowed to holiday in Phuket without quarantining, starting Thursday. If successful, the experiment could lead to a wider reopening of the Thai tourism industry as soon as October.

Disinformation Spreads in Asia (5:55 a.m. HK)

False claims are
fueling vaccine hesitancy in some pockets of the region, undermining efforts to vaccinate some of the most vulnerable people in Asia and end a pandemic that has stalled the global economy.

Despite some of the highest rates of new cases in the world, recent surveys have shown vaccine resistance is prevalent in the region. In the Philippines, 68% of the people are either uncertain or unwilling to take the shots, according to polling company Social Weather Stations. A third of Thais have doubts or refuse to be vaccinated, according to the Suan Dusit Poll, while a separate survey in Indonesia showed nearly a fifth of the population hesitating.

Anti-vaccination propaganda is a big reason for that hesitancy, which has further slowed takeup in countries already struggling with limited supplies. Less than 10% of the population in Thailand and the Philippines have received even one shot.

J&J to Study Shot in Adolescents This Year (5:05 a.m. HK)

Johnson & Johnson expects to start studying its one-dose vaccine in children 12 to 17 years old this fall, a company official said at a Johns Hopkins University virtual event. The drugmaker plans to sign up at least 4,500 adolescents and will check their progress a year later, according to J&J’s Macaya Douoguih. The company plans four studies in minors, she said.

The Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE vaccine is already approved in the U.S. and Europe for that age group.

Caribbean Sees Signs of Travel Rebound (3:45 p.m. NY)

Some Caribbean nations are seeing
signs of a recovery in tourism after border closures and the Covid-19 pandemic decimated their economies last year.

The Dominican Republic received 1.4 million visitors in the first five months of the year, a trend that should accelerate in the second half of 2021, Hector Manuel Valdez Albizu, the country’s central bank president, said in a webinar with Bloomberg. More than 390,000 people visited the country in May, a 20% increase on April, but still shy of the more than half a million visitors in May 2019.

The Bahamas, where GDP contracted 16% in 2020, is also starting to receive cruise ships at its ports, and hotels are rehiring some of the workers laid offlast year, Bahamas Central Bank Governor John A. Rolle said in the webinar.

World Prepared for ‘Wrong Pandemic’: Covax (3:45 p.m. NY)

The world was somewhat prepared for a pandemic before Covid-19 struck, but it anticipated the wrong kind, said Aurelia Nguyen, managing director of the Covax facility for the nonprofit Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

“A lot of the focus had been on influenza,” Nguyen said Wednesday at the Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst virtual event. “We had the machinery in place thanks to seasonal flu vaccines, but we were not prepared for a coronavirus.”

Now that Covid vaccines have been developed, the next step is to get them to countries worldwide — the mission of Covax — and ensure that vaccines are available to poorer nations when the next pandemic inevitably hits, she said.

Valneva Said to Be Nearing EU Vaccine Deal (7:52 a.m. NY)

The European Union is closing in on a deal with Valneva SE to purchase its vaccine for the region after resurrecting talks abandoned earlier this year, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

The EU and the French biotech are a few weeks away from finalizing a so-called advance purchase agreement, said the people, who didn’t want to be identified because the discussions aren’t public.

— With assistance by Reed Stevenson, and Linly Lin