HONG KONG, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh and India recorded thousands of new COVID-19 cases among other Asia-Pacific countries on Monday, with the former's daily cases top 1,000 for the first time, while countries like New Zealand will relax restrictions to reopen the country's economy after successfully flattening the curve.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Bangladesh rose by more than 1,000 in one day for the first time since March 8, signaling the country's alarmingly-moving curve.
Nasima Sultana, a senior Health Ministry official, told an online media briefing in Dhaka that 1,034 new COVID-19 positive cases and 11 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh.
India's federal health ministry reported 97 new deaths and 4,213 fresh cases since Sunday, taking the number of deaths to 2,206 and total cases to 67,152.
While on the other side of the region, New Zealand has decided to move to COVID-19 Alert Level 2 on Thursday and reopen most businesses in 10 days. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a press conference that the country was ready to move into Level 2 "to open up the economy, but to do it as safely as possible."
Australia's opposition leader has called for an overhaul of the nation's economy in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Anthony Albanese, the leader of the Labor Party, on Monday delivered a wide-ranging economic "vision statement" ahead of Parliament resuming on Tuesday.
The Indonesian government announced 233 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the archipelagic country to 14,265.
The Philippines' daily tally of new COVID-19 infections rose by 292, increasing the total number of COVID-19 cases to 11,086, said the Philippine Department of Health (DOH).
Malaysia's Health Ministry reported 70 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the national total to 6,726.
Afghanistan's Public Health Ministry has registered 285 new COVID-19 positive cases over the past 24 hours, raising the number of patients infected with the virus to 4,687 in the country, deputy to the spokesman for the ministry Tawhid Shakohmand said.
Sri Lanka's capital Colombo resumed economic activities after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said public and private sector employees could re-start work after over a month since a curfew was declared on March 20 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement that Sri Lanka is on the right track to contain the COVID-19 epidemic through increased tracking, testing, isolation, and treatment strategy.
The Japanese government will decide on Thursday whether it will partially lift the nationwide state of emergency over the COVID-19 for some prefectures where the virus has been less prevalent, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday.
South Korea reported 35 more cases of the COVID-19 compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 10,909.
After hitting the bottom at two on May 6, the daily caseload continued to grow from 12 on Friday to 18 on Saturday and 34 on Sunday each.
South Korea decided to delay offline school classes for one more week on rising worry about a cluster infection from clubs at a multicultural neighborhood of Itaewon in the capital Seoul.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases linked to the cluster infection from clubs and bars at a multicultural neighborhood of Itaewon in the South Korean capital Seoul rose to 86 as of midday Monday local time. Enditem
