The Latest: Cases surge in Thailand, Sydney's beach suburbs

BANGKOK — Thailand on Sunday reported two new local infections, a day after identifying more than 500 cases south of Bangkok in a country that had largely brought the pandemic under control.

The 548 cases on Saturday, most of them linked to the country’s biggest wholesale seafood market, come after Thailand saw only a small number of infections over the past several months due to strict border and quarantine controls.

On Sunday, a 78-year-old seafood vendor in Bangkok who had visited the shrimp market in Samut Sakhon province tested positive. The other case was a woman in central Thailand who worked at a beauty parlor in the north.

Health officials say most of the cases at the seafood market are migrant workers from Myanmar. The governor imposed a night curfew and other travel restrictions in Samut Sakhon province until Jan. 3.

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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— General sorry f or ‘miscommunication’ over vaccine shipments

— UK nixes Christmas gatherings, shuts London shops over virus

— Another US coronavirus record; vaccine shipments reduced

— As companies around the globe race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine and nations scramble to secure millions of doses, questions about the use of pork-derived ingredients has begun to play a role in the purchasing and planned distribution.

— California hospitals are battling to find beds to house patients amid fears that the exploding coronavirus infection rate will exhaust resources and health care workers.

— Israel’s prime minister has been vaccinated against the coronavirus, making him the first Israeli and among the world’s first leaders to be inoculated.

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