A migrant laborer family with their children wait for transport as they return to the city for work in New Delhi, India, Aug 18, 2020. (MANISH SWARUP / AP)
NEW DELHI / TEHRAN / BAGHDAD / JERUSALEM / KUWAIT CITY / BEIRUT / ULAN BATOR / YANGON / DOHA / SEOUL / BANGKOK / ANKARA / TASHKENT – India's federal health ministry said on Wednesday that a new "double mutant variant" of the COVID-19 has been detected in more than a dozen states across the country, in addition to many other strains or variants of concern (VOCs) that have also been found abroad.
"Though VOCs and a new double mutant variant have been found in India, these have not been detected in numbers sufficient to either establish or direct relationship or explain the rapid increase in cases in some states. Genomic sequencing and epidemiological studies are continuing to further analyze the situation," a statement released by the federal health ministry said.
So far, 771 VOCs have been detected in a total of 10,787 positive samples shared by the states, including the variants first detected in Britain, South Africa and Brazil respectively, said the ministry.
Many state and city governments have banned community celebrations of Holi, the festival of colors, in India in the wake of yet another COVID-19 wave looming large.
The festival of Holi is scheduled for March 28-29.
India has been witnessing more than 40,000 COVID-19 cases and nearly 200 deaths daily over the past several days. According to official figures on Wednesday, a total of 47,262 new cases and 275 deaths were recorded across the country in the past 24 hours.
In an official statement, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) said that amid rising COVID-19 cases in Delhi, public celebrations for upcoming festivals such as Holi, Navratri and gatherings in general, will not be allowed.
Singapore
A Singapore business gathering is using movement dongles to make sure participants keep their distance, as the region’s business hub prepares to start hosting big events safely as the world looks to move on from the coronavirus pandemic.
The pocket-sized dongle, which utilises Bluetooth technology, tracks users’ information such as location, distance and interaction time between attendees at a two-day tech conference that started on Wednesday.
The data collected will be uploaded to a system intermittently and organisers can check if anyone is breaching the government’s social distancing rules and intervene if necessary.
The event “GEO Connect Asia 2021” is also using meeting pods with transparent screens to separate participants, while speakers, venue staff and some delegates of the conference are required to undergo on-site antigen rapid tests.
Singapore has been a leader in innovative ideas to support commerce and enable business continuity during the pandemic and on Tuesday published a report commissioned by its central bank advising firms about making offices safer long-term.
Singapore is expected to host the World Economic Forum in August this year and its management of the event will be closely watched.
Cambodia
Cambodia on Wednesday required people in capital Phnom Penh and four other provinces to wear face masks in public to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Phnom Penh Municipality, Preah Sihanouk, Kandal, Prey Veng and Siem Reap provinces have been determined as the high-risk COVID-19 areas of infections after the country suffered from the third wave of community COVID-19 outbreak starting Feb. 20, Health Minister Mam Bunheng said in a statement.
"Requirements for wearing face masks and keeping a physical distancing (of 1.5 meters from each other) must be implemented from now on until further notice," he said.
The minister instructed local authorities in the above-mentioned areas to take action to ensure the effective implementation of the requirements.
The move came after Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on March 12 issued a sub-decree requiring people to wear face masks at locations alerted by the Ministry of Health (MoH) as high-risk COVID-19 areas.
According to the sub-decree, first-time violators will be issued a warning, and repeat offenders will be fined between 50 and 250 U.S. dollars.
At least 1,293 people have been infected in the third wave of outbreak in the country. In a bid to stem the virus, the kingdom has closed down all schools, sports facilities, museums, cinemas, and entertainment venues.
Cambodia has registered a total of 1,817 confirmed COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, with five deaths and 1,033 recoveries, the MoH said.
Japan
The Japanese government plans to build a COVID-19 data bank with information and samples from about 10,000 patients and make it available to companies and universities for research, Yomiuri reported, without attribution. The data are expected to be available by this summer, it said.
Tokyo Wednesday reported 420 new COVID-19 cases, the highest this month, bringing the capital's tally to 118,461.
It is the second time in March that the daily figure has surpassed 400, after reaching 409 a week ago.
The capital of 14 million reported 337 new cases on Tuesday and 187 on Monday.
The jump in cases comes just days after the COVID-19 state of emergency for the greater Tokyo area expired and related restrictions were lifted.
Tokyo and the surrounding prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama will continue to ask bars and restaurants to close by 9 pm through April 21, the Asahi newspaper reported, citing several unidentified local government officials. The governors of the prefectures will hold a joint meeting as soon as Wednesday to decide on the extension.
ALSO READ: India accelerates vaccination drive as 2nd virus wave grows
Iran
Iran reported 7,290 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, raising its nationwide caseload to 1,815,712.
The pandemic has so far claimed 61,951 lives in Iran, up by 74 in the past 24 hours, said Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, during her daily briefing.
Iraq
The Iraqi Ministry of Health said on Tuesday that the total nationwide COVID-19 infections reached 803,041 after 4,494 new cases were added.
The ministry also reported in a statement 30 more deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 14,066, while the total recoveries in Iraq climbed by 4,125 to 723,286.
A total of 7,711,323 tests have been carried out across the country since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020, with 29,899 done during the day.
Israel
Israel's Ministry of Health reported 1,017 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, raising the total confirmed tally in the country to 829,689.
The death toll from the virus reached 6,122 with 20 new fatalities, while the number of patients in serious condition increased from 504 to 505, out of 758 hospitalized patients.
Kuwait
The Kuwaiti Health Ministry reported on Tuesday 1,288 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total confirmed number in the country to 221,743.
The ministry also announced 13 more deaths, taking the death toll to 1,246, while the tally of recoveries rose by 1,202 to 206,180. A total of 14,317 coronavirus patients are receiving treatment, including 238 in the intensive care units.
Lebanon
Lebanon registered on Tuesday 3,851 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections to 444,865, the Health Ministry said.
Meanwhile, the death toll from the virus went up by 42 to 5,850.
Mongolia
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Mongolia reached 5,610 with 218 new cases confirmed in the last 24 hours, the highest daily increase since the pandemic hit the country, the National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Wednesday.
The latest confirmed cases were locally transmitted, and most of them were detected in the country's capital Ulan Bator, which is hardest hit by the COVID-19, the NCCD said in a statement.
Myanmar
Myanmar reported 28 new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 142,292 in the country, according to a statement from the Health and Sports Ministry on Tuesday.
The death toll stands at 3,204 with no new death recorded in the past 24 hours.
Spectators gather around the Americas Cup Village prior to the day three races of the 36th America's Cup in Auckland on March 13, 2021. (GILLES MARTIN-RAGET / AFP)
New Zealand
The government is prepared to vaccinate people who need to urgently travel outside of New Zealand on compassionate grounds or for reasons of national significance, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said in statement.
New Zealand reported three new cases of COVID-19 in managed isolation and no new community cases on Wednesday.
The three new imported cases came from Ethiopia, India and Indonesia. The seven-day rolling average of new cases detected at the border is five, according to the Ministry of Health.
Pakistan
Pakistan has bought 1 million COVID-19 vaccines from SinoPharm and 60,000 from CanSino, in its first purchase of the doses, Reuters reported, citing Asad Umar, the planning minister who is leading the nation’s coronavirus response.
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea recorded 351 new coronavirus cases and two deaths on Tuesday, as 8,000 vaccines arrived from Australia to assist health workers in overburdened hospitals.
The Pacific island nation has seen cases jump by 1,000 in six days, COVID-19 National Pandemic Response controller David Manning said in a statement on Wednesday.
Officials have tightened internal border controls and enforced mask-wearing in public as the country confronts the steep rise in infections.
PNG has recorded 4,109 cases and 39 deaths, most since the start of the month.
Qatar
The Qatari health ministry on Tuesday announced 534 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 174,762, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.
READ MORE: India records highest daily spike in COVID-19 cases this year
South Korea
South Korea reported 428 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Tuesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 99,846.
The daily caseload was up from 346 in the previous day, rising above 400 just in two days.
The daily number of infections hovered above 100 since Nov. 8 owing to small cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province as well as imported cases.
Of the new cases, 135 were Seoul residents and 150 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.
Seventeen cases were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 7,476.
Three more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 1,707. The total fatality rate stood at 1.71 percent.
Thailand
Thailand on Wednesday confirmed 69 new cases of coronavirus infection, mostly domestic, according to Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).
Of the new cases, 61 were domestic infections while eight others referred to imported cases, said CCSA spokeswoman Apisamai Srirangsan.
Some 43 of the domestic cases were confirmed in the capital Bangkok and nine in Samut Sakhon, among other provinces, she said.
Policemen keep watch at a checkpoint along a road in Quezon City in suburban Manila on March 23, 2021. (JAM STA ROSA / AFP)
The Philippines
The Philippines received 400,000 Sinovac doses donated by China on Wednesday, bringing total donations from Beijing to 1 million. Another 1 million Sinovac shots bought by the government and 979,200 donated by AstraZeneca are also expected to arrive by the end of the month, the Health Department said in a statement.
Turkey
Turkey on Tuesday confirmed 26,182 new COVID-19 cases, including 1,006 symptomatic patients, raising the total number in the country to 3,061,520, according to its health ministry.
The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 138 to 30,316, while the total recoveries climbed to 2,863,882 after 19,201 more cases recovered in the last 24 hours.
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan will start the first stage of mass vaccination against coronavirus with the AstraZeneca vaccine from April 1, an Uzbek Health official said on Wednesday.
Elderly and disabled people, employees of the healthcare and education systems, as well as members of law enforcement bodies will be vaccinated in the first place, the deputy head of sanitary and epidemiological welfare and public health service Nurmat Atabekov told the local media.
Uzbekistan last week received its first 660,000-dose batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine, provided for free under the COVAX initiative. “We are waiting to receive 1.5 million doses of the same vaccine,” he said.
Uzbekistan is negotiating with Russia to get 1 million doses of Sputnik-V vaccine as well, he said, adding that the country will also use the vaccine developed by China’s Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical Co.