A medical worker enters the Epping Gardens aged care facility in the Melbourne suburb of Epping on July 30, 2020, as the city battles fresh outbreaks of the coronavirus. (WILIAM WEST / AFP)
HANOI / MANILA / SINGAPORE / YANGON / SYDNEY / KUALA LUMPUR / WELLINGTON / ISLAMABAD / NEW DELHI / BISHKEK – From Monday, pensioners and other concession card holders in Australia's New South Wales state are able to access up to 10 free rapid antigen tests, according to the state's government.
"Although we are heading out of winter, the risk of COVID-19 remains and we want to ensure RATs are easily accessible for pensioners and concession card holders," Victor Dominello, minister for customer service and digital government of the NSW government, said Monday in a media release.
Under the new program, which will run until the end of October, those eligible mainly include such groups as pensioners, veterans and people with low income.
"This builds upon our earlier commitment to pick up the Federal Government's Concessional Access Program, which it dropped at the end of last month," said NSW Minister for Multiculturalism and Minister for Seniors Mark Coure.
A factsheet from the country's Department of Health showed that from January to July of this year, the Australian government launched a temporary RAT concessional access scheme, allowing concession card holders 20 free tests over the six-month period.
By Monday morning, Australia has recorded 9,976,582 confirmed cases and 13,648 deaths by the count of the national broadcaster ABC News, as the seven-day moving average of daily increase nears 12,000 cases per day.
People wearing masks as a precaution against the coronavirus walk through a market in New Delhi, India, Aug 11, 2022. (ALTAF QADRI / AP)
India
India's daily COVID-19 caseload Monday fell to 7,591, taking the total tally to 4,44,15,723 in the country, according to federal health ministry data released on Monday morning.
With the reporting of fresh cases, India's active caseload currently stands at 84,931.
The country also logged 45 related deaths during the past 24 hours, pushing the overall death toll to 527,799 since the beginning of the pandemic, the ministry said.
With the increase in cases, the daily positivity rate stands at 4.58 percent and the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.69 percent, the ministry data showed.
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan is witnessing declining COVID-19 cases.
The Republican Headquarters for Combatting COVID-19 reported on Monday that 179 new COVID-19 cases were registered in Kyrgyzstan over the past week, bringing the total count to 205,716 cases.
Out of the registered cases, 26 people are hospitalized, and the rest are receiving treatment at home, the headquarters said.
Malaysia
Malaysia reported 2,191 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Sunday, bringing the national total to 4,776,194, according to the health ministry.
There is one new imported case, with 2,190 cases being local transmissions, data released on the ministry's website showed.
Another two deaths have been reported, pushing the death toll to 36,198.
Volunteers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) carry the body of a victim of the coronavirus to a cemetery in Hlegu Township in Yangon on July 10, 2021. (YE AUNG THU / AFP)
Myanmar
Myanmar confirmed 33 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total tally to 614,962, according to the Ministry of Health on Sunday.
The health ministry said in a statement that these cases included four infected people who returned from abroad.
It said that health authorities tested 5,708 people for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, and the daily positivity rate was 0.58 percent.
The death toll from COVID-19 in the country remained unchanged at 19,437 as no new deaths were confirmed in the past 24 hours, the ministry said.
New Zealand
New Zealand recorded 1,653 new community cases of COVID-19 and six more deaths from the pandemic, the country's Ministry of Health said on Monday.
The country has seen the number of daily cases going down steadily from over 10,000 cases nationwide more than a month ago.
With the fresh cases, New Zealand has reported 1,719,922 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 1,869 COVID-19-related deaths since the pandemic hit the country in early 2020, the ministry said.
Pakistan
Pakistan reported 226 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the country's ministry of health said on Monday.
The overall tally of the infected people climbed to 1,568,679 across the country after adding the fresh cases, according to the data released by the ministry.
A total of 30,575 people died of COVID-19 in Pakistan, with one more death over the last 24 hours, according to the ministry's statistics.
On Sunday, 15,079 tests were conducted throughout Pakistan whereas the positivity rate stood at 1.50 percent.
There are 110 patients who are in critical condition.
A child receives the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5-11 as a performer dressed as superhero character Spider-Man looks on at a gym in San Juan City, suburban Manila on Feb 7, 2022. (TED ALJIBE / AFP)
Philippines
The Philippines reported 2,318 new COVID-19 infections on Sunday, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 3,874,641.
The Department of Health said the number of active cases fell to 28,525, while 54 more patients died from COVID-19 complications, pushing the country's death toll to 61,667.
Metro Manila, the capital region with over 13 million people, tallied 782 new cases.
Singapore
Singapore reported 1,448 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total tally to 1,832,780.
Of the new cases, 168 cases were detected through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 1,280 through ART (antigen rapid test) tests, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health.
Among the PCR cases, 149 were local transmissions and 19 were imported cases. Among the ART cases with mild symptoms and assessed to be of low risk, there were 1,212 local transmissions and 68 imported cases.
One more death was reported from COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total death toll to 1,591, the ministry said.
People wearing face masks cross a road in the rain near a subway station in Seoul, South Korea on July 13, 2022. (AHN YOUNG-JOON / AP)
South Korea
South Korea reported 43,142 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Sunday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 23,026,960, the health authorities said Monday.
The daily caseload was down from 85,295 in the previous day and lower than 59,019 tallied a week earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
For the past week, the daily average number of confirmed cases was 104,009.
Among the new cases, 360 were imported, lifting the total to 58,006.
Forty-nine more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 26,618. The total fatality rate was 0.12 percent.
Vietnam
Vietnam recorded 1,705 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, down by 492 from Saturday, according to its Ministry of Health.
All the new cases were locally transmitted, said the health ministry.
The newly reported infections brought the total tally to 11,403,302. The country reported a new death from the pandemic in the capital Hanoi on Sunday, bringing the total fatalities to 43,112.