Roundup: COVID-19 cases surge in Asia-Pacific as Tokyo confirms record daily number of new infections

Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-09 20:54:42|Editor: huaxia

HONG KONG, July 9 (Xinhua) -- The number of COVID-19 cases surged in Asia-Pacific on Thursday as Tokyo confirmed a record high number of infections in the most populous prefecture of Japan.

The number of new infections confirmed in Tokyo surged to 224, the highest since the outbreak of the virus hit the capital, officials said. The number eclipsed the previous record of 206 cases confirmed in Tokyo, a city of 14 million, on April 17.

Malaysia reported another six new COVID-19 cases, bringing the national total to 8,683 cases, the Health Ministry said. Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement that all the new cases are imported from among those returning from overseas, hence no local transmission for a second day.

India's federal health ministry reported 487 new deaths and 24,879 more cases during the past 24 hours across the country, taking the number of deaths to 21,129 and total cases to 767,296.

The number of confirmed cases in Bangladesh reached 175,494 with 3,360 new infections and 41 more deaths.

As part of the Fijian government's efforts to restart the island nation's struggling tourism, about 20 percent of the 400 resorts and hotels have re-opened to welcome local Fijians, as domestic tourism only prospers during the weekend.

The cases in Indonesia rose by 2,657 within one day to 70,736, with the death toll adding by 58 to 3,417, Achmad Yurianto, a Health Ministry official said.

Indonesia will further ease restrictions in the aviation field by planning to impose a new normal scenario soon in the sector, aiming at propping up battered airlines, a senior minister said.

The number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines surged to 51,754 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 1,395 new cases. The DOH said that the number of recoveries further rose to 12,813 after 225 more patients have survived the disease.

South Korea reported 50 more cases compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 13,293. The daily caseload moved between 40 and 70 for the past week due to the continued small cluster infections and imported cases.

New Zealand reported three new cases of COVID-19, bringing the number of active cases in the country to 24, all in managed isolation or quarantine facilities, according to the Ministry of Health. It has been 69 days since the last case was acquired locally from an unknown source, said a ministry's statement.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged the public to remain vigilant to prevent further coronavirus outbreaks as the nation recorded over 9,000 COVID-19 cases, noting that some Australians have been lax with social distancing. Enditem

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