A health worker collects a nasal swab sample from a child to test for the COVID-19 coronavirus at a residential area in Mumbai on March 18, 2021. (INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / AFP)
PHNOM PENH / BAGHDAD / JERUSALEM / KUWAIT CITY / BEIRUT / ULAN BATOR / YANGON / SINGAPORE / SEOUL / COLOMBO / ANKARA – India reported 40,953 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the biggest daily jump in nearly four months, with its richest state and economic backbone Maharashtra accounting for more than half the infections.
Deaths rose by 188 to 159,404, the health ministry reported, underscoring a resurgence of the virus in the world’s third worst affected country, after the United States and Brazil.
Some regions in India have already reimposed containment measures, including lockdowns and restaurant closures, and more are being considered.
Doctors have blamed the fresh infection wave on people’s relaxed attitude to mask-wearing and other social distancing measures, warning that hospital wards were swiftly filling up in states like Maharashtra.
Maharashtra reported a record 25,681 cases, including 3,000 in the financial capital of Mumbai, over the past 24 hours.
The state of 112 million people has imposed a lockdown in some districts and put curbs on cinemas, hotels and restaurants until the end of the month. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray warned that a wider lockdown is an option, according to local media.
The rise in India’s COVID-19 cases peaked at nearly 100,000 a day in September, and had been falling steadily until late last month.
Australia
Australia and New Zealand could allow two-way travel between them without requiring quarantine within weeks, the Australian Financial Review reported, citing Australia’s trade and tourism Minister Dan Tehan.
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Cambodia
Cambodia Friday confirmed another death from the COVID-19, marking the second death of the day and the third death in the country, the Ministry of Health (MoH) said in a statement.
The deceased was a 46-year-old Cambodian man who resided in Phnom Penh's Tuol Kork district, MoH's secretary of state and spokeswoman Or Vandine said in the statement.
The victim succumbed to the disease on Friday afternoon at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital in capital Phnom Penh after testing positive on March 10, she said, adding that the doctors had used a ventilator to help him breathe but still did not manage to save him.
Iraq
The Iraqi Ministry of Health reported on Friday 5,258 new coronavirus cases, raising the total nationwide infections to 784,716.
The new cases included 1,842 in the capital Baghdad, 615 in Basra, 427 in Najaf, 317 in Wasit, and 248 in Maysan, the ministry said in a statement.
It also reported 41 new deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 13,937, while the total recoveries in Iraq climbed by 4,237 to 706,904.
Israelis walk in Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market, on March 18, 2021. (MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP)
Israel
The number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 in Israel has reached nearly 5.16 million, or 55.5 percent of its total population.
Israel's Ministry of Health reported 1,189 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, raising the tally of confirmed cases in the country to 826,609.
The death toll from the virus reached 6,073 with four new fatalities, while the number of patients in serious condition increased from 549 to 557, out of 854 hospitalized patients.
The total recoveries in Israel rose to 800,728 with 3,405 newly recovered cases, while the number of active cases decreased to 19,808.
Kuwait
The Kuwaiti Health Ministry reported on Friday 1,519 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 216,586.
The ministry also announced eight more deaths, taking the death toll to 1,210, while the tally of recoveries rose by 1,273 to 200,822. A total of 14,554 coronavirus patients are receiving treatment, including 225 in ICU.
Lebanon
Lebanon registered on Friday 3,588 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections to 434,322, the Health Ministry said.
Meanwhile, the death toll from the virus went up by 55 to 5,664.
Mongolia
Mongolia reported 148 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing its nationwide tally to 4,806, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Saturday.
Of the newly confirmed cases, 143 were detected in Ulan Bator, the country's capital and hardest-hit city, and the remaining five were reported in the northern province of Khuvsgul, the NCCD said in a statement.
Myanmar
Myanmar reported 15 new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, according to a release from the Health and Sports Ministry on Friday.
The number of COVID-19 cases rose to 142,227 while its death toll was recorded at 3,204 as of Friday.
Singapore
Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 15 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 60,167.
All Of the new cases are imported cases.
On Friday, five more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 60,019 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, the ministry said.
South Korea
South Korea reported 452 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Friday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 98,209.
The daily caseload was slightly down from 463 in the previous day, but it stayed above 400 for four straight days.
The daily number of infections hovered above 100 since Nov. 8 last year owing to cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province as well as imported cases.
Of the new cases, 119 were Seoul residents and 187 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.
Twelve cases were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 7,405.
Three more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 1,693. The total fatality rate stood at 1.72 percent.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka's National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) on Saturday approved the China-produced Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in the island country, according to Sri Lankan State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals Channa Jayasumana.
This is the third COVID-19 vaccine to be approved in the country after the AstraZeneca and Russia's Sputnik V vaccines.
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People sit in a park ignoring the wearing of protective face masks and social distancing rules, in Ankara on March 13, 2021. (ADEM ALTAN / AFP)
Turkey
Turkey on Friday reported 21,030 new COVID-19 cases, including 934 symptomatic patients, raising the total number in the country to 2,971,633, according to its health ministry.
The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 87 to 29,864, while the total recoveries climbed to 2,788,757 after 18,119 more recovered in the last 24 hours.
The rate of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients stands at 3.2 percent and the number of seriously ill patients is 1,547 in the country, said the ministry.