A man wearing a face mask to help protect against the spread of the new coronavirus walks on the underpass in Seoul, South Korea, April 2, 2020. (AHN YOUNG-JOON / AP)
MELBOURNE / ISTANBUL / TOKYO / DUBAI / BANGKOK / SEOUL - South Korea reported fewer than 50 new coronavirus cases for the first time since its peak in late February, earning the praise of the World Health Organization for combatting the spread in one of the first countries to be hard-hit by the disease.
South Korea has been bringing the epidemic under control, with about 100 or fewer new daily cases for the past month
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said there were 47 new infections as of midnight on Sunday compared with 81 recorded a day earlier, taking the national tally to 10,284.
The death toll rose by eight to 191, while another 135 people have recovered from the virus for a total of 6,598.
South Korea has been bringing the epidemic under control, with about 100 or fewer new daily cases for the past month, but this was the first time the daily tally of new cases was less than 50 since 909 were reported on Feb 29.
In February, South Korea uncovered what was believed to be the biggest outbreak outside of China. But a programme of mass testing and contact tracing helped contain the virus, which has spread far more quickly in other countries.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, held a 25-minute phone call with President Moon Jae-in, praising South Korea’s leadership in containing the virus, Moon’s presidential Blue House said.
Moon said in the call that South Korea was “willing to actively support other countries with prevention skills and supplies as the circumstances permit”. Moon said he recently had phone calls with about 20 global leaders.
Tedros proposed that Moon help support sub-Saharan African countries with virus-related supplies including test kits, the Blue House said.
Despite the encouraging evidence in South Korea, officials have urged even greater vigilance, saying a large epidemic could re-emerge at any time, with smaller outbreaks appearing in churches, hospitals and nursing homes, as well as among travellers returning from abroad.
“We are taking great caution against any optimistic expectations with this one-off figure,” Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip told a regular briefing.
A woman walks through an empty pedestrian crossing in the Ginza shopping district Friday, April 3, 2020, in Tokyo. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Japan
Japan is to impose a state of emergency in Tokyo and six other prefectures as early as Tuesday to contain the coronavirus, while the government prepares a US$990 billion stimulus package to soften the economic blow.
Domestic infections topped 4,000, Jiji news reported, and 93 have died - not a huge outbreak compared with some global hot spots
Domestic infections topped 4,000, Jiji news reported, and 93 have died - not a huge outbreak compared with some global hot spots. But the numbers keep rising, with particular alarm over the spread in Tokyo, which has more than 1,000 cases including 83 new ones on Monday.
“Japan won’t, and doesn’t need, to take lockdown steps like those overseas,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters, citing the opinion of infectious disease experts. “Trains will be running and supermarkets will be open. The state of emergency will allow us to strengthen current steps to prevent an increase in infections while ensuring that economic activity is sustained as much as possible,” he said.
An emergency, which Abe said would last about a month, will give governors authority to call on people to stay at home and businesses to close. With no penalties for ignoring the requests in most cases, enforcement will rely more on peer pressure and respect for authority, and was unlikely to be as rigorous as lockdowns in many other countries.
In a sign that corporate Japan already was heeding the call, Canon Inc. announced it would close its Tokyo headquarters for 10 days starting from Tuesday.
Pressure had been mounting on the government to take the step although Abe had voiced concern about being too hasty, given the restrictions on movement and businesses it would entail.
Abe also said the government will launch a stimulus package of about 108 trillion yen, including more than 6 trillion yen for cash payouts to households and small businesses and 26 trillion yen to allow deferred social security and tax payments.
It was not immediately clear how much of that package would be new government spending.
An emergency appears to have public support. In a poll published on Monday by JNN, run by broadcaster TBS, 80 percent of those surveyed said Abe should declare it while 12 percent said it was not necessary. His approval rating fell by 5.7 points from last month to 43.2 percent, the survey showed.
But Kenji Shibuya, director of the Institute for Public Health at King’s College, London, said the emergency was too late given the explosive increase in cases in Tokyo.
“It should have been declared by April 1 at the latest,” he said.
READ MORE: Nishimura: Japan won't hesitate to declare emergency if needed
Afghanistan
Thirty more confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported in Afghanistan, bringing the number of the infected people in the country to 367 as of Monday morning, a Ministry of Public Health spokesman confirmed.
Australia
Australia reported a sustained fall in new coronavirus infections and conducted the biggest peacetime maritime operation on Sydney Harbour on Saturday, refuelling foreign cruise ships before expelling them from local waters.
The virus-hit curise liner Ruby Princess docked south of Sydney on Monday to get help for sick crew members requiring urgent medical treatment. There are still more than 1,000 crew on board after passengers disembarked in mid-March without health checks.
The authorities launched a criminal investigation Sunday into the liner as more than 600 confirmed cases of the virus in the country have been linked to the ship, and 11 of them have subsequently died -- accounting for roughly 30 percent of Australia's national death toll.
Australia has more than 5,700 confirmed COVID-19 cases and its death toll rose to 40 on Monday after four additional deaths were recorded overnight.
Fiji
Fiji confirmed on Monday two more COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of such cases to 14. Both cases are linked to previously confirmed infections.
More than 540 people including police officers and representative rugby players have been arrested for breaching quarantine, lockdown or curfew restrictions against the virus.
India
India, like a lot of countries plunged into crisis by the pandemic, is struggling to ramp up testing for the coronavirus, but in few places would the odds of containing the disease appear so bleak should domestic transmission start to multiply.
Officials hope to be testing 20,000 people daily by the end of the week, twice the current rate.
Since India’s first case was confirmed on Jan 30, India has conducted only a little over 96,000 tests, having focused efforts on identifying those who had come in contact with people who have tested positive.
The results show 4,067 people are infected, and 107 have died of the respiratory disease.
Officials believe a three-week nationwide lockdown ordered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have slowed the spread of the virus in communities, giving them a chance to catch up in the race to stop a full blown epidemic.
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Indonesia
The deadly coronavirus may infect as many as 95,000 people in Indonesia by next month before easing, a minister said, as authorities ordered people to wear face masks to contain the pandemic.
The dire forecast is based on a projection by the nation’s intelligence agency, University of Indonesia and Bandung Institute of Technology, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati told lawmakers in Jakarta.
The estimate was discussed at a cabinet meeting held by President Joko Widodo earlier on Monday, she said.
Indonesia on Monday confirmed 218 new coronavirus cases, the biggest daily jump since the first cases were announced a month ago, taking the total number of infections to 2,491, a Health Ministry official said.
Achmad Yurianto, the official, said that 11 deaths had been recorded, taking the total to 209, while 192 people had recovered.
A man wearing a mask to protect against the spread of the coronavirus, walks on the deserted Istiklal Street, the main shopping street in Istanbul, in Istanbul, April 3, 2020. (PHOTO / AP)
Iran
Iran will never ask the United States to help Tehran in its fight against the new coronavirus, Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Monday, adding that Washington should lift its “illegal” sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
“Iran has never asked and will not ask America to help Tehran in its fight against the outbreak ... But America should lift all its illegal unilateral sanctions on Iran,” Mousavi said in a televised news conference.
A total of 3,739 COVID-19 patients have died in Iran as of Monday, according to the latest figure from Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, state TV reported.
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Iran reached 60,500 on Monday, with an increase of 2,274 in the past 24 hours, said Kianush Jahanpur, head of Public Relations and Information Center of the ministry.
Iraq
Iraqi Health Ministry on Sunday confirmed 83 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 961.
The death toll of the novel coronavirus reached 61, said the ministry in a statement.
Israel
Israelis who have beards for religious reasons will get the option of custom-made face masks to protect them from the coronavirus rather than being told to shave, a government official said on Monday.
A total of 579 people in Israel were tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the tally of infections to 8,430, the Israeli Ministry of Health said.
The ministry also announced six new deaths from the novel coronavirus on Sunday, raising the death toll to 49.
Kuwait
Kuwait reported on Monday 109 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number in the country to 665, the Health Ministry said in a statement.
Among the new cases, there are eight Kuwaiti citizens who returned from Britain, Spain and the United States, according to the statement.
The other 101 cases have a history of contact with infected patients, according to the statement.
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan has reported 69 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number in the country to 216, its health ministry said Monday.
Minister of Health Sabirzhan Abdikarimov told a news briefing on Monday that all new cases were identified in patients who were already under observation.
The minister added that two new deaths from COVID-19 have been reported in the country, taking the total to four.
Laos
One more COVID-19 infected case has been confirmed in Laos, bringing the total number of the confirmed cases in the country to 12.
Malaysia
Malaysia on Monday reported 131 new coronavirus infections, raising the country’s total to 3,793 cases, the highest in Southeast Asia.
The Health Ministry has recorded 62 deaths, including one more reported as of noon Monday.
Mongolia
One more COVID-19 case has been confirmed in Mongolia, raising its total to 15, the country's National Center for Communicable Disease (NCCD) said Monday.
"A Turkish citizen who has been isolated in the NCCD tested positive for COVID-19," Dulmaa Nyamkhuu, head of the NCCD, said at a press conference.
New Zealand
New Zealand reported 39 confirmed and 28 probable cases of COVID-19 on Monday, lifting the total number of confirmed and probable infections to 1,106 in the country.
There were no additional deaths and 176 people had recovered, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield from the Ministry of Health said at a press conference.
Fifteen people are in hospitals, with three of them in ICU, one in critical condition.
New Zealand will stick to its tough curbs to combat the coronavirus, despite some early signs the spread of the illness has been stabilising, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday.
Oman
The Omani Ministry of Health announced on Sunday that it recorded 21 new cases of COVID-19 and two more deaths, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 298.
All the 21 new cases are citizens of Oman and come as a result of community contact, according to a ministry statement.
Pakistan
Pakistan on Monday opened two major border crossings with Afghanistan to allow stranded Afghan citizens to return home, officials and correspondents said.
The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has risen to 3,059 including 45 deaths in Pakistan, according to the data updated by the country's health ministry on Sunday evening.
The statistics presented by the ministry showed that at least 512 people were tested positive while eight deaths were registered from Friday to Sunday.
READ MORE: South Korea extends intensive social distancing for 14 days
Palestine
A Palestinian official said Sunday that Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye received a rare phone call from head of the political bureau of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh a few days ago amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
During the call, Haniyeh stressed the necessity of following up on the situation in the Gaza Strip amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and extended his greetings to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, according to Ibrahim Milhem, Palestinian government's spokesperson.
Palestine on Sunday declared 17 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Palestinian territories to 234.
An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman reflected in a shop window as she wears a protective face mask on a mainly deserted street because of the government's measures to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, in Bnei Brak, a suburb of Tel Aviv, Israel, April 3, 2020. (PHOTO / AP)
Singapore
Singapore unveiled S$5.1 billion (US$3.55 billion) in additional economic spending such as wage support, waiver of levies and one-off payments to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Singapore reported 120 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, by far its highest daily rise, and quarantined nearly 20,000 migrant workers in their dormitories.
Of Sunday’s new cases, 116 were locally transmitted and many were linked to two dormitories that house migrant workers, who will now have to stay in their rooms for 14 days.
The spike in cases comes two days before the country will begin closing schools and most workplaces for a month as part of tighter restrictions to combat the COVID-19 disease.
Thailand
Thailand has extended a ban on all passenger flights from landing in the country to curb the outbreak of the new coronavirus, the country’s aviation agency said on Monday.
The ban on incoming flights came into effect on Saturday morning and was originally set to run until the end of Monday, according to a previous order by the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand.
The new order, which extended the ban for 12 more days until the end of April 18, came after the country reported 51 new coronavirus cases and three more deaths on Monday, raising the numbers to 2,220 cases and 26 fatalities.
The number of new cases was the lowest daily rise since March 20.
Thailand has declared a state of emergency until the end of the month.
The Philippines
The Philippines’ Health Ministry on Monday reported 11 additional deaths and 414 new infections from of the coronavirus outbreak.
In a bulletin, the ministry said total deaths in the Philippines had reached 163 and cases rose to 3,660, while 73 patients had recovered.
Turkey
Turkey’s death toll from the new coronavirus rose by 73 on Saturday to total 574, and new confirmed cases rose by 3,135 to bring the country’s total to 27,069, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.
He added that 20,065 tests for the COVID-19 disease had been performed in Turkey in the last 24 hours.
Turkey said on Sunday it would minimise its troop movements in operation zones in neighbouring Syria in response to the coronavirus outbreak as the Turkish death toll and infections in the country rose.
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UAE
More than 20,000 Pakistani workers stuck in the United Arab Emirates are seeking to return home, as the Gulf Arab state tightens restrictions due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday announced 294 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 1,799.
The new cases of many nationalities are all in stable condition, the Ministry of Health and Prevention said in a statement.
Vietnam
People who violate the COVID-19 prevention and combat regulations will face heavy fines or even a criminal trial in the Vietnamese capital city of Hanoi, Vietnam News Agency reported Monday.
Meanwhile, those who escape from quarantine sites, violate quarantine protocols, reject or evade compulsory quarantine could face an administrative fine of 10 million Vietnamese dong and would be criminally tried if their action causes infection of others, according to the official document.
Vietnam has implemented a 15-day social distancing against the COVID-19 epidemic starting from April 1. The country has reported 241 cases of COVID-19 infection with 91 patients cured as of Monday morning, according to its Ministry of Health.
