A man wearing mask walks near the Merdeka Square in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sept. 16, 2020. (Photo by Chong Voon Chung/Xinhua)
-- Indonesia reports 4,176 new cases, 124 more deaths;
-- Cases rise to 5,487,580 in India, death toll reaches 87,882;
-- New Zealand commits over 18 mln USD investment in global vaccine facility;
-- Myanmar reports 264 new cases, 2 more deaths.
HONG KONG, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia-Pacific countries on Monday:
KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia reported 57 new COVID-19 infections, the Health Ministry said, bringing the national total to 10,276. Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that six of the new cases are imported and 51 are local transmissions.
Employees work at a mask factory in Mazar-i-Sharif, capital of Balkh province, northern Afghanistan, Sept. 17, 2020. (Photo by Kawa Basharat/Xinhua)
KABUL -- Afghanistan reported 30 new COVID-19 cases after health authorities conducted 165 tests within a day, bringing the number of total cases in the country to 39,074, including 32,576 who recovered from the virus, the country's Ministry of Public Health said.
Vendors sell hilsa fish at a market in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sept. 20, 2020. (Xinhua)
DHAKA -- Bangladesh reported 1,705 new COVID-19 cases and 40 new deaths, bringing the total cases in the country to 350,621 and the total deaths to 4,979, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.
The country has authorized the use of antigen tests for the first time to detect and treat COVID-19 infections. Bilkis Begum, a Health Ministry official, told journalists that they had already issued a circular in this connection.
People in cars watch a drive-in concert amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on Sept. 19, 2020. (Photo by Supriyanto/Xinhua)
JAKARTA -- The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 4,176 within one day to 248,852, with the death toll adding by 124 to 9,677, the Health Ministry said.
People visit a night market in Bandar Seri Begawan, capital of Brunei, July 15, 2020. (Photo by Jeffrey Wong/Xinhua)
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN -- Brunei reported no new cases of COVID-19 with the national tally of cases standing at 145. It marked the 18th consecutive day without new cases since Sept. 3.
People take photos while watching the sunset at Manila Bay in Manila, the Philippines on Sept. 20, 2020. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali)
MANILA -- The number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines surged to 290,190 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 3,475 new daily cases.
The DOH said that the number of recoveries also rose to 230,233 after 400 more patients recovered. Meanwhile, 15 more patients died, bringing the death toll to 4,999.
Passengers wear face masks as they sit on a bus in Wellington, New Zealand, Aug. 31, 2020. (Xinhua/Guo Lei)
WELLINGTON -- The New Zealand government has committed to investing 27 million NZ dollars (18.3 million U.S. dollars) in COVID-19 vaccine development through the global COVAX Facility, Deputy Prime minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters said.
New Zealand's largest city Auckland will ease restrictions on gatherings at midnight Wednesday, moving down from COVID-19 Alert Level 2.5 to 2, with the rest of the country moving down from Alert Level 2 to Level 1 from midnight Monday.
A man wearing a face mask walks past the square by the city hall of Seoul, South Korea, Sept. 15, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Jingqiang)
SEOUL -- South Korea reported 70 more cases of the COVID-19 as of midnight Sunday local time compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 23,045, local health authorities announced.
The daily caseload stayed below 100 for two straight days, after having grown in triple figures for 37 days in a row.
A tea garden worker plucks tea leaves after the relaxation of lockdown on the outskirts of Agartala, the capital city of India's northeastern state of Tripura, Sept. 8, 2020. (Str/Xinhua)
NEW DELHI -- The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India rose to 5,487,580, India's federal health ministry said.
During the past 24 hours, 86,961 new cases were reported from across the country and 1,130 more deaths were also recorded.
A vendor wearing a face mask makes preparations at her flower shop in Yangon, Myanmar, Sept. 20, 2020. (Xinhua/U Aung)
YANGON -- Myanmar reported 264 more new COVID-19 confirmed cases, according to a release from the Ministry of Health and Sports. The newly confirmed cases brought the number of infection cases of COVID-19 in the country to 5,805 in total.■
