People wearing face masks to protect against the spread of the coronavirus walk along the Asakusa Nakamise shopping street in Tokyo, Japan, Aug 13, 2021. (KOJI SASAHARA / AP)
ANKARA / SYDNEY / DHAKA / PHNOM PENH / NEW DELHI / MAKASSAR / JERUSALEM / KUWAIT CITY / BEIRUT / ULAN BATOR / WELLINGTON / ISLAMABAD / MANILA / HANOI / COLOMBO / TEHRAN / BAGHDAD / SUVA / KUALA LUMPUR – Japan's daily COVID-19 cases topped 20,000 on Friday, the first time since the pandemic began, with a record high of 5,773 new infections confirmed in Tokyo, according to data from the Japanese government.
It is the second time the daily tally topped 5,000.
The number of severe cases in Tokyo rose to a new record to 227 from the previous high of 218 logged earlier in the week. The seven-day rolling average of infections for Tokyo also increased to 4,155.7 per day, rising 8.8 percent from the previous week.
Japan's number of COVID-19 patients with severe symptoms also rose to the highest-ever 1,478 nationwide as of Thursday, exceeding the previous record of 1,413 recorded in late May, the health ministry said.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said the spread of the virus was at disaster levels comparable with the heavy rains and flooding hitting western regions of Japan and urged residents to avoid going out and get vaccinated.
Tokyo's healthcare system is under increasing strain, with an occupied rate of the capital's hospital beds allocated for seriously ill COVID-19 patients over 50 percent.
Australia
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday afternoon said that Australia's vaccine rollout was hitting "world class marks" following a troubled start.
As of Friday, 25 percent of Australian adults have received two coronavirus vaccine doses after a week in which almost 1.5 million doses were administered.
"One in four eligible Australians, one in four, are fully vaccinated in this country," Morrison said after meeting with state and territory leaders at National Cabinet. "It was 11.6 percent, just one month ago."
"One million doses in just four days. That is an extraordinarily extraordinary effort… I want to thank all Australians for clearing the path for all of us to go through."
Paul Kelly, Australia's chief medical officer (CMO), said that the country was "clearly" in the midst of a "third wave" of coronavirus infections.
"This year, we have seen 10,000 cases now for the whole country and sadly 39 deaths," he said.
More defense personnel could begin patrolling Sydney from next week to help ensure compliance of lockdown rules as officials on Friday warned of a surge in cases in Australia's largest city after it reported its biggest daily rise in infections yet.
"Unfortunately, this trend (in cases) will continue for at least the next few days," New South Wales (NSW) state premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney, the state capital.
As daily COVID-19 cases hover near record highs in the city, the defence department said they have received a request for extra personnel to help support state police to enforce home-quarantine orders in the worst-affected suburbs.
"Defense is preparing to deploy an additional 200 personnel commencing Monday … to assist NSW police force," a defence department spokesperson told Reuters.
More than 500 unarmed army personnel are already helping police in Sydney, including monitoring compliance activities at hotels and airports.
Despite a nearly seven-week lockdown in Sydney, NSW state reported 390 new locally acquired cases, most of the cases in the city, eclipsing the previous daily high of 356 set on Tuesday. Daily cases have topped 300 for the past four days.
Two more deaths have been recorded, taking the total number of deaths in the latest outbreak in the state to 38.
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Bangladesh
Bangladesh reported 10,126 new COVID-19 cases and 215 new deaths on Thursday, making the tally at 1,396,868 and death toll at 23,613, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.
According to the official data, the COVID-19 fatality rate in Bangladesh is now 1.69 percent and the current recovery rate is 90.35 percent.
Cambodia
Cambodia on Friday confirmed a daily record of 423 COVID-19 cases, in which 67 were imported, pushing the national total caseload to 84,262, the Ministry of Health (MoH) said in a statement.
Twenty more fatalities had been recorded, bringing the overall death toll to 1,654, the MoH said, adding that 541 patients had recovered, taking the total number of recoveries to 78,972.
Fiji
Fiji's Permanent Secretary for Health James Fong on Friday reported 644 new COVID-19 cases and 15 more fatalities in the country.
Of the new cases, 87 were posted in the Western Division of Viti Levu, the main island, and 557 were from the Central Division.
There were 322 new recoveries reported since the last update, and the current active cases stood at 24,281.
Overall, Fiji has recorded a total of 39,456 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, 360 deaths and 14,623 recoveries.
India
India expects to get about 266 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in August as a simpler licensing process has helped the government secure far more than earlier expected, the president of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party said on Friday.
Late last month, a senior government official told reporters that the government could only count on getting about 150 million doses in August.
Since then, India's drug regulator has approved the Johnson & Johnson vaccine – though the company has not yet committed to a delivery schedule – and commercial production of Russia's Sputnik V in India could start too.
Indian drugmaker Cadila Healthcare's ZyCoV-D could also be approved soon, the health minister said this month.
India's COVID-19 tally rose to 32,117,826 on Friday as 40,120 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, federal health ministry's latest data showed.
Besides, 585 deaths due to the pandemic since Thursday morning took the total death toll to 430,254.
Indonesia
Indonesia is intensifying efforts to boost vaccinations for its “reluctant” elderly population as its daily death count remains among the highest in the world.
Eight months into its massive inoculation campaign, full vaccination coverage among people of 60 years and older has only reached 15.8 percent, the lowest of all three priority groups in Indonesia that include health workers and public officials. Fear of side effects, lack of mobility and support from family members, as well as disinformation are the main reasons for the low ratio, health ministry data showed.
On Friday, the country received another shipment of China's Sinovac vaccine. With the shipment, Indonesia now received nearly 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, Penny Lukito, head of the National Drug and Food Control Agency, said.
On the same day, the health ministry reported 30,788 new cases and 1,432 additional deaths, bringing the tally to 3,804,943 and the toll to 115,096.
A ship, called the KM Umsini, has been turned into an isolation centre for COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms, amid the spread of the highly infectious Delta coronavirus variant. It had previously been used to ply a route ferrying up to 2,000 passengers between Indonesia's island cities.
More than 800 beds have been installed and sixty medical workers take turns in shifts to help patients recover.
The patients have to spend 10 days in isolation, during which time they undergo routine medical check-ups and can partake of exercise to music and fishing from the ship's deck.
Iran
Iran on Friday reported 39,119 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's tally to 4,359,385.
The pandemic has so far claimed 96,742 lives, up by 527 in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and Medical Education reported.
A total of 3,674,529 people have recovered while 7,154 remained in intensive care units, according to the ministry.
By Friday, 14,445,642 people have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 3,610,775 have received both doses.
Iraq
Iraq on Thursday received a third batch of COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese government amid a surge in coronavirus infections due to the spread of the Delta variant.
The latest Chinese donation came as the Iraqi Ministry of Health reported on Thursday 10,234 new COVID-19 cases, raising the nationwide caseload to 1,751,176.
Israel
Israel approved the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech booster vaccine for those over the age of 50 from Friday, as the country grapples with its fourth wave of COVID-19.
Israel’s COVID-19 national experts advisory team had recommended that the age of eligibility be lowered to 50 from 60, and it was accepted by the Ministry of Health, according to a government statement. Healthcare workers, prisoners, prison wardens and some high-risk patients under the age of 50 will also be offered the third shot.
Israel became the first country to approve the use of booster shots for over-60s in late July, despite a lack of wide-spread evidence of its efficacy. Since then, almost 775,000 people in that age group received a third dose, according to the Ministry of Health. The move has been closely watched around the world, with some other countries preparing to roll out a booster shot as the delta variant causes new cases to surge.
Despite an early and effective vaccination campaign, the number of serious cases in Israel has risen almost tenfold over the last month, from 45 cases on July 13 to 462 on Friday, according to data from the Ministry of Health. Of those, 75 are on ventilators.
More than 90 percent of the severe cases in Israel are among people over the age of 50, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Tuesday.
People shop at a fish market in Kuwait City during auction, on Aug 8, 2021. (YASSER AL-ZAYYAT / AFP)
Kuwait
Kuwait registered on Thursday 555 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total infections in the country to 405,442, the Kuwaiti Health Ministry said.
The ministry also announced two more fatalities, taking the death toll in Kuwait to 2,380, while the tally of recoveries rose by 644 to 395,348.
Lebanon
Lebanon registered on Thursday 1,817 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of cases to 578,367, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported.
The death toll from the virus in Lebanon increased by four cases to 7,962, the ministry said.
Malaysia
Malaysia's health ministry reported Friday 21,468 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the national total to 1,363,683 cases.
An additional 277 more deaths were reported, bringing the country's COVID-19 death toll to 11,968.
Meanwhile, another 17,025 patients were discharged after recovery, bringing the total number of recoveries to 1,110,528, or 81.4 percent of all cases.
Of the remaining 241,187 active cases, 1,075 were being held in intensive care and 537 of those required assisted breathing.
Mongolia
Mongolia registered 1,453 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the national tally to 179,889, the country's heath ministry said Friday.
The ministry said that the latest cases were all local infections and that 7,589 samples were tested in the past day across the country.
Meanwhile, two more fatalities were added to the death toll which stands now at 898, the ministry said in a statement.
New Zealand
New Zealand reported one case of COVID-19 in recent returnees in managed isolation facilities, and no cases in the community on Friday.
The full travel history of the newly imported case has not yet obtained and the case has remained in a managed isolation and quarantine facility in Auckland, according to the Ministry of Health.
Pakistan
Pakistan added 4,619 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said on Friday.
The NCOC, a department leading Pakistan's campaign against the pandemic, said that the country's number of overall confirmed cases rose to 1,089,913 as the country is going through a serious fourth wave of COVID-19.
The first batch of COVID-19 vaccine that China provided to the COVAX facility was officially handed over to Pakistan during a ceremony held here on Thursday.
Early Wednesday morning, a batch of over 970,000 doses of Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine arrived at Islamabad International Airport.
Speaking at the event, Special Assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister on Health Faisal Sultan thanked China for providing COVID-19 vaccine to Pakistan through the COVAX facility.
A medical worker wearing protective gear in a booth, takes sample from a woman during a COVID-19 testing at a coronavirus testing site in Seoul, South Korea, Aug 12, 2021. (LEE JIN-MAN / AP)
South Korea
Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum urged South Koreans on Friday to minimise holiday travel and asked companies to show flexibility in letting people work from home amid a worsening fourth wave of COVID-19 infections and a shortage of vaccines in the country.
The spread of the virus has accelerated as the highly transmissible Delta variant has become the dominant strain in the country, and authorities' contact tracing has been unable to keep track of transmissions over peak summer season for domestic travel.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 1,990 new COVID-19 infections for Thursday, having reported its highest daily count of 2,223 on Wednesday. From early July daily cases for the first time rose above 1,100, and have kept rising. The government has said the current wave of infections has not peaked yet.
Total cases stand at 220,182, with 2,144 deaths.
Kim called on the public to minimise travels and gatherings in the next three days and urged those returning from holiday destinations to get tested for COVID-19 especially before clocking in for work.
Eight more US soldiers and one relevant civilian in South Korea tested positive for the COVID-19, the US Forces Korea (USFK) said Friday.
The USFK said in a statement that nine USFK-affiliated individuals were confirmed with the COVID-19 after arriving in South Korea between July 31 and Aug 10.
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Sri Lanka
More than 11 million first doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered across Sri Lanka as a mass vaccination program is underway to inoculate all citizens above the age of 30, the health ministry said Friday.
According to the official figures, the leading vaccine being administered across the country is the Sinopharm vaccine from China, with 9,246,429 first doses administered and 3,116,114 second doses administered as of Thursday. Others are the AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Sputnik V and Moderna vaccines.
Earlier Friday, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa instructed health officials to pay special attention to those aged over 60 years old and those who are suffering from long-term non-communicable diseases during this pandemic to ensure they have received the vaccines.
The number of COVID-19 infected patients across Sri Lanka has risen to 345,118 after 3,039 people tested positive for the virus a day earlier, statistics from the ministry showed.
To date, the country has 34,870 active COVID-19 cases with the death toll standing at 5,620.
Thailand
Thailand could see coronavirus cases double to 45,000 per day by early next month, even with current lockdown measures in place, its COVID-19 taskforce said on Friday, as authorities urged people to stay home to reduce infection risks.
Thailand has been struggling with its worst outbreak so far, with a daily average of 20,000 new infections and 180 deaths in the past week, compared to 70 new cases and single-digit daily fatalities less than five months ago.
Current travel restrictions and containment measures in place over the past month have yet to make an impact, the taskforce said.
A record 23,418 new cases were announced on Friday, taking overall cases to 863,189, with 7,126 deaths.
The Philippines
The Philippines has extended its travel ban for all inbound travelers from India and nine other countries to Aug 31 as Delta variant cases rise across the country, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Friday.
Aside from India where the Delta variant was first detected, the Philippines also banned travelers from Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, where the variant has spread.
The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported 13,177 new COVID-19 infections on Friday, the second-highest ever daily tally since the outbreak began in January last year.
The Delta variant has spread in the Philippines, where 627 cases have been reported, including 11 deaths.
The caseload brought the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 1,713,302. The death toll climbed to 29,838 after 299 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH added.
Hundreds of hospitals in the country are nearing full capacity, with some facilities reporting they have run out of intensive care unit beds for COVID-19 patients, leaving health care workers, who are forced to work longer hours, exhausted.
It would take two to three weeks before the impact of the lockdown is felt, health ministry spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said at a media briefing, as she urged the public to get vaccinated and follow health protocols.
In this July 8, 2021 photo, a nurse prepares a syringe with the Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination campaign in the village of Oguzlar, a hundred of kilometres away from Ankara. (ADEM ALTAN / AFP)
Turkey
Turkey on Thursday registered 22,261 new COVID-19 cases, leading its tally of infections to cross the 6-million mark.
The tally of coronavirus infections in Turkey climbed to 6,018,485, the Turkish Health Ministry said.
The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 138 to 52,703, while 15,685 more people recovered in the last 24 hours, said the ministry.
A total of 281,535 tests were conducted over the past day, it said.
Vietnam
Vietnam's business hub Ho Chi Minh City will extend its coronavirus restrictions to the end of August, state media reported on Friday, as new infections and deaths rise further in the epicenter of the country's worst outbreak yet.
"We have to prepare for a prolonged battle," Phan Van Mai, the deputy secretary of the city's Communist Party committee, was quoted as saying by the Tuoi Tre newspaper.
Vietnam reported 9,180 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, including 9,150 local infections and 30 imported cases, according to the Ministry of Health.
The new infections brought the tally to 255,748 with 5,088 deaths, the ministry said.
After successfully containing the virus up until late April, Vietnam has seen infections rise rapidly and has introduced movement restrictions across about a third of the country to try to curtail the spread.
It comes at a time when vaccines are in short supply and only about 1 percent of the population has been fully inoculated, including 130,000 people in Ho Chi Minh City, which accounts for half of Vietnam's cases and by far the majority of its more than 4,800 deaths.
Ho Chi Minh City on Friday started administering China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine among its Vietnamese citizens.
The move is part of the efforts to achieve the target of fully vaccinating 70 percent of the city's adult population by the end of August, local newspaper Tien Phong quoted Nguyen Hoai Nam, deputy head of the municipal health department, as reporting.