A general view shows houses at the Geneva camp where stranded Bihari residents live during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Dhaka on April 22, 2020. (MUNIR UZ ZAMAN / AFP)
DUBAI / TOKYO / CAIRO / SYDNEY / NEW DELHI / KUALA LUMPUR / JAKARTA - South Asia’s coronavirus infections have crossed 37,000, with more than half in India, official data showed on Thursday, complicating the task of governments looking to scale back lockdowns that have destroyed the livelihoods of millions.
Until now, South Asia, home to a fifth of the world’s population, has suffered fewer infections in the pandemic than rich nations such as Britain, Spain and the United States.
But that could be the result of lower rates of testing that health experts believe may allow the virus to lurk undetected.
India
India's federal health ministry said on Thursday morning that 29 new deaths due to COVID-19 and 922 new positive cases were reported since last evening across the country, taking the number of deaths to 681 and total cases to 21,393.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be interacting with all state Chief Ministers on April 27 through video conferencing.
Pakistan
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has soared to 10,076 in Pakistan with 212 fatalities whereas 2,156 people have recovered from the disease across the country, according to the data released by the health ministry on Wednesday evening.
Local health authorities have expressed concern that the number of the infected patients may rise sharply due to the leniency in lockdown by the government which took the decision to open a few industrial units and retail shops to favor the daily wage laborers and the businessmen who were bearing the economic loss of the lockdown.
Leading Pakistani doctors on Wednesday urged the government and clerics to reverse a decision to allow prayer congregations at mosques during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, warning that the spread of coronavirus could spiral out of control.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh is set to extend further the ongoing shutdown as the entire COVID-19 situation worsens in the country.
"We've decided to extend the nationwide shutdown of offices and workplaces to May 5," Bangladeshi State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain told journalists Wednesday. He said his ministry will soon issue a circular in this regard.
A total of 414 new cases of the COVID-19 were reported from Bangladesh capital Dhaka and elsewhere in the country in the last 24 hours as of 8:00 a.m. local time Thursday, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said.
He told a press conference on Thursday that Bangladesh's COVID-19 death toll increased to 127 as health officials confirmed seven more fatalities in the last 24 hours.
Afghanistan
The number of COVID-19 positive cases has reached 1,226 in Afghanistan as the country's Public Health Ministry reported 50 new patients infected with the virus, spokesman of the ministry Wahidullah Mayar said Thursday.
According to Mayar, 50 more COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in Afghanistan over the past 24 hours with 21 cases in Herat, the epicenter of the disease in Afghanistan, six cases in Kabul and the remaining 23 others in other parts of the country.
A general view of Queensland - New South Wales border at Coolangatta on April 15, 2020. (PATRICK HAMILTON / AFP)
Australia
Australia will keep its international borders closed for at least three to four months to protect itself from the coronavirus pandemic that continues to deepen in other parts of the world.
Border restrictions would likely be the final measure lifted and would stay in place even if other rules were eased according to Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported Thursday.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he shared the "horrible" impacts that the coronavirus restrictions inflicted to people, especially the fact that attendees of a funeral must be kept under 10 under strict social distancing rules.
Meanwhile, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has launched a coronavirus testing blitz in an attempt to find every case of the virus in the region.
There had been 6,654 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia as of Thursday morning, an increase of only seven, or 0.1 percent, from 6,647 on Wednesday.
READ MORE: Singapore extends lockdown for 4 more weeks as tally spikes
Indonesia
Indonesia will temporarily ban domestic and international air and sea travel, with some exceptions, starting Friday to prevent a further spread of the coronavirus, Transport Ministry officials said on Thursday.
The ban on air travel will be in place until June 1, said Novie Riyanto Rahardjo, Transport Ministry’s director general of aviation. The ban on travel by sea will run until June 8, sea transportation director general Agus Purnomo said.
Cargo transport is exempted from the bans.
Other exceptions would include flights to repatriate Indonesian and foreign citizens, as well as travel by state officials, diplomatic staff and representatives of international organisations, the officials said.
Indonesia on Thursday reported 357 new COVID-19 cases and 11 new deaths, taking the total number of infections and fatalities to 7,775 and 647, respectively, health ministry official Achmad Yurianto said.
The number of patients who have recovered from the novel coronavirus was 960, Yurianto said, adding that more than 48,600 people have been tested.
Iran
Iran reopened parks and recreational areas on Wednesday, pressing ahead with measures to ease its coronavirus curbs despite one of the worst outbreaks of the disease in the Middle East.
Ninety four people died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours raising the overall toll to 5,391, Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said on state TV on Wednesday. Total recorded cases rose to 85,996.
Central Bank chief Abolnaser Hemmati on Wednesday pressed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for US$5 billion in emergency funding that Tehran requested last month to fight the outbreak.
People wearing a protective facemask shop at a street market in Ankara, on April 22, 2020, ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and amid the COVID-19 outbreak caused by the novel coronavirus. (PHOTO / AFP)
Iraq
The Iraqi Health Ministry on Wednesday confirmed 29 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections to 1,631 in the country.
83 patients have so far died from the disease, while 1,146 others recovered. No new deaths were registered during the day.
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Israel
An Israeli parliamentary oversight committee on Wednesday suspended police use of cellphone data to enforce coronavirus quarantines, with one lawmaker citing privacy concerns.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government last month empowered the police to requisition cellphone roaming data on those ordered to self-isolate as suspected or confirmed coronavirus carriers, to confirm that they were not straying.
Israel reported 94 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing the total number in the country to 14,592, the health ministry said.
The death toll from COVID-19 increased from 189 to 191, while the cases in serious condition decreased from 141 to 136, according to the ministry.
Japan
Fourteen more cases of coronavirus infections have been confirmed on an Italian cruise ship docked for repairs at Japan's Nagasaki prefecture, bringing the total to at least 48, public broadcaster NHK said on Thursday.
Coronavirus cases in Japan increased by 449 to 11,965, with 132 new daily infections recorded in Tokyo, according to the latest figures from the health ministry and local authorities Wednesday evening.
With the figures showing the virus in urban areas in Japan is continuing to spread consistently, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday again called on the country for more cooperation in the fight against the deadly virus.
The nationwide death toll from the virus has now increased to a total of 295, including those from a cruise ship that was quarantined in Yokohama near Tokyo, the latest figures showed.
Jordan
Jordan on Wednesday said it might resume a curfew in the southern governorates as some violations of public health and safety instructions were reported a few days after the authorities eased curfew restrictions in these governorates.
Jordan's Minister of State for Media Affairs Amjad Adaileh said in a statement that the authorities will monitor the situation in the southern governorates as there have been some violations in some areas.
On Wednesday, seven cases of coronavirus were reported in Jordan, said Health Minister Saad Jaber. The total number of cases rose to 435, he said.
Malaysia
Malaysia will extend travel and other curbs aimed at fighting the spread of COVID-19 by two weeks to May 12, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said on Thursday, but more sectors may be allowed to resume operations.
The country, which has so far reported 5,603 COVID-19 infections and 95 deaths, started a partial lockdown on March 18. For weeks Malaysia had the highest number of infections in Southeast Asia, but daily increases have now slowed to double digits.
Maynmar
The number of COVID-19 infections in Myanmar has risen to 127 in total, with four more confirmed cases reported on Thursday, according to a release from the Ministry of Health and Sports.
Myanmar has reported five deaths of COVID-19 disease as of Thursday since the infectious disease was first detected in the country on March 23.
New Zealand
New Zealand reported two more deaths of COVID-19, bringing the death toll to 16 in the country, the Ministry of Health said on Thursday.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the growing number of COVID-19 deaths among the aged people showed how they were more vulnerable to the effects of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, New Zealand reported two new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and one probable case over the past 24 hours, with the total number of infections reaching 1,451 in the country.
Oman
The Omani Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday 106 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number in the country to 1,614.
Out of the 106 new cases, there are 35 Omanis, and all the new cases are related to community contact, according to a statement issued by the ministry.
Eight deaths have been recorded.
Qatar
Qatar's health ministry on Wednesday announced 608 new infections of the novel coronavirus, increasing the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 7,141.
Most of the new cases are of expatriate workers who have been subject to quarantine after they were found to have been in contact with confirmed cases.
Singapore
Singapore confirmed an additional 1,037 cases of coronavirus cases with the majority coming from foreign worker dormitories.
Singapore now has the most reported infections in Southeast Asia as cases among foreign laborers living in densely packed dormitories surged.
The city-state is “very likely” to see a sharper fall in GDP, trade and industry minister Chan Chun Sing said Thursday in an interview. “We are really concerned that worldwide, this is going to lead to a more serious problem than many had anticipated just a month ago.”
An Iranian woman wering a mask waits for the bus in Tehran on April 21, 2020 amid the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. Iran yesterday reported 91 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, as the government allowed more economic activity to resume after a gradual reopening in the past 10 days. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)
South Korea
South Korea's health authorities said Thursday that it will prepare medical resources for a possible second wave of the COVID-19 infections this autumn and winter in conjunction with the flu season.
South Korea reported eight more cases of the COVID-19 compared to 24 hours ago as of midnight Thursday local time, raising the total number of infections to 10,702.
Two more deaths were confirmed, lifting the death toll to 240. The total fatality rate came in at 2.24 percent.
Thailand
Thailand reported 13 new coronavirus cases on Thursday and one more death, a 78-year-old woman who had other health complications.
Of the new cases, five were linked to previous cases and five had no known links.
Since the outbreak escalated in January, Thailand has reported a total of 2,839 cases and 50 fatalities, while 2,430 patients have recovered and gone home.
The Philippines
The Philippines’ health ministry on Thursday reported 16 new coronavirus deaths and 271 confirmed infections, ahead of President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision whether to lift or extend quarantine measures on the country’s main island.
In a bulletin, the health ministry said total deaths have increased to 462 while infections have risen to 6,981. But 29 more patients have recovered, bringing the total recoveries to 722.
The World Bank said it has approved a US$100-million loan for the Philippine COVID-19 emergency response project to help meet urgent healthcare needs.
Turkey
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Wednesday confirmed 3,083 new COVID-19 cases and 117 more deaths in Turkey for the past 24 hours.
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Turkey increased to 98,674, while the death toll surged to 2,376, Koca said at a press conference.
The rate of death has been stabilized, the minister said, noting that the rate of cases turning into pneumonia decreases day by day.
Turkey's gradual transition to the normalization process after the Ramadan Feast depends on the strict implementation of the announced measures, the minister emphasized.
UAE
Abu Dhabi will re-open bus services by 6 am on Saturday, the department of municipalities and transport said on Wednesday.
The department said it would conduct a 48-hour sterilization campaign of public bus services from Thursday morning.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday announced 483 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 8,238.
The Ministry of Health and Prevention also confirmed six more deaths, pushing the country's death toll to 52.