Asia passed the grim milestone of 1 million coronavirus-linked deaths on March 11, a Reuters tally showed, as a spike in Omicron variant infections spreads across the region after starting in nations such as Japan and South Korea.

Malaysian researchers found that treatment with the anti-parasite drug ivermectin did not prevent patients with COVID-19 from becoming severely ill in a randomized clinical trial published in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal on February 18.

Malaysian healthcare group IHH Healthcare Berhad said on January 5 Emqore Envesecure Private Capital Trust is seeking in excess of $6.5 billion in damages from it and more than two dozen named defendants in a lawsuit.

Sinovac’s Covid-19 vaccine is highly effective against serious illness, although rival shots from Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca showed better protection rates, a large real world study from Malaysia showed.

The Olympics host city Tokyo, as well as Thailand and Malaysia, announced record Covid-19 infections on July 31, mostly driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant of the disease.

China’s Sinovac Biotech defended the safety and efficacy of the company’s experimental Covid-19 vaccine, after researchers in Brazil released late-stage clinical data showing efficacy that was much lower than initially announced.

China’s National Health Commission stated today that the coronavirus has infected 5,974 individuals, resulting in 132 deaths and 103 people being cured.