This handout photo taken and released by the Cambodia National Assembly on Oct 25, 2021 shows Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen sits during a parliament session in Phnom Penh. (HANDOUT / CAMBODIA NATIONAL ASSEMBLY / AFP)
KUALA LUMPUR / PHNOM PENH / SEOUL / SINGAPORE – Cambodia reported no new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, the first time since the third wave of community transmission broke out in February last year, Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said.
"Today, it is the first time since Feb 20, 2021 that Cambodia has found not even a single new case of COVID-19," he said in a special audio message.
"This is a great success that resulted from our joint efforts in the fight against COVID-19, and I'd like to thank all compatriots for participating in the anti-COVID-19 movement," he added.
However, Cambodia is not COVID-19 free yet, as it still has 29 active cases, according to the Ministry of Health.
Hun Sen attributed the success in the fight against COVID-19 to the kingdom's high vaccination rates and urged eligible people to go for booster doses, the third or the fourth shots, when their turns come.
The Southeast Asian nation launched a national vaccination campaign against COVID-19 in February 2021, with China being the key vaccine supplier and most of the vaccines used in the kingdom are Sinovac and Sinopharm.
The country has so far vaccinated at least one dose of vaccines to almost 15 million people, or 93.7 percent of its 16 million population, the MoH said, adding that of them, 14.22 million, or 89 percent, have been fully vaccinated with two required shots.
Buoyed by high vaccination coverage, Cambodia has resumed all socioeconomic activities and reopened its borders to fully vaccinated travelers without quarantine since November last year.
According to the MoH, since the pandemic hit Cambodia in January 2020, the kingdom has recorded a total of 136,262 confirmed cases with 133,177 recoveries and 3,056 deaths.
India
India's COVID-19 tally rose to 43,102,194 on Sunday, with 3,451 new cases registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry's latest data.
Of the new cases, 1,407 were reported from Delhi. Presently there are 5,955 active cases in the capital city, and the positivity rate stood at 4.98 percent.
Besides, as many as 40 deaths across the country due to the pandemic since Saturday morning took the total death toll to 524,064.
There are still 20,635 active COVID-19 cases in the country, a rise of 332 active cases during the past 24 hours.
So far 42,557,495 people have been successfully cured and discharged from hospitals, out of which 3,079 were discharged during the past 24 hours.
Malaysia
Malaysia reported 1,372 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Saturday, bringing the national total to 4,456,736, according to the Health Ministry.
There are five new imported cases, with 1,367 being local transmissions, data released on the Health Ministry of Malaysia's website showed
There are five new imported cases, with 1,367 being local transmissions, data released on the ministry's website showed.
A further three deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 35,579.
The ministry reported 3,610 new recoveries, bringing the total number of cured and discharged to 4,397,881.
There are 23,276 active cases, 86 are being held in intensive care and 46 of those are in need of assisted breathing.
There were 23,115 vaccine doses administered on Saturday alone and 85.1 percent of the population have received at least one dose, 82 percent are fully vaccinated and 49.1 percent have received boosters.
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Pakistan
Pakistan reported 46 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, the country's ministry of health said on Sunday.
The tally of infected people increased to 1,528,736 after adding the new cases, according to the data released by the ministry.
The overall death toll rose to 30,375 after three more deaths were recorded on Saturday, according to the ministry's statistics.
On Saturday, 11,021 tests for COVID-19 were conducted in Pakistan while the positivity rate stood at 0.42 percent.
Currently, there are 91 active cases who are in critical condition in the South Asian country.
Singapore
Singapore reported 3,162 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, bringing the total tally to 1,215,499.
Of the new cases, 365 cases were detected through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 2,797 through ART (antigen rapid test) tests, according to data released by the Ministry of Health.
Among the PCR cases, 340 were local transmissions and 25 were imported cases. Among the ART cases with mild symptoms and assessed to be of low risk, 2,607 were local transmissions and 190 were imported cases.
A total of 237 cases are currently warded in hospitals, with five cases in intensive care units.
Four more patients have died from complications due to COVID-19 infection in the country, bringing the COVID-19 related death toll to 1,350, the ministry said.
A man wearing a face mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus passes by a sign reminding the precautions to take against the coronavirus at a park in Seoul, South Korea, April 29, 2022. (LEE JIN-MAN / AP)
South Korea
South Korea reported 40,064 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Saturday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 17,544,398, the health authorities said Sunday.
The daily caseload was slightly up from 39,600 in the previous day, and higher than 37,761 recorded a week earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The health authorities believed that the daily caseload has declined following the Omicron variant-driven resurgence, which may have peaked in the middle of March.
Among the new cases, 16 were imported from overseas, lifting the total to 32,163.
The number of infected people who were in a serious condition stood at 423, up four from the previous day.
A total of 71 more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 23,360. The total fatality rate was 0.13 percent.
The number of people who received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines was 44,555,511, or 86.8 percent of the total population, and the figure for those getting booster jabs was 33,177,425 people, or 64.7 percent of the population.