Face mask-clad commuters wait for their train at the Tanah Abang railway station in Jakarta on Aug 18, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

SYDNEY / JERUSALEM / ANKARA / JAKARTA - Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Monday asked the authorities to anticipate the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the European Union (EU) and Asia and ordered all the stakeholders to step up fighting against the virus.

The move came following the significant hike in the confirmed cases in several members of the European Union (EU) and Asian countries.

"I want to stress that the home affairs minister reminds the COVID-19 task forces in the provinces, governors and mayors to fully and seriously work for the battle against the pandemic," the president told a limited cabinet meeting.

The tight health protocols, especially the face mask wearing and the efforts to rein the virus transmission have to be fully implemented, the president said.

Meanwhile, Bali will remain closed to foreign visitors for the rest of 2020 after authorities postponed a plan to welcome back international tourists from Sept. 11 as the coronavirus continues to spread.

Indonesia has brought down the number of cities and districts classified as high-risk areas for the COVID-19 transmission a month ago. But at the same time the situation in some other areas has worsened,  the COVID-19 Task Force said. 

Bangladesh 

Bangladesh reported 2,485 new COVID-19 cases and 42 new deaths on Monday, taking the case tally to 297,083 and the death toll to 4,019, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.

According to the figure reported by the DGHS under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 13,382 samples were tested in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh.

The total number of recovered patients in the country stood at 182,875 including 3,784 new recoveries on Monday, said the DGHS.

Maldives

The government of the Maldives has enforced new lockdown measures including restrictions on vehicle movement and closing times for shops amid a second wave of surging COVID-19 cases, local media reported Monday.

The Health Emergency Operating Center (HEOC) announced that land vehicles would be banned from travelling in the Greater Male Region between 8:00 pm and 5:00 am local time, with violators facing fines up to 65 US dollars. Pedestrians are allowed to stay outdoors until 10:00 pm local time.

Iran

Iran's confirmed novel coronavirus cases rose to 361,150 on Monday after an overnight registration of 2,245 new infections, Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education announced.

Sima Sadat Lari, the spokeswoman for the Iranian ministry, said at her daily briefing that out of the new cases in the past 24 hours, 1,132 have been hospitalized.

The pandemic has so far claimed 20,776 lives in Iran, up by 133 in the past 24 hours, said Lari.

Kuwait

Kuwait on Monday reported 432 new COVID-19 cases and three more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 80,960 and the death toll to 518, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

Currently, 7,517 patients are receiving treatment, including 99 in ICU, according to the statement.

The ministry also announced the recovery of 618 more patients, raising the total recoveries in the country to 72,925.

On Aug. 20, the Kuwaiti government decided to lift a countrywide partial curfew as of Aug. 30.

New Zealand

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday extended a coronavirus lockdown in the country’s largest city until the end of the week and introduced mandatory mask wearing on public transport across the nation.

Ardern said the four-day extension in the city of Auckland was critical to enable the country to step down its scale of emergency restrictions - and remain at less restrictive levels.

“We want both confidence, and certainty for everyone,” Ardern said during a televised media conference.

The Auckland lockdown, imposed on Aug. 11 after officials detected the country’s first locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in more than three months, had been scheduled to end on Wednesday.

It will now end on Sunday night. The city’s step down from Level 3 to Level 2 restrictions will be made gradually from Monday, Ardern said.

Around 150 people have been diagnosed as part of the cluster that originated in Auckland, which is home to 1.7 million people, but daily new case numbers have slowed to single digit increases over the past three days.

“This is a contained cluster. But it is our biggest one. And that means the tail will be long, and the cases will keep coming for a while to come,” Ardern told reporters in Wellington.

To maintain control as Auckland eases down to Level 2 restrictions, which will allow schools and shops to reopen, public gatherings will still be restricted to a maximum of 10 people, Ardern said. The rest of the country will remain at Level 2 restrictions, but with the broader limit of up to 100 people at public gatherings. Both situations will be reviewed before Sept. 6, she said.

New Zealand, which has a population of 5 million, has so far recorded just over 1,300 COVID-19 cases, including 22 deaths.

Baseball fans enter the stadium ahead of the KBO league baseball game between Seoul-based Doosan Bears and LG Twins at Jamsil stadium in Seoul on July 26, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

South Korea

South Korea’s capital on Monday ordered masks to be worn in both indoor and outdoor public places for the first time, as it battles a surge in coronavirus cases centred in the densely populated metropolitan area.

In May, the city government ordered that masks be worn on public transport and in taxis, but a recent spike in cases has health officials worried that the country may need to impose its highest level of social distancing, known as phase 3.

“If we can’t stop it at this stage, we have no choice but to upgrade to the third phase of social distancing,” President Moon Jae-in told his top aides.

“The raise to phase 3 is by no means an easy option.”

Under phase 3, schools and business will be urged to close inflicting more damage on Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 266 new cases as of midnight on Sunday, down from 397 a day earlier but another in more than a week of triple-digit daily increases.

Overall, South Korea has reported 17,665 coronavirus cases and 309 deaths.

India

India's COVID-19 tally rose to 3,106,348, and the death toll surged to 57,542 on Monday, said the latest data released by the federal health ministry.

As many as 61,408 new cases and 836 deaths were reported during the past 24 hours.

According to the data, there are still 710,771 active cases across India, even as 23,38,035 people have been successfully cured and discharged from hospitals.

Over the past few weeks, Indian Government's focus has been on ramping up the testing of COVID-19 samples.

Till Sunday a total of 35,902,137 samples had been tested, out of which 609,917 were tested on Sunday alone, according to the latest data released by the Indian Council of Medical Research.   

ALSO READ: South Korea warns of ‘massive’ coronavirus risk

Vietnam

Vietnam’s health ministry said late Saturday that the country had 5 more local cases and one death -- a 93-year-old man -- all in the coastal hotspot of Danang. Cases in the Southeast Asian country, once a model of containment in the region, now total 1,014. There have been 26 deaths.

Australia

Australia was on course to report its lowest one-day rise in new coronavirus infections in almost two months on Monday, fuelling optimism that a deadly second wave is subsiding.

Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland states reported a combined 120 new cases over the past 24 hours, with Victoria responsible for the vast majority with its capital city of Melbourne the epicentre of the latest outbreak. Victoria earlier this month reported a record 700 cases in a single day.

Other states and territories are still to report, but have not recorded new cases in weeks, with experts believing they have effectively eliminated the virus. With no new surprise numbers, Monday’s would be the lowest single-day rise since July 5.

“We are on track now to start to get into double digits soon,” Victoria state Health Minister Jenny Mikakos told reporters in Melbourne.

Australia has recorded nearly 25,000 COVID-19 infections, including 517 deaths.

Japan

Tokyo reported 95 additional coronavirus cases, the lowest daily number since July 8, in the latest sign that the Japanese capital’s outbreak is easing.

While Tokyo’s infection count is typically low on Mondays, the latest numbers continue a downward trend. They also follow comments last week from the government’s virus advisory panel that Japan’s current coronavirus wave has more or less reached its nationwide peak.

The confirmed COVID-19 cases in Japan increased by 984 to reach 62,046 as of Saturday night, according to the latest figures from the health ministry and local authorities.

Israel

Israel’s Immigration and Absorption Minister Pnina Tamano, a member of the Blue and White political party, tested positive for coronavirus, a parliamentary spokesman said Sunday.

The cumulative number of Israeli coronavirus cases reached 102,663 on Sunday after 730 new ones were added, the Ministry of Health said.

The death toll rose to 834 with 15 new fatalities, while the number of patients in serious condition remained at 398, out of 868 patients currently hospitalized.

The number of recoveries grew to 79,514 with 863 new recoveries, while the number of active cases dropped to 22,315.

Turkey

Turkey's number of COVID-19 cases increased by 1,217 to 258,249 on Sunday, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.

Meanwhile, 19 people died in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 6,121, Koca tweeted.

The number of severe cases is still increasing, he said, noting that the rate of pneumonia patients is at the limit of control.

The rate of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients is 7.5 percent and the number of seriously ill patients is 783, he stated.

Turkish health professionals conducted 80,302 tests in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall number of tests to 6,327,466, he said.

A total of 795 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, raising the total recoveries to 237,165 in Turkey, Koca said.

Jordan

Jordan on Sunday reported a new death case from novel coronavirus, increasing the overall number of deaths in the country to 12.

The deceased, identified as a 94-year-old woman, was diagnosed as COVID-19 patient on Saturday and passed away on Sunday, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

The ministry said 33 new COVID-19 cases, including 29 local infections, were registered in the country on Sunday, increasing the tally to 1,609.

Fifty-two recoveries were registered during the last 24 hours, while a total of 7,827 random virus tests were also conducted on Sunday, bringing the total number of coronavirus tests in Jordan to 745,100, the ministry added.

Lebanon

Lebanon's number of COVID-19 infections increased on Sunday by 507 cases to 12,698 while the death toll went up by 2 to 123, the Health Ministry reported.

Lebanon has started on Friday a lockdown period after witnessing a remarkable increase in the number of daily infections over the past days. 

Palestine

Palestine recorded on Sunday 326 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections in the Palestinian territories to 25,035.

Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila said in a press statement that 316 cases were reported in the West Bank, while 10 cases were reported in East Jerusalem. 

Meanwhile, four fatalities were reported in the West Bank, bringing the death toll to 144, al-Kaila added.

Iraq

The Iraqi Health Ministry on Sunday reported 3,291 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total nationwide infections to 204,341.

In a statement, it also reported 75 fatalities during the day, raising the death toll to 6,428, while 3,016 more patients recovered in the day, bringing the total number of recoveries to 146,409.

The new cases were recorded after 19,679 testing kits were used across the country during the day, and a total of 1,433,626 tests have been carried out since the outbreak of the disease, according to the statement.

The United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday announced 390 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 67,007.

The UAE's Ministry of Health and Prevention said in a statement that the new cases are in a stable condition and receiving medical treatment.

And 80 more patients have recovered from the virus, taking the tally of recoveries in the UAE to 58,488, according to the ministry.

It also confirmed three more deaths, pushing the country's death toll to 375.

READ MORE: S'pore to allow NZ, Brunei visitors in 1st border easing

Myanmar

Myanmar reported six more locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total number of infections to 450, according to a statement from the Health and Sports Ministry.

According to the ministry, the newly confirmed cases are from Sittwe township of western Rakhine state.

Of the newly confirmed cases, five patients of them did not have recent travelling history or came into close contact with confirmed patients, while the other one was under quarantine due to the close contact with recently confirmed patients.

So far, a total of 59 local cases were reported in Rakhine state since Aug. 16, the ministry's figures showed.

Due to the recent increasing number of locally transmitted cases in Rakhine state, the Myanmar government sent to Sittwe township 24 volunteer health workers to help fight the COVID-19 outbreak.

According to the ministry's figures, 341 patients have recovered from the disease so far.

Qatar

The Qatari health ministry on Sunday announced 243 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 117,008, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.

Meanwhile, 277 more recovered from the virus, bringing the total recoveries to 113,808, while no new death was reported as the fatalities remained 193, according to a ministry statement quoted by QNA.

The ministry attributed the increase in coronavirus infections to gatherings and visits as well as ignoring the preventive measures such as staying at home and social distancing.

A total of 589,920 people in Qatar have taken lab tests for COVID-19 so far.

The Philippines

The Philippine health ministry on Monday confirmed 4,686 additional novel coronavirus infections and 13 more deaths.

In a bulletin, the ministry said total confirmed cases have risen to 194,252, more than 60 percent of which were recorded in the past month, while deaths have reached 3,010.

Indonesia 

The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 1,877 within one day to 155,412, with the death toll adding by 79 to 6,759, the health ministry said on Monday.

According to the ministry, 3,560 more people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 111,060.

The virus has spread to all the country's 34 provinces.

Mongolia 

A total of nine COVID-19 patients are now under treatment in Mongolia after one more patient has recovered from the disease, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Monday.

Two of the nine people treated at the NCCD are in serious condition, Amarjargal Ambaselmaa, head of the NCCD's Surveillance Department, told a daily press briefing.

Meanwhile, Mongolia reported no new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, marking the ninth consecutive day without new cases, said Ambaselmaa.