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Hundreds of Thais inoculated with Sinovac are infected as cases spike in Southeast Asia

Quiet streets on Monday in Bangkok, where coronavirus restrictions were recently tightened. (Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP/Getty Images)

More than 600 Thai medical workers who were fully inoculated with the Sinovac vaccine were infected by the coronavirus, which is now raging through Southeast Asia.

The 618 cases were among the 677,348 medical staff who had received two doses of the Chinese-developed coronavirus vaccine between April to July, government data show. Among those infected are a nurse who died and a health-care worker in critical condition.

A Thai health official said Sunday that an expert panel has recommended administering a third dose to at-risk medical workers, adding that the booster shot would be either one from Oxford-AstraZeneca or a messenger RNA vaccine made by either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna. The country is set to receive 1.5 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine from the United States this month.

The number of coronavirus cases in Southeast Asia has been relatively low until this year. But many countries in the region are now facing the highly contagious delta variant with low vaccination rates: Only about 5 percent of people in Thailand and Indonesia are fully vaccinated.

The region’s vaccination shortage has been plugged in part by Chinese-made shots, but health experts, including some in China, have raised concerns about the Sinovac vaccine’s efficacy against the delta variant.

In Indonesia, at least 131 health-care workers, many of whom were inoculated with the Sinovac coronavirus vaccine, have died since June.

Thailand has recorded more than 345,000 coronavirus cases and 2,791 deaths. Last week, the Southeast Asian kingdom announced new curbs in Bangkok, the capital, and nine provinces in an attempt to slow transmission of the virus. The tightened rules include travel restrictions, a curfew and limits on the size of gatherings.

Vietnam also has also moved to restrict gatherings. In major metropolises like Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, people are allowed to leave their homes only for certain purposes, including purchasing food and medicine. On Monday, the government began restricting movement in the city of Can Tho for 14 days, Reuters reported.

The country had been a model of virus containment until May, when a spike in infections began. A third of the 30,000-plus cases Vietnam has logged since the start of the pandemic came over the past week.

Malaysia, too, has reported more than 57,000 new cases from July 4 to July 11. Indonesia, which has logged more than 243,000 new cases over the same time period, is struggling with a shortage of oxygen supplies amid a surge in the country.

Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said Friday that the Biden administration is dispatching 3 million vaccine doses to Indonesia and would also otherwise increase assistance.

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