Latest COVID-19 watch: Aug. 27

Source: Xinhua| 2020-08-27 21:21:58|Editor: huaxia

A health worker collects nasal swab samples for COVID-19 test in Hyderabad, India's southern state Telangana, on Aug. 22, 2020. (Str/Xinhua)

- India's tally surpasses 3.3 million

- S. Korea reports highest cases since March

- Hong Kong reports 21 new cases

- Chinese audiences' passion for cinema reignited as pandemic under control

BEIJING, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

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HONG KONG -- COVID-19 cases continue to surge in some Asia-Pacific countries on Thursday as India's tally surpassed 3.3 million while South Korea reported 441 new cases, the highest daily caseload since March 7.

India's COVID-19 tally crossed 3.3 million, reaching 3,310,234, and deaths surpassed 60,000, reaching 60,472, showed the latest data released by the country's health ministry.

As many as 75,760 new COVID-19 cases and 1,023 deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours.

A woman wearing a mask waits for bus in Seoul, South Korea, Aug. 25, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Jingqiang)

South Korea reported 441 more cases of the COVID-19 as of 0:00 a.m. Thursday local time compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 18,706.

It marked the highest daily caseload in 173 days since March 7, keeping a triple-digit growth for 14 straight days.

The number of confirmed cases for the past two weeks reached 3,936 due to infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province.

One more death was confirmed, leaving the death toll at 313. The total fatality rate stood at 1.67 percent.

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HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection (CHP) reported 21 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the total confirmed cases to 4,755.

Of all the new cases, there were 18 local infections, including four with unknown sources, according to a CHP media briefing.

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YEREVAN -- Armenia on Thursday reported 203 new COVID-19 cases, bringing its total to 43,270, according to the National Center for Disease Control.

Data from the center showed that 262 more patients recovered in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to 36,988.

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Photo taken on July 21, 2020 shows a teacher taking the temperature of a student as she arrives at a school in the town of Iseyin, Oyo state, Nigeria. (Photo by Emannuel Osodi/Xinhua)

LAGOS -- Nigeria's organized labor will mobilize action against state governments and other employers of labor using the COVID-19 pandemic as a ploy to sack workers and undermine their rights, a labor union said late Wednesday.

President of the Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) Ayuba Wabba, who made this known to reporters in Abuja, the nation's capital, said the organized labor and its allies would tackle any infraction on workers' rights.

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KABUL -- The Afghan Ministry of Public Health confirmed 16 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the lowest daily increase since Aug. 2, when one COVID patient was registered.

A total of 275 tests were conducted within the past 24 hours, and 16 were positive in six provinces out of 34 Afghan provinces, the ministry said in a statement.

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People wearing masks walk on a street in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Aug. 14, 2020. (Photo by Chong Voon Chung/Xinhua)

KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia reported five new COVID-19 infections, the Health Ministry said on Thursday, bringing the national total to 9,296.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press briefing that two of the new cases are imported and three more are local transmissions.

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TBILISI -- Georgia confirmed 11 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing its total to 1,447, the National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC) said.

Four of the new cases were imported, the center said.

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People visit the Beijing International Film Festival (2011-2020) Achievements Retrospective exhibition at China National Film Museum in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 23, 2020. (Xinhua/Ren Chao)

BEIJING -- Audiences' passion for cinema has been reignited during the ongoing 10th Beijing International Film Festival as cinemas had been shut down for months giving way to the rise of surging streaming platforms.

China allowed cinemas in low-risk areas to resume operation starting from July 20, following an improvement in the country's epidemic situation, while cinemas in Beijing resumed operation on July 24.

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MANILA -- The number of confirmed coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the Philippines surged to 205,581 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 3,249 new daily cases on Thursday.

The DOH said that the number of recoveries surged to 133,990 after it reported 566 more patients have survived the disease.

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