HONG KONG, July 20 (Xinhua) -- The COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread in Asia-Pacific countries as India reported 30,093 new cases on Tuesday while Pakistan is facing new challenges in its fight against the pandemic as the positivity rate in some areas of the country has passed 20 percent.
India's COVID-19 tally rose to 31,174,322, as 30,093 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, according to the federal health ministry's latest data.
The number of new cases registered in the country in the last 24 hours is the lowest in 125 days, said the ministry.
Besides, 374 deaths due to the pandemic since Monday morning took the total death toll to 414,482.
The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported 4,516 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 1,517,903.
The death toll climbed to 26,844 after 58 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH said, adding that 10 laboratories failed to submit reports.
Eight of the 35 Delta variant cases detected in the Philippines are still active, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online briefing, adding that three have died.
Amid rising cases of the Delta variant of the virus, Pakistan confirmed 2,145 new COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), the department leading Pakistan's campaign against the pandemic, said on Tuesday.
The NCOC said in a statement that the country's number of overall cases rose to 993,872 amidst the fear of a fourth wave.
Talking to media on Monday, spokesperson of the government of the country's south Sindh province Murtaza Wahab said that COVID-19 positivity ratio in some areas of the province including the port city of Karachi crossed 20 percent.
A total of 22,848 people died of the disease nationwide, including 37 patients who died over the last 24 hours, the NCOC said, adding that 2,697 are in critical condition.
Cambodia reported 825 new COVID-19 infections including 421 imported cases, pushing the national total caseload to 68,796, the Ministry of Health (MoH) said in a statement.
Twenty-one more fatalities had been confirmed, taking the overall death toll to 1,149, the ministry said, adding that 1,022 other patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 61,039.
So far, some 6.06 million people, or 60.6 percent of the 10 million targeted adult population of Cambodia have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Meanwhile, Cambodia on Tuesday began an inoculation campaign for foreigners in the northwestern Siem Reap province, the kingdom's major tourist hub.
South Korea reported 1,278 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Monday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 180,481.
The daily caseload was slightly up from 1,252 in the prior day, staying above 1,000 for two straight weeks. The daily average caseload for the past week was 1,455.
One more death was confirmed, leaving the death toll at 2,059. The total fatality rate stood at 1.14 percent.
Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Tuesday that there were "real signs of hope" in the fight against COVID-19 despite that about half of the country's 25 million people were under lockdown.
As of Tuesday afternoon, there had been 32,129 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia, and the number of locally acquired cases in the past 24 hours was 94, with two extra cases under investigation, according to the latest figures from the Department of Health.
There were about 1,452 active cases nationwide and the number of locally acquired cases in the past seven days was 739.
The Lao Ministry of Health recorded an all-time high of daily COVID-19 cases at 170 in the last 24 hours, bringing the national tally to 3,710.
The National Taskforce Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control reported 170 imported COVID-19 cases and no new locally transmitted cases, Deputy Director General of the Department of Communicable Diseases Control under the Lao Ministry of Health, Sisavath Soutthaniraxay, told a press conference on Tuesday.
As of Tuesday, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Laos reached 3,710 with five deaths. Enditem
