HONG KONG, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam registered its first COVID-19 death on Friday amid a resurgence of infections in the country, while the Philippines, India and Japan's Tokyo confirmed record numbers of daily cases.
Vietnam's Ministry of Health confirmed that a 70-year-old Vietnamese man died of COVID-19, which is the country's first death from the disease, Vietnam News Agency reported.
The patient, with a history of heart failure and pneumonia, tested positive for COVID-19 on July 26 and died in the early morning on Friday, according to the news agency.
After going through over three months without any local transmission, Vietnam has seen a number of infections in the community since July 25.
Fiji also reported its first death from COVID-19 infection on the same day. Health Minister Ifereimi Waqainabete said a 66-year-old Fijian man, who had a history of cardiac problems and returned from India early July, died on Thursday in the hospital in Lautoka, Fiji's second-largest city.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines surged to 93,354 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 4,063 new cases, the largest single-day increase since the highly-infectious disease emerged in the country in January.
India also recorded the highest ever single-day spike with 55,078 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the total tally to 1,638,870, according to the federal health ministry. This is the second consecutive day when fresh COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 50,000.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike confirmed 463 new COVID-19 infections in the capital, with the figure marking a new record daily increase, eclipsing the previous single-day record of 367 on Thursday.
Australia recorded the second-highest daily cases while the death toll is on the brink of surpassing 200, with a total number of 196 deaths and 651 new cases during the last 24 hours.
This is the second-largest daily number in the country after Thursday's record of 747, according to the update from Michael Kidd, the Australian government deputy chief medical officer.
According to the federal government, hundreds of workers from the Pacific are set to be allowed to enter Australia to help farmers harvest crops despite border closures.
A COVID-19 candidate vaccine developed in South Australia (SA) has cleared the first phase of testing, according to local media's report.
Bangladesh reported 2,772 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to over 237,000. Nasima Sultana, a senior Health Ministry official, said in a briefing that 28 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.
Malaysia reported another 12 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the national total to 8,976. Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement that five of the cases are imported and seven more are local transmissions.
The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 2,040 within one day to 108,376, with the death toll adding by 73 to 5,131, the Health Ministry said.
New Zealand reported no new cases of COVID-19, with the number of active cases in the country standing at 20, all in managed isolation facilities, according to the Ministry of Health.
South Korea reported 36 more cases compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 14,305. Enditem
