A police officer takes penalties from a man who is not wearing face mask amid the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in Agartala, the capital city of India's northeastern state Tripura, April 9, 2021. (Str/Xinhua)
HONG KONG, April 9 (Xinhua) -- More COVID-19 cases and deaths were reported in Asia-Pacific on Friday, as India recorded 131,968 more cases, the highest so far, taking the total tally to 13,060,542, according to the latest data released by the federal health ministry.
This is the fourth time within this week and the third consecutive day that more than 100,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported in India. Earlier, 103,558 new cases were reported on Monday, while 115,736 new cases were reported on Wednesday, and 126,789 new cases on Thursday.
Besides, as many as 780 deaths took place due to the pandemic since Thursday morning, taking the total death toll to 167,642, showed the ministry's data.
There are still 979,608 active cases in the country, while 11,913,292 people have been discharged so far from hospitals after medical treatment.
The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported 12,225 new infections, bringing the total number of cases in the Southeast Asian country to 840,554.
The death toll climbed to 14,520 after 401 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH said.
The confirmed cases in Indonesia rose by 5,265 within one day to 1,558,145, with the death toll adding by 121 to 42,348, the Health Ministry said.
According to the ministry, 6,277 more people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 1,405,659.
Malaysia reported 1,854 new infections, the health ministry said, bringing the national total to 357,607.
Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that 20 of the new cases are imported and with 1,834 being local transmissions.
Five more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 1,313.
South Korea reported 671 more cases, raising the total number of infections to 108,269.
Of the new cases, 214 were Seoul residents and 197 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.
Twenty-seven cases were imported, lifting the combined figure to 7,789.
Six more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 1,764.
Cambodia has recorded 576 new local cases in the last 24 hours, the highest-ever since the virus hit the kingdom in January last year, a Ministry of Health (MoH) statement said.
The figure surpassed the previous highest daily record of 179 cases on March 26.
Of the new cases, 544 were found in capital Phnom Penh, 16 in Svay Rieng province, 12 in Preah Sihanouk province, two in Siem Reap province and one each in Kandal and Kampong Cham provinces, the statement said.
The MoH's secretary of state and spokeswoman Or Vandine on Friday called on the people to stay at home during the upcoming Khmer New Year holiday from April 14-16 in order to help curb the virus spread.
Cambodia has registered a total of 3,604 confirmed COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, with 24 deaths and 1,984 recoveries, the MoH said.
Thailand reported 559 new cases after new clusters involving entertainment venues led to a sharp increase of infections in the capital Bangkok and prompted the government to temporarily close entertainment venues.
Out of Friday's new cases, nearly half, or 268 were confirmed in Bangkok, with 214 of them being linked to clusters spreading from entertainment venues, according to the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) assistant spokeswoman Panprapa Yongtrakul.
A total of 549 cases were reported as domestic infections while 10 others were imported cases, Panprapa said.
The cases took the country's total caseload to 30,869, with 96 fatalities, according to the CCSA.
The spike in infections came ahead of next week's annual Songkran festival, which is usually celebrated with big gatherings and water splashing activities that have been canceled by the authorities this year. Enditem
