New COVID-19 cases in India, Japan's Tokyo hit record high
The COVID-19 cases surged in South Asia on Friday as India reported the record high of 26,506 new cases during the past 24 hours and the number of confirmed cases in Bangladesh reached 178,443.
Meanwhile, in Japan, Tokyo's new cases also hit record high.
India's federal health ministry Friday morning reported 475 new deaths from COVID-19 and 26,506 new cases during the past 24 hours across the country, taking the number of deaths to 21,604 and the total infections to 793,802.
This is the highest single day spike in the number of fresh cases in the country so far.
The country has entered "Unlock 2.0" phase, though restrictions remain in full force inside the COVID-19 containment zones.
On Thursday, the government of Uttar Pradesh, the country's biggest state in terms of population, decided to impose a weekend lockdown from Friday night till Monday morning, to cut the chain of transmission of COVID-19.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Bangladesh reached 178,443 on Friday, as 2,949 new infections were confirmed in the last 24 hours.
Senior Health Ministry official Nasima Sultana said in a briefing Friday afternoon that "2,949 new COVID-19 positive cases and 37 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh."
Sultana again urged people to follow the government guidelines on precautions.
"Your security is in your hands and never forget to wear a mask," said Nasima, as media reported that streets are extremely congested again and safety rules including social distancing are not applied or obeyed properly with many people without wearing masks.
Not wearing a mask while in public is illegal in Bangladesh, according to a circular issued by the Directorate General of Health Services earlier.
TV footage showed Friday afternoon that traders and buyers were in congested cattle markets in parts of Bangladesh without maintaining social distancing and adopting other safety guidelines.
In Japan, the number of daily COVID-19 new cases in Tokyo hit a record high of 243 cases, the second straight day that new cases have topped 200.
The latest number of daily infections surpasses 224 cases confirmed a day earlier and has surged past 75 cases reported on Wednesday when cases had dropped to double digits for the first time in seven days.
The capital has continued to grapple with a resurgence of cases since the government's emergency declaration over the virus was completely lifted on May 25.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines surged to 52,914 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 1,233 new cases on Friday.
The DOH said that the number of recoveries further rose to 13,230 after 286 more patients have survived the disease.
The death toll also increased to 1,360 after 42 more patients have succumbed to the viral disease.
The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 1,611 within one day to 72,347, with the death toll adding by 52 to 3,469, Achmad Yurianto, a Health Ministry official, said on Friday.
According to him, 878 more people had been discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 33,529.
Yurianto called on the public to obey the health protocols to avoid more infections.
South Korea reported 45 more cases of the COVID-19 as of 0:00 a.m. Friday local time compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 13,338.
The daily caseload moved between 40 and 70 for the past 10 days amid the continued small cluster infections and imported cases.
One more death was confirmed, leaving the death toll at 288. The total fatality rate stood at 2.16 percent.
Malaysia reported another 13 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the national total to 8,696 cases.
Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press briefing that eight of the new cases are imported and the remaining five are local transmissions.
No new deaths had been reported, leaving the total deaths at 121.
A US marine deployed to Australia's Northern Territory (NT) has tested positive for COVID-19. Natasha Fyles, the NT Health Minister, said on Friday that the marine had returned a positive test while serving a mandatory two-week quarantine period at the Australian Defence Force (ADF) facility in Darwin after arriving in the NT "a few days ago" as part of the annual Marine Rotational Force.
New Zealand reported two new cases on Friday, bringing the number of active cases of COVID-19 in the country to 23, according to the Ministry of Health.
It has been 70 days since the last case of COVID-19 was acquired locally from an unknown source, said a ministry statement.
Friday's newly reported cases brought the total number of confirmed cases to 1,192.
Fiji reported on Friday five new cases, bringing the number of active cases to eight in the island nation since July 6.
All the eight active cases were among the 107 passengers on the same repatriation flight from India last Saturday.
Fiji had reported a total of 18 COVID-19 patients since it confirmed its first case on March 19, and all of them have fully recovered before June 5.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has inaugurated the China-aided Isolation Hospital and Infections Treatment Center (IHITC) to enhance the country's capability to fight COVID-19 and ease pressure on hospitals in capital Islamabad.
With the support from China, the IHITC was built in a short span of time to treat COVID-19 patients and the medical facility will be used in infections treatment in the post- COVID-19 scenario, said the Pakistani side.
According to the data available on the website of the health ministry on Thursday, Pakistan recorded 240,848 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 4,983 deaths and 145,311 recoveries.
