Philippines suspends decision to allow vaccinated tourists entry over fears of new Covid-19 variant, SE Asia News & Top Stories

MANILA (AFP) - The Philippines has temporarily suspended a decision to allow fully vaccinated tourists entry in a bid to prevent a new, heavily mutated coronavirus variant taking off in the country where most of the population remains unvaccinated. It comes as the South-east Asian nation on Monday (Nov 29) launched a three-day vaccination drive targeting nine million people as young as 12 in an effort to accelerate the roll-out of jabs. So far, the country has not reported any cases of the Omicron strain, which was first detected in South Africa and has since spread around the globe. Manila…