Medical workers staff a drive-through COVID-19 testing site located in a shopping centre carpark in Melbourne on June 23, 2020. (WILLIAM WEST / AFP)

SYDNEY / KABUL / DHAKA / AMMAN / NEW DELHI / TEHRAN / JERUSALEM / TOKYO / KATHMANDU / MANILA / SEOUL / BANGKOK / ANKARA / DUBAI / HANOI / ADEN - The Australian Defence Force (ADF) will deploy over 1,000 military personnel to the state of Victoria to help contain an outbreak of COVID-19, authorities announced Thursday.

India's federal health ministry Thursday morning said 418 new deaths due to COVID-19 were reported 

Victoria reported 33 new cases on Thursday, the state's largest daily increase in close to three months, further fuelling concerns over a second wave of infections.

Premier Daniel Andrews said that the military would be assisting with a "testing blitz", aiming to conduct 100,000 tests over the next 10 days, primarily across hotspot areas in the state capital of Melbourne.

Other States have agreed to help process the extra tests, which will be flown interstate by the ADF.

Wednesday marked the ninth straight day of double digit increases in Victoria's case numbers, in contrast to most other regions reporting zero new infections for the past several weeks.

ADF personnel will also be involved in bolstering standards of the hotel quarantine system which has been linked to two of Victoria's current outbreaks.

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"Our soldiers are not law enforcement personnel... they are not security guards, but they are assisting those locations to make sure quarantine requirements are met," Minister for Defence Linda Reynolds told the ABC.

Workers at a major supermarket distribution centre were also among the State's new cases, with two employees forced to self isolate after they tested positive along with a number of their family members.

With the rest of the country looking to ease virus restrictions, Australians in other States have been told not to travel to Victoria and to avoid interacting with people from hotspot areas.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan on Thursday reported 460 new COVID-19 cases within the past 24 hours, bringing the total tally in the country to 30,175 cases, the country's Ministry of Public Health confirmed.

"Within the past 24 hours, 1,175 suspected cases were tested, out of which 460 cases were tested coronavirus positive in 15 of 34 Afghan provinces," the ministry said in a statement.

Thirty-six COVID-19 patients succumbed to the virus, taking the number of people who lost their lives due to the virus to 675 since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country in February.

The number of people recovered stands at 10,174 after 305 patients recovered during the period.

The ministry has conducted 68,626 tests since February, according to statistics of the public health ministry.  

Bangladesh

Bangladesh reported nearly 4,000 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the total in the country to over 126,000.

Senior Health Ministry official Nasima Sultana said in a briefing on Thursday afternoon that "3,946 new COVID-19 positive cases and 39 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh."

She said, "The total number of positive cases is now 126,606 and death toll stands currently at 1,621."

According to the official, highest 17,999 samples were tested in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh.

She said 1,829 more COVID-19 patients were announced as recovered during the last 24 hours, bringing the total recoveries so far to 51,495.

India

India's federal health ministry Thursday morning said 418 new deaths due to COVID-19, besides fresh 16,922 positive cases, were reported during the past 24 hours across the country.

It took the number of deaths to 14,894 and total cases to 473,105.

This is the biggest single day spike in terms of new infections in the country so far.

On Wednesday morning the number of COVID-19 cases was 456,183, and the death toll was 14,476.

According to the officials, so far 271,697 people have been discharged from hospitals after showing improvement.

The number of active cases in the country right now is 186,514. 

Iran 

Iran reported 2,531 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, taking the total number in the country to 212,501 on Wednesday, official IRNA news agency reported.

Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said during her daily briefing that 133 people died from the virus overnight, taking the death toll to 9,996.

So far, 172,096 have recovered and 2,869 are in critical condition, said Lari.

According to the health spokeswoman, 1,502,525 lab tests for COVID-19 have been carried out in Iran as of Wednesday.

Iran announced its first coronavirus cases on Feb 19.

A man, wearing a protective mask and gloves, checks currency exchange rates in the Iranian capital Tehran amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, on June 22, 2020. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Israel

The Israeli Ministry of Health reported 532 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, the highest daily figure since April 22, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in Israel to 22,044.

The number of death cases remained 308, while the number of patients in serious condition increased from 40 to 46, out of 189 patients currently hospitalized.

The number of recoveries rose to 15,940, with 71 new recoveries, while the number of active cases rose to 5,796, the highest since May 4.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli government unanimously approved a bill to reallow the Shin Bet internal security service to track and detect coronavirus patients amid the recent increase in morbidity.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after the special government meeting that "we will use this tool responsibly and safely to curb the spread of the pandemic." 

Japan

Japan is to disband a panel of medical experts advising Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet on the response to the novel coronavirus after criticism of its transparency and lack of independence.

Japan has been spared the kind of explosive coronavirus outbreak seen elsewhere, with some 18,000 cases and 969 deaths, but it is far from over and questions about the government’s response linger.

The number of daily new cases in the capital, Tokyo, climbed to 55 on Wednesday, the highest tally in 1-1/2 months after a cluster of infections was found at an office.

The panel’s independence from government influence has come into question and Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Wednesday it would be disbanded and a new one created with a broader range of specialists.

“About a month has passed since the lifting of the state of emergency, and maintaining a balance between infection prevention and social and economic activities has become the thrust of our responses,” top government spokesman Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference on Thursday.

“At this time, we’ve decided to review the panel that gives us expert advice.”

The way the panel, led by Takaji Wakita, chief of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, has been run has came under criticism after it was revealed last month that it kept no minutes of its discussions.

Jordan 

Jordan on Wednesday reported 24 cases of novel coronavirus, increasing the total cases in the country to 1,071.

One of the new cases was for local infection, the rests all for imported cases. 

Also, on Wednesday, ten people recovered, while 7,518 virus tests were conducted, bringing the country's total number of coronavirus tests to 348,679.

Nepal

More than a dozen health workers and nearly a dozen security personnel in Nepal have been infected with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Health and Population said on Thursday.

According to the data made available by the Ministry of Health and Population to Xinhua, as many as 14 health workers, including doctors and nurses, have been infected with the virus while another 10 security personnel representing Nepal Army, Armed Police Force and Nepal Police have also become victims of the virus.

As of Wednesday, the Nepali government confirmed 10,728 COVID-19 cases with 24 deaths. With over 10,000 cases, Nepal has entered into the worst case scenario as defined by the country's health ministry.

New Zealand

New Zealand reported three new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the total active cases in the country to 13, according to the Ministry of Health.

The new cases included two in Christchurch and one in Rotorua. All of them were in managed isolation.

The Rotorua case was a woman in her 30s who arrived from Peru. Everyone who was on the bus to Rotorua with her is being followed up, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield told a press conference.

The two Christchurch cases were a man in his 70s and a man in his 30s who arrived from India on June 20 on the same flight. They were tested positive for COVID-19 on the routine testing on the third day of their isolation, Bloomfield said.

"Any possible contact of these two cases are being identified and followed up," he added.

The total number of confirmed cases in New Zealand reached 1,169, Bloomfield said.

The number of COVID-19 related deaths in New Zealand was 22, according to the ministry.

Philippines 

The number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines soared to 33,069 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 778 more infections on Thursday.

The DOH said in its bulletin that the number of recoveries further rose to 8,910 after 255 more patients have survived the disease.

The death toll also increased to 1,212 after eight more patients have succumbed to the viral disease, the DOH added.

According to the DOH, 452 of the daily reported cases were in Metro Manila, 106 cases in the Central Visayas region in the central Philippines and 220 cases were reported in other parts of the country.

South Korea

South Korea reported 28 more cases of the COVID-19 compared to 24 hours ago as of 0:00 am Thursday local time, raising the total number of infections to 12,563.

The daily caseload fell below 30 in three days. Of the new cases, five were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 1,496.

Small cluster infections were still found linked to health product retailer and a car club.

One more death was confirmed, leaving the death toll at 282. The total fatality rate stood at 2.24 percent.

A total of 44 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 10,974. The total recovery rate was 87.4 percent.

Thailand

Thailand on Thursday reported one new coronavirus case detected in a Thai national returning from abroad, taking the country to 31 days without a local transmission.

The new case was undergoing mandatory quarantine after returning from Egypt, said Panprapa Yongtrakul, a spokeswoman for the government’s COVID-19 Administration Centre.

The coronavirus has killed 58 people in Thailand since it was first detected in January, among 3,158 infections, of which 3,038 patients have recovered. Thailand will reopen schools and plans to allow some foreigners into the country from next week.

Turkey 

Turkey reported 24 new COVID-19 fatalities on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 5,025 in the country, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the country climbed to 191,657, with 1,492 daily infections, he noted.

The minister said that 1,386 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, bringing the tally of recoveries to 164,234.

He said 53,486 tests were conducted over the day, with the overall number of tests reaching 3,083,121.

Turkey is currently treating 914 patients in intensive care units, with 356 intubated, Koca added.

People sit in a public garden in the city centre, in Ankara, Turkey, June 24, 2020. (BURHAN OZBILICI / AP)

UAE

The United Arab Emirates’ government has lifted its coronavirus-related curfew, it posted on Twitter on Wednesday.

“All members of society are allowed to freely enter and exit throughout the day without restrictions,” it said in an announcement also tweeted by the country’s National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority.

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Vietnam

Despite successfully containing its COVID-19 outbreak, Vietnam has no plans to open up to international tourists yet over fears that doing so could lead to a second wave of infections, the Southeast Asian country’s prime minister said on Wednesday.

Thanks to an aggressive, targeted testing programme and a centralised quarantine system, Vietnam has contained infections numbers to a relatively low 352 cases, most of whom have recovered. There have been no reported deaths.

Highly skilled foreign experts such as engineers have been allowed to enter Vietnam on special flights and quarantine at hotels in a bid to keep the economy afloat throughout the global pandemic. 

For over two months, Vietnam has reported no community transmission of the coronavirus. In early June, Vietnam said it was planning to resume flights to some virus-free countries that had registered no cases of coronavirus for 30 days or more.

Yemen

The total number of COVID-19 cases in Yemen's government-controlled provinces increased to 1,015 on Wednesday, as 23 new cases were confirmed.

The Yemeni Health Ministry said in a brief press statement that during the past 24 hours, the number of recoveries in the government-controlled areas increased to 379 since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus on April 10.

Also, the government announced that the death toll from the deadly respiratory disease climbed to 274 in different areas under its control, including the southern port city of Aden.