Thailand will reduce its mandatory quarantine from 14 to seven days for foreigners arriving in the country who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus, its Health Minister Anutin Charnvirankul said on March 8.

He said vaccinations must be administered within three months of the travel period and visitors will still be required to show negative COVID-19 test results. Visitors who have not been vaccinated but have COVID-19 free certificates will be quarantined for 10 days.

The same day, the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) of Thailand announced 71 additional cases positive to SARS-CoV-2, 48 of them were locally transmitted.

Thailand has so far confirmed 26,441 cases of infection, including 23,580 domestic and 2,861 imported cases.

Of that total, 25,777 patients have fully recovered and been discharged from hospitals while 579 others are currently hospitalised. The number of fatalities is 85.

Also on 8 March, the government of East Timor announced to put the capital city of Dili on a lockdown for the first time over COVID-19 outbreak fears.

A "sanitary fence and mandatory confinement" will be imposed in Dili for seven days from midnight of 8 March with residents asked to stay home unless necessary to leave, the country's council of ministers said in statement.

According to the statement, it is forbidden to travel, by land, sea or air, out of this municipality, except in duly justified cases for reasons of safety, public health, humanitarian or other that are necessary for the accomplishment of the public interest. All social, cultural, sporting or religious events that involve gatherings are also temporarily banned during the lockdown, which could be extended on March 15.

The council of ministers also approved a national vaccination plan, with 33,000 doses expected to arrive in the country at the end of March.

The Southeast Asian nation with a population of 1.2 million has documented 122 cases of COVID-19, most of which were imported.

In the Philippines, the Health Ministry on March 8 reported 3,346 new infection cases, bringing the total to 597,763. The number of deaths has amounted to 12,521.

Source: VNA