A man puts on a mask on the face of a young girl as they wait with their luggage at the check-in counter along with other Indian nationals residing in Oman before their repatriation flight, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, from the Omani capital at Muscat International Airport on May 12, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

SYDNEY / JERUSALEM / DUBAI / TOKYO / MANILA - Oman will ban travel between all its governorates from July 25 to Aug 8, a period that includes a Muslim holiday, to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, state news agency ONA said on Tuesday.

A statement from the Health Ministry described the measure as a “total lockdown” of all governorates.

The Gulf state will also implement a daily curfew from 7 pm to 6 am during the period, which includes the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday period. Shops and public spaces will be closed during the hours of curfew.

Oman, a country of 4.7 million people, recorded 1,458 new case of infection on Tuesday and 11 deaths, taking the total tally to 69,887 cases and 337 deaths.

Oman introduced lockdowns in March in some regions such as Muscat, Dhofar, Duqm and some tourist towns. Since April, it has gradually allowed commercial centres to reopen and lifted the lockdown in the Muscat region, which includes the capital.

Air and land borders have been closed, except for repatriation. Last week, the government said it would start allowing citizens fly abroad after applying for permission.

In Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Oman and five other Gulf Arab states, the biggest nation Saudi Arabia has the highest number of confirmed infections. Together the group has recorded more than 582,000 cases and more than 3,880 deaths.

Japan

Downloads of Japan’s coronavirus contact-tracing app have slowed since its debut last month, a blow to the government’s aim to use smartphones to head off a second wave of infection.

Downloads stood at 7.69 million as of Monday, said health ministry official Yasuyuki Sahara. In the first week after its June 19 start, downloads had reached 4.4 million.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told members of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party that there’s no need to declare a state of emergency now, public broadcaster NHK reported, without attribution. The government will watch the situation closely and bolster testing capabilities to try and prevent the coronavirus from spreading to the elderly, it said.

Tokyo had 237 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, Governor Yuriko Koike told reporters in footage streamed by public broadcaster NHK. That compares with 168 cases reported Monday.

The Philippines

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the police to intensify arrests and detentions of those who violate government rules on wearing masks and social distancing, as coronavirus cases continue to surge.

“A simple violation of not wearing mask seems trivial, but during times of health issues, it can be a serious crime,” Duterte said in a taped meeting with Cabinet officials aired Tuesday. “We don’t have any qualms on arresting people.”

The number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines surged to 70,764 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 1,951 new infections on Tuesday.

Israel

Israel’s parliament voted on Monday to allow the country’s domestic intelligence agency to track the cellphones of coronavirus carriers for the rest of the year amid a resurgence in new cases.

The Shin Bet’s surveillance technology has been used on and off to track carriers since March, and the Knesset in a late- night decision approved the measure through Jan. 20, 2021, the Knesset news agency reported.

The security agency tracks location data of confirmed carriers for 14 days before they were diagnosed. That data is used to identify anyone with whom they came into contact, which proponents say is crucial to infection chains.

The Israeli Ministry of Health reported 1,714 new coronavirus cases on Monday, bringing the total to 52,003, while the number of death cases rose from 409 to 415, as the country has extended flight restrictions until at least September 1.

READ MORE: Malaysia considers making face masks compulsory in public

Australia

Australia’s second most populous state of Victoria reported on Tuesday three deaths from the new coronavirus and logged 374 daily cases of infections compared with 275 cases a day earlier.

A woman in her 100s, a woman in her 90s and a woman in her 80s have all died from the virus, Premier Daniel Andrews said in a media briefing in Melbourne.

The state so far has recorded just under 6,300 total confirmed cases of COVID-19, which is nearly half of the total infections in Australia.

South Australia will further tighten its state border to guard against renewed virus outbreaks by introducing a maximum two-year jail term for people who breach the rules. Emergency legislation will be amended Tuesday to introduce the new penalty, the state government said in a statement.

India

Nearly a quarter of the residents in India’s capital New Delhi have had the coronavirus, according to a sero-prevalence study conducted by the country’s disease control organization.

With a population of more than 11 million, New Delhi has so far reported 123,747 confirmed cases and 3,663 deaths. The study conducted by the National Center for Disease Control found that 23.48 percent of the 21, 387 blood samples tested showed the prevalence of IgG antibodies.

The samples were collected between June 27 through July 10 across the city’s 11 districts. The tests help in the identification of the presence of antibodies in the general population. The study did not provide any gender or age-related details of the population sample tested.

Even as the spread of virus has been contained in the city, a significant proportion of the population is still vulnerable, according to the health ministry statement.

India's health ministry Tuesday morning reported 587 new deaths from COVID-19, and 37,148 positive cases during the past 24 hours across the country, taking the number of deaths to 28,084 and the total cases to 1,155,191.

According to ministry officials, so far 724,578 people have been discharged from hospitals after showing improvement.

"The number of active cases in the country right now is 402,529," according to the ministry.

A man using a face mask amid the coronavirus pandemic crisis, uses his mobile phone across a billboard hanging along the side of a highway in the coastal Israeli city of Tel Aviv. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)

Indonesia

The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 1,655 within one day to 89,869, with the death toll adding by 81 to 4,320, the government's spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

According to him, 1,489 more people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 48,466.

Iraq

Iraq's Health Ministry recorded 2,163 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total number of infections nationwide to 94,693.

 A statement by the ministry also reported 88 more deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 3,869.

A member of the Iraqi parliament predicted on Monday that the earlier decisions to ease restrictions by the health authorities could increase the number of daily new COVID-19 cases.

Lawmaker Ghaiyb al-Omairi said in a press release that the latest decisions of the Higher Committee for Health and National Safety to reopen the airports, malls, and border crossings could raise the daily COVID-19 infections.

ALSO READ: Mask-wearing made mandatory in Melbourne amid virus surge

Lebanon

Lebanon witnessed on Monday the first death of a Lebanese doctor fighting against COVID-19 at the Nabih Berri public hospital in Nabatieh in southern Lebanon.

Nepal

The Nepali government on Monday decided to resume operation of both domestic and international flights starting from August 17, nearly four months after their suspension, a cabinet minister said.

The Nepali government had suspended both domestic and international flights on March 22 to prevent the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in the country. During the months, only chartered flights for humanitarian purpose or delivery of medical goods were allowed.

So far, Nepal has reported 17,844 infections with 40 deaths from the disease.

A resident rides her bicycle past armed soldiers along a street in Navotas in suburban Manila on July 16, 2020, after the local government reimposed a lockdown in the city due to increased COVID-19 infections. (TED ALJIBE / AFP)

New Zealand

New Zealand reported a new case of COVID-19 on Tuesday in managed isolation facilities, bringing the number of active cases in the country to 27, according to the Ministry of Health.

It has been 81 days since the last case was acquired locally from an unknown source, said a ministry's statement.

Tuesday's case was a woman in her 30s who arrived in the country last Thursday from London, via Doha and Sydney, it added.

She has been transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility, the statement read, adding that there is no one in New Zealand receiving hospital-level care.

The total number of confirmed cases in New Zealand stands at 1,205, which is reported to the World Health Organization.

Oman

Oman will ban travel between all its governorates from July 25 to Aug. 8, a period that includes a Muslim holiday, to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, state news agency ONA said on Tuesday.

A statement from the Health Ministry described the measure as a “total lockdown” of all governorates.

The Gulf state will also implement a daily curfew from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. during the period, which includes the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday period. Shops and public spaces will be closed during the hours of curfew.

The Omani ministry of health announced 1,739 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total confirmed number of the cases in the country to 68,400, while eight new fatalities were reported, bringing the death toll to 326.

Palestine

Palestine recorded on Monday 468 new COVID-19 cases in its territories, raising the total number to 10,520 with 66 deaths.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's total coronavirus cases rose to 253,349 on Monday with the registration of 2,429 new cases, the Saudi Health Ministry tweeted.

The death toll in the kingdom climbed to 2,523 with 37 new fatalities during the last 24 hours, while the tally of recoveries rose to 203,259 after 5,524 patients newly recovered from the disease.

The ministry said that the coronavirus recovery rate in the country has exceeded 80 percent.

South Korea

South Korea reported 45 more cases of COVID-19 as of 0:00 a.m. Tuesday local time compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 13,816.

The daily caseload rebounded after falling below 30 in the previous day amid the continued small cluster infections and imported cases.

Singapore

Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 123 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 48,035.

Of the new cases, two are imported cases, 11 are community cases and the rest are linked with the dormitories of foreign workers.

Of the new cases, 93 percent are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing.

Turkey

Turkey's COVID-19 cases increased by 931 on Monday to 220,572, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.

Meanwhile, 17 people died in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 5,508, he tweeted.

Turkey's national flag carrier Turkish Airlines on Monday said it suspended its plans to resume flights to Iran and Afghanistan.

The decision followed the Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Ministry's announcement on Sunday that Turkey halted flights to the two countries as a precautionary measure against the COVID-19 pandemic.

UAE

The United Arab Emirates on Monday announced 271 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 57,193. It also confirmed one more death, pushing the country's death toll to 340.

Mongolia

Mongolia has conducted more than 30,000 tests for COVID-19 so far this year, a senior official of the country's health ministry said Tuesday.

"A total of 30,998 tests for COVID-19 has been conducted in our country since January," Yadamsuren Buyanjargal, head of the department of medical assistance at the ministry, said during a news conference.

 As of Tuesday, Mongolia has confirmed 287 COVID-19 cases, with no local transmissions or deaths.

Brunei

Brunei reported no new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday with the national tally of cases standing at 141.

It marked the 75th consecutive day without new cases since May 7.

According to Brunei's Ministry of Health, no active cases are being treated at the National Isolation Center.

Meanwhile, currently there are 457 individuals who are undergoing mandatory isolation at the monitoring centers provided by the government, who have arrived in the country after traveling abroad.

There have been three deaths resulted from COVID-19 in Brunei and a total of 138 patients have recovered. 

Kuwait

Kuwait on Tuesday reported 671 new COVID-19 cases and four more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 60,434 and the death toll to 412, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

Currently, 9,103 patients are receiving treatment, including 127 in ICU, according to the statement.

The ministry also announced the recovery of 580 more patients, raising the total recoveries in the country to 50,919.

Sri Lanka

The number of COVID-19 cases rose to 2,730 in Sri Lanka on Tuesday after more people tested positive for the virus in the country, the health ministry statistics showed.

Out of the total infected, 2,048 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospital.

Patients under medical care now stand at 671, while 11 people died from the virus.