Iran’s new COVID-19 cases hit three-month high

An Iranian health worker prepares a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as the country launches its inoculation campain, at the Imam Khomeini hospital in the capital Tehran, on Feb 9, 2021. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

KABUL / JERUSALEM /  BEIRUT / KUWAIT CITY – Iran recorded 108 deaths from coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the highest since Jan 4 and the first time in seven weeks that the country surpassed 100 COVID-19 deaths in one day. The number of daily new cases rose by 8,510, the highest since December 11, the Health Ministry reported. Iran now has 60,181 deaths from the virus with more than 1.6 million infections.

Afghanistan

The Afghan Ministry of Public Health on Monday confirmed 26 daily COVID-19 cases, bringing the national tally to 55,759, including 3,969 active cases.

Two patients died during the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 2,446 since February last year, the ministry said in a statement.

Brunei

Brunei reported one new imported case of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the national tally to 187.

According to Brunei's Ministry of Health, the new case is a 20-year-old man who arrived in the country from Britain on Feb. 14. The contact tracing has found no immediate contact for this case as he has been quarantined upon arrival in the country.

In this March 1, 2021 photo, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is administered a COVID-19 vaccine in New Delhi, India. (PHOTO / AP)

India

Authorities in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu have extended existing COVID-19 restrictions until March 31, officials said Monday.

The step has been taken in wake of the spike in daily new cases in the state.

"The government of Tamil Nadu has issued an order to extend statewide lockdown until March 31," an official said. "All international air travel of passengers, except for purposes as permitted by ministry of home affairs shall remain prohibited during the lockdown period."

The district administration across the state has been directed to take all necessary measures to promote COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and ensure the wearing of face masks, hand hygiene and social distancing.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was inoculated with the first dose of a home-grown coronavirus vaccine on Monday, kicking off an expansion of the country’s immunisation campaign that began in mid-January with healthcare workers.

People above 60, and those who are 45 or more and suffering from certain medical conditions, are now eligible for the vaccinations.

India, which has reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world after the United States, has so far vaccinated more than 12 million health and front-line workers.

“Remarkable how our doctors and scientists have worked in quick time to strengthen the global fight against COVID-19,” Modi said on Twitter, posting a picture of him getting the shot at a government hospital in New Delhi.

“I appeal to all those who are eligible to take the vaccine. Together, let us make India COVID-19 free!”

The government said last week it would let people choose their vaccination centres, effectively letting beneficiaries pick either the home-grown COVAXIN shot or the AstraZeneca vaccine, unlike earlier.

Japan

Japan received its third batch of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, with the shipment containing up to 526,500 doses of the vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical firm and its German partner BioNTech landing at Narita airport near Tokyo from Belgium.

So far, Japan has received half of the 2.66 million doses it expects to receive in March as its vaccination campaign expands to include more health care workers.

Tokyo on Monday reported 121 new daily COVID-19 cases, bringing the city's total tally to 111,797 infections.

The latest figure compares to the Tokyo metropolitan government confirming 329 infections the previous day, with Monday's new infections marking the 23rd straight day that new infection numbers have remained below the 500-mark.

The latest figure Monday, however, is still above the metropolitan government's aim to keep the seven day average below 70 percent of the previous week.

The latest seven day average stands at 81.9 percent of the previous week, the metropolitan government said Monday, with the percentage exceeding its guideline for the 12th consecutive day.

Aichi, Gifu, Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo and Fukuoka saw the status of emergency period lifted at the end of February prior to the initial deadline of March 7, as infections in these regions as well as the strain on medical facilities were deemed to have sufficiently improved.

The prefectures allowed to exit early from the emergency virus period were assessed to have improved from the worst on the government's four-tier scale.

The sub-categories within the tiers cover the weekly number of infections per 100,000 people, as well as the percentage of hospital beds available for COVID-19 patients.

Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures, however, will remain under the emergency period until at least March 7 provided their situations improve.

The Philippines

The Philippines started Monday vaccinations against the coronavirus using Sinovac Biotech Ltd doses donated by China, planning to further reopen the economy that suffered its worst slump last year once inoculations pick up.

The director of state-run Philippine General Hospital, neurosurgeon Gerardo Legaspi, was first to be inoculated with the Sinovac vaccine, with more vaccinations expected in public hospitals in Metro Manila, the capital region.

“Let’s not wait for the best vaccine. There’s no such thing,” said Carlito Galvez, who leads the nation’s vaccine procurement efforts. “The best vaccine is the one that’s safe and effective, and arrives early.”

The Philippines is among the last in the region to begin inoculations against COVID-19, with Malaysia and Thailand starting days before, while Singapore and Indonesia even earlier. It has the second-worst outbreak in Southeast Asia, with daily infections rising above 2,000 again in the past days.

President Rodrigo Duterte said Sunday that he’s considering further easing virus restrictions once the nation’s vaccine stockpile reaches 2 million, and once shots reach the countryside. “Once I see that we have many vaccines, I will open everything,” he said.

Almost half of Filipinos however are not inclined to get a COVID-19 vaccine mainly due to safety concerns, according to survey released January. Public trust in China has also been consistently low, even as Duterte built warm ties with Beijing.

The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported on Monday 2,037 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 578,381.

Jordan

Jordan on Sunday reported 26 COVID-19 deaths and 4,594 confirmed cases, raising the death toll to 4,701 and the tally to 391,090, the health ministry said in a statement.

It said 2,312 recoveries were registered in hospitals and home quarantine on Sunday, bringing the total number of recoveries to 348,599.

There are currently 37,790 active COVID-19 cases in Jordan, the statement added.

And 33,462 more tests were conducted, bringing the cumulative number of coronavirus tests administered since the outbreak of the pandemic to 4,600,197 in the country. 

A family wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus wait to enter a shop in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 11, 2020. (VINCENT THIAN / AP)

Malaysia 

Malaysia reported 1,828 new COVID-19 infections on Monday, bringing the national total to 302,580 the health ministry said.

Another five deaths have been reported, pushing the death toll to 1,135.

Malaysia expects to flatten the COVID-19 curve in the coming months through ongoing restrictions on movement, adherence to virus protocols and a national immunization program, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said in a televised speech Monday.

The government is drafting a strategy to contain the pandemic, that includes a more targeted approach such as strict lockdowns in cluster areas. The economy will continue to reopen, subject to social distancing and strict protocols, he said.

Mongolia

Mongolia reported 45 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide tally to 2,952.

The latest cases were locally transmitted and detected in the country's capital Ulan Bator, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases said in a statement on Monday.

New Zealand

The mayor of Auckland called for residents to be prioritised for COVID-19 vaccines after New Zealand’s biggest city was thrown into its fourth pandemic lockdown over the weekend.

The seven-day lockdown imposed by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on a city of 2 million was prompted by just a single new COVID-19 case, reinforcing the New Zealand leader’s strict “go hard, go early” response throughout the crisis.

That approach has been credited with making New Zealand one of the most successful countries in the world at controlling the spread of the coronavirus, but the latest shutdown has been criticised by some on social media.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said the city would lose an estimated 200 jobs and more than NZ$30 million (US$21.7 million) per day under the level 3 restrictions.

“We need the vaccine roll-out to be prioritised in Auckland to help avoid future lockdowns, protect jobs and incomes, and ensure Auckland can play its role in supporting the national economic recovery,” Goff said in a statement.

The lockdown led to several major sporting and cultural events being cancelled or postponed and also caused traffic chaos over the weekend with people trying to get home stuck for hours at city checkpoints.

The case that prompted the shutdown was a person who had been infectious and out in the community for a week. Two more locally transmitted cases were subsequently reported over the weekend, but no new cases were reported on Monday.

Ardern said on Monday the person who sparked the lockdown had made “multiple mistakes”, after public anger at reports the person had made contact with an infected family during lockdown and had visited public venues after taking a COVID test.

“It has had devastating consequences, no question,” Ardern told Newshub’s “The AM Show”, adding that any punishment was up to the police.

“People do dumb things but we’re not going to get through this if people pillory them to the point they do not tell the truth,” she said.

New Zealand has reported just over 2,000 cases of the coronavirus and 26 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

Australia

The Australian government has established a "myth-busting unit" to address coronavirus vaccine misinformation.

Greg Hunt, the minister for Health, revealed that the unit, a joint endeavor between the Departments of Health and Home Affairs, was "quietly" established in 2020 amid concerns over false vaccine information spreading rapidly on social media.

"Some of these anti-vaxxers are peddling, frankly, false and clearly irresponsible views," Hunt said.

"We don't want to give too much air to some of the silliest ideas but we do want to provide public reassurance (we are) combatting the misinformation on those ideas which would in any way falsely have some impact on public confidence."

A survey published by Australian National University (ANU) researchers in February found that vaccine scepticism is on the rise in Australia.

Israel

Israel's COVID-19 reproduction number, also known as the R number, has risen to 1, the state's Coronavirus National Information and Knowledge Center (CNIKC) said on Monday.

Israel's government approved on Sunday a plan to vaccinate the Palestinians from the West Bank who work in Israel or the settlements against COVID-19, Israeli officials said.

The government approved "a vaccination rollout for Palestinian workers who hold a working permit," the office of a defense ministry's unit said in a statement.

"The goal is to protect public health and the functioning of the economy," the statement read.

As part of the rollout, Israeli forces will open several vaccination centers in checkpoints throughout the West Bank, a territory captured by Israel in a 1967 war. Additional centers will be opened in industrial zones of Israeli settlements.

Israel's Ministry of Health reported 1,218 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, raising the tally in the country to 774,479.

The death toll from the COVID-19 in Israel reached 5,738 after 12 new fatalities were added, while the number of patients in serious condition increased from 760 to 776, out of 1,278 hospitalized patients.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh reported 585 new COVID-19 cases and eight more deaths on Monday, making the tally at 546,801 and death toll at 8,416, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.

The official data showed that 13,570 samples were tested in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said teachers and officials of educational institutions in the country should be vaccinated against the COVID-19 by March 30.

She made the remarks when speaking at the inaugural ceremony via videoconference for distributing stipends, tuition fees, admission assistance and financial grants to poor and meritorious students.

Lebanon

Lebanon registered on Sunday 2,258 new COVID-19 cases, raising the number of infections to 375,033, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported.

Meanwhile, the total number of deaths from the virus went up by 40 to 4,692.

Lebanon will further ease the restrictions imposed by authorities to contain the virus, with most shops and businesses set to reopen Monday and schools to resume classes from March 8.

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Kuwait

Kuwait reported on Sunday 962 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 190,852.

The Kuwaiti Health Ministry also announced five more deaths, taking the death toll to 1,083.

The tally of recoveries in Kuwait rose by 1,012 to 179,209, while 10,560 coronavirus-related patients were receiving treatment, it said.

Iraq

The Iraqi Ministry of Health reported 3,248 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total nationwide number to 695,489.

The new cases included 940 in the capital Baghdad, 662 in Basra, 393 in Najaf, 179 in Wasit, and 175 in Qadisiyah, the ministry said in a statement.

It also reported 23 new deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 13,406, while the total recoveries in Iraq climbed by 2,933 to 635,931.

A total of 6,846,243 tests have been carried out across the country since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020, with 35,525 done during the day.

Singapore

Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 11 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the country's total tally to 59,936.

Of the new cases, 10 are imported and one is linked with the dormitory of foreign workers.

On Sunday, seven more COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals and community isolation facilities, bringing the total number of recoveries from coronavirus to 59,823 in Singapore, according to the ministry.

There are currently 18 active cases being treated in hospitals. Of these, one patient is in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Furthermore, 66 people who have mild symptoms or are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19 are being isolated and cared for at community facilities.

Qatar

The Qatari health ministry on Sunday announced 467 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total confirmed number in the Gulf state to 163,664, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.

Meanwhile, 402 more recovered from the infectious virus, bringing the overall recoveries to 153,621, while the death toll increased by one to 258, according to a ministry statement quoted by QNA.

A total of 1,537,958 persons in Qatar have taken lab tests for COVID-19.

READ MORE: Malaysia receives first batch of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine

Myanmar

The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Myanmar has increased to 141,896 including six new infections recorded on Sunday, according to a release from the Ministry of Health.

No new death was reported on Sunday in the country, with the death toll from COVID-19 remaining at 3,199, the release said.

According to the official data, a total of 131,480 recovered patients have been discharged from the hospitals.

The health ministry announced the relaxation of stay-at-home order in Rakhine starting on Monday as the state has seen a falling number of COVID-19 cases.

Oman

The Omani Health Ministry on Sunday announced 908 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 141,496, the official Oman News Agency reported.

Meanwhile, 775 people recovered during the past 72 hours, taking the overall recoveries to 132,459, while eight deaths were reported, pushing the tally up to 1,570, according to a ministry statement quoted by ONA.

The ministry urged everyone to adhere to social distancing instructions issued by the Supreme Committee entrusted with handling the novel coronavirus.

Indonesia

The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 6,680 within one day to 1,341,314, with the death toll adding by 159 to 36,325, the Health Ministry said on Monday.

According to the ministry, 9,212 more people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 1,151,915.

Vietnam

Vietnam recorded 13 new cases of COVID-19 infection on Monday, including five imported and eight locally transmitted, according to its Ministry of Health.

The new infections brought the total confirmed cases in the country to 2,461 as of 6 p.m. local time, said the ministry.

Fiji 

Fiji received a total of 22,000 GeneXpert test kits on Monday from the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) as part of the Fijian government's efforts to boost the island nation's testing capacity of COVID-19.

According to Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC), Fiji's Minister for Health Ifereimi Waqainabete said on Monday that the new test kits, valued at around 900,000 Fijian dollars (about 441,270 U.S. dollars), will strengthen the nation's capacity to screen samples at the borders and the high-risk community as well.

The minister said this form of testing is much faster as it will only take 45 minutes to get the results.

Thailand 

Thailand on Monday confirmed 80 cases of the coronavirus infection, mostly domestic, according to the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

Of Monday's new cases, 64 were reported as domestic while 16 others referred to those who had returned from abroad and tested positive in Thailand, CCSA spokesman Taweesin Visanuyothin said.

The domestic cases included 35 in Pathum Thani, 19 in Samut Sakhon and two in Bangkok, among other provinces, Taweesin said.

Thailand has so far confirmed 26,031 cases of infection, 23,245 of which were domestic infections while 2,786 others referred to imported cases.

South Korea

South Korea reported 14 more cases of COVID-19 variants in recent days, bringing the total number of such cases to 156, the health authorities said Monday.

Among the newly confirmed cases spotted since Thursday, 14 variant cases were imported and no locally transmitted case was found, according to the Central Disease Control Headquarters.

Out of the combined variant cases, 133 came from Britain, 17 from South Africa and six from Brazil. The three variants are believed to be more transmissible than the original one.

South Korea has banned the passenger flights arriving from Britain since Dec. 23 and extended the ban till March 11 to contain the variant entry.

Cambodia 

Cambodia on Monday confirmed 15 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections in the kingdom to 820, said a Ministry of Health (MoH) statement.

The new infections included 14 locally transmitted cases in capital Phnom Penh and Preah Sihanouk province and one imported case, the statement said.