Malaysia records 2,000 more infections

PUTRAJAYA • Malaysia recorded 2,018 more coronavirus infections yesterday, taking the country's total confirmed cases to 95,327.

One person died due to Covid-19, raising the death toll to 438.

The number of people with active infections in Malaysia is now 16,496, said health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Currently, 109 patients are in intensive care, with 55 requiring ventilator support, Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham told a press conference yesterday.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

Yangon closes popular sites to prevent spike

YANGON • Myanmar closed off public gardens, parks and a lake in its biggest city Yangon yesterday, hoping to prevent a spike in coronavirus cases during the year-end holidays.

City officials trying to protect recent gains in containing Covid-19 infections put up barricades, signs and cordons around the Maha Bandula Park and along the banks of the Inya Lake, among other popular sites known for drawing holiday crowds.

The closures come amid fears that fatigue and frustration arising from the coronavirus crisis and containment measures could see a larger turnout than usual this year.

REUTERS

Vatican permits use of abortion-linked vaccines

VATICAN CITY • The Vatican told Roman Catholics yesterday that it was morally acceptable to use Covid-19 vaccines even if their production employed cell lines drawn from tissues of aborted foetuses.

A note from the Vatican's doctrinal congregation, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said the use of such vaccines was permitted as long as there were no alternatives.

Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have some connection to cell lines that originated with tissue from abortions in the last century, according to the United States.

The Vatican note said use of such vaccines "does not in itself constitute a legitimisation, even indirect, of the practice of abortion".

REUTERS