HONG KONG, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- The COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread in some Asia-Pacific countries as cases in India surpassed 6 million on Monday and the Philippines' cases surge to 307,288.
India's COVID-19 tally surpassed 6 million on Monday, reaching 6,074,702, as the death toll reached 95,542, said the latest data released by the health ministry.
As many as 82,170 new cases and 1,039 deaths were registered in the past 24 hours across the country.
Still there are 962,640 active cases in the country, while 5,016,520 people have been successfully cured and discharged from hospitals.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines surged to 307,288 after the country's Department of Health (DOH) reported 3,073 new daily cases.
The DOH said the number of recoveries also rose to 252,665 after 163 more patients recovered. Meanwhile, 37 more patients died from the viral disease, bringing the death toll to 5,381.
The Philippines' capital Metro Manila topped the regions in the country with the highest number of 1,158 daily confirmed cases.
Five more U.S. soldiers in South Korea have tested positive for COVID-19 amid the lingering worry about the virus spread, the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said.
The total number of infections among the USFK-affiliated personnel rose to 198, according to the Yonhap news agency.
Worries remain in the country over the spread of the COVID-19. In the latest tally, South Korea reported 50 more confirmed COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, raising the total tally to 23,661.
Australia recorded its fewest new coronavirus cases in about three months when three new deaths were reported.
As of Monday afternoon, there had been 27,044 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia, and the number of new cases in last 24 hours is five.
All five new cases were reported in Victoria, the hardest-hit state by the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, which is the lowest number of new cases since June 12 when four cases were reported in the state.
There were another three COVID-19 deaths in Victoria between Sunday and Monday, taking the national death toll to 875.
Thailand has extended emergency rule against the COVID-19 pandemic for a sixth time until the end of October.
The government-run Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, decided on Monday to extend the emergency decree for another month so that it will be further enforced nationwide against the pandemic until October 31, according to officials attached to Government House.
Thailand's emergency rule has been consecutively extended one month at a time with October marking its sixth month.
Laos has conducted over 50,000 tests for the COVID-19 pandemic since January, with 23 of them being positive, according to the Lao Ministry of Health report.
Deputy Director General of the Department of Communicable Diseases Control under Lao Ministry of Health, Sisavath Soutthaniraxay, told a press conference held in the Lao capital Vientiane on Monday that Laos has been carrying out tests on a daily basis to detect coronavirus infections since January, completing 51,084 in total so far.
Among the people tested, 23 have been confirmed to be infected with the virus and 22 of the patients have been discharged from hospitals. Enditem
