An Indian security personnel wearing protective gear checks the temperature of a customer before allowing him to enter a sweet shop in Hyderabad, India, June 5, 2020. (PHOTO / AP)

MUMBAI / BANGKOK / DUBIA / JAKARTA - India reported a record 9,887 new coronavirus cases in one day on Saturday and overtook Italy as the world’s sixth-biggest outbreak, two days before the relaxing of a lockdown with the reopening of malls, restaurants and places of worship.

With its total number of cases rising to more than 236,000, India now has fewer infections than only the United States, Brazil, Russia, Britain and Spain, according to Johns Hopkins University tally.

However, India’s toll of deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, is 6,649, small compared with those other countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, anxious to jump-start an economy crippled by the epidemic and put millions of people back to work, is easing its lockdown of the 1.3 billion population imposed in March, which the government says helped avoid an exponential rise in cases.

READ MORE: India's urban virus outbreak morphing into rural health crisis

Australia

The coronavirus crisis will cost more than 500 billion Australian dollars (US$348.3 billion) of the Australian budget over the next decade, a report found.

According to Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) projections released on Friday, the budget deficit will peak at 191 billion AUD (133 billion U.S. dollars) in financial year 2020-21 compared to a 6.1 billion AUD (US$4.2 billion) surplus projected by the government prior to the pandemic.

Cambodia

Cambodia may lose about US$3 billion in tourism revenue in 2020 as foreign tourists to the kingdom dropped sharply due to the impact of the COVID-19, Tourism Minister Thong Khon told Xinhua on Saturday.

 Tourism is one of the four sectors supporting Cambodia's economy as the Southeast Asian country attracted 6.6 million international tourists last year, earning a total revenue of US$4.9 billion.

 But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the kingdom received only 1.16 million foreign visitors during the first four months of this year, down 52 percent over the same period last year, Khon said.

Indonesia

Indonesia reported on Saturday its biggest daily rise in coronavirus infections, with 993 new cases, taking its total number to 30,514, a health ministry official said.

The official, Achmad Yurianto, reported 31 new deaths related to COVID-19, taking the total number of deaths in Indonesia to 1,801.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks during the inauguration of the new parliament in Tehran, Iran, May, 27, 2020.  (VAHID SALEMI / AP)

Iran

A wedding party contributed to a new surge in coronavirus infections in Iran, President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday but insisted the country had no option but to keep its economy open despite warnings of a second wave of the epidemic.

Iran, which has been gradually relaxing its lockdown since mid-April, has reported a sharp rise of new daily infections in recent days. Thursday’s toll of 3,574 new cases was the highest since February, when the outbreak was first reported.

“At one location, we witnessed a peak in this epidemic, the source of which was a wedding that caused problems for the people, health workers and losses to the economy and the country’s health system,” Rouhani said on state TV. He did not say when or where the wedding took place.

New cases dipped to 2,886 on Friday, bringing Iran’s total cases to more than 167,000, with over 8,000 deaths.

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan on Saturday added 38 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections to 1,974.

The country's Deputy Health Minister Nurbolot Usenbaev said at his daily briefing that the cases were detected after medical personnel carried out 5,050 tests in the last 24 hours.

New Zealand

New Zealand is aiming to eliminate the COVID-19 virus despite challenges posed by the winter season, New Zealand Ministry of Health said Friday.

"The government is aiming for elimination of the COVID-19 virus or as close as possible to elimination, which will be backed up by intense surveillance to detect re-emergence of the virus, and prompt a public health response if new cases are found," said a spokesperson from the ministry.

Pakistan

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan has risen to 93,983 with 1,935 deaths, according to the data updated by the country's health ministry Saturday morning.

A total of 4,734 new cases and 97 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, the statistics revealed.

South Korea

South Korea reported 51 more cases of the COVID-19 compared to 24 hours ago as of 0:00 a.m. Saturday local time, raising the total number of infections to 11,719.

The daily caseload rose above 50 for eight days due to small cluster infections relevant to religious gatherings, night spots, a distribution center and a health product retailer in the metropolitan area.

Thailand

Thailand on Saturday reported two new coronavirus cases and no new deaths, taking its total confirmed cases to 3,104 infections and 58 deaths since the outbreak began in January.

The two cases are men who returned from Russia and Kuwait and are in quarantine, where most of Thailand’s recent cases have been detected, said Panprapa Yongtrakul, an assistant spokeswoman for the government’s COVID-19 Administration Centre.

ALSO READ: Thailand to tout 'trusted' tourism in coronavirus era

The Philippines

The Philippines’ health ministry on Saturday reported seven new coronavirus deaths and 714 additional infections.

In a bulletin, the ministry said total deaths had increased to 994, while confirmed cases had reached 21,340.