A medical staff (right) takes a sample from a man for a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) for the COVID-19 coronavirus at a temporary test centre in a school in New Delhi on Sept 6, 2020. (PRAKASH SINGH / AFP)

MELBOURNE / TEHRAN / NEW DELHI / JAKARTA / JERUSALEM / BEIRUT / WELLINGTON / KUALA LUMPUR / YANGON / RAMALLAH / MANILA / SINGAPORE / SEOUL / ANKARA / DOHA - India added more than 90,000 cases of the novel coronavirus on Sunday, a global daily record, according to data from the federal health ministry.

There were 90,632 new cases in the 24 hours to Sunday, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Famlily Welfare, while the number of deaths rose by 1,065 to 70,626.

The country is set to pass Brazil on Monday as the second most affected country by total infections and will be behind only the United States, which has 6.4 million cases and nearly 193,000 deaths.

Coronavirus cases in India have reached 4.1 million and about 3.2 million affected people have been treated so far, the government data showed.

Medical experts said the country was seeing a second wave of the pandemic in some parts of the country, and that case numbers have surged because of increased testing and the easing of restrictions on public movement.

The government will partially restore metro train services in the national capital of New Delhi from Monday.

The pandemic will not finish this year as the virus has spread from big cities to other parts of the country, Randeep Guleria, the director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, said in an interview with India Today TV.

The number of cases could continue to rise before the curve flattens out, he said.

India has logged the world’s largest daily coronavirus case load for almost a month even as its government pushes to open businesses to revive a contracting economy.

People exercise along the St Kilda Beach foreshore in Melbourne on Sept 3, 2020 as the city battles an outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus. (WILLIAM WEST / AFP)

Australia

Australia’s coronavirus hot spot state of Victoria on Sunday extended a hard lockdown in its capital Melbourne by two weeks to the end of September as infection rates have declined more slowly than hoped.

State Premier Daniel Andrews on Sunday extended the hard lockdown, in place since Aug 2, to Sept 28 with a slight relaxation, and mapped out a gradual easing of restrictions over the following two months.

Melbourne’s stage 4 restrictions, which had been due to end on Sept. 13, shut most of the economy, limited people’s movements to a 5-km (3-mile) zone around their homes for one hour a day and imposed a night time curfew.

“We cannot open up at this time. If we were to we would lose control very quickly,” Andrews said at a televised media conference.

Victoria, Australia’s second most populous state, has been the epicenter of a second wave of the novel coronavirus, now accounting for about 75 percent of the country’s 26,282 cases and 90 percent of its 753 deaths.

The state on Sunday reported 63 new COVID-19 infections and five deaths, down from a peak of 725 new cases on Aug 5.

Indonesia

Indonesia reported 3,444 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the total to 194,109, data from the country’s health ministry website showed.

The Southeast Asian country also reported 85 new deaths on Sunday, taking the total to 8,025, the highest coronavirus death toll in Southeast Asia.

South Korea on Sunday reported the smallest rise in coronavirus infections in three weeks, remaining under 200 for a fourth consecutive day as tighter restrictions cap a second wave

Iran

Iran and Russia will cooperate to produce a COVID-19 vaccine in the Islamic republic, Iran's ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali was quoted as saying by semi-official FARS news agency on Saturday.

The announcement was made on Friday at the online meeting between Jalali and Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), according to the report.

The Iranian ambassador congratulated Russia on "the production of a vaccine for COVID-19."

Jalali also called for further health and medical cooperation between the two countries.

For his part, Dmitriev expressed happiness over the two countries' readiness for mass production of COVID-19 vaccine.

Russia's health authorities recently announced the production of COVID-19 vaccine.

A paramedic with Israel's Magen David Adom (Red Shield of David) national emergency medical service, performs a swab test at a drive-thru testing service for COVID-19 coronavirus in parking lot in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on Sept 4, 2020, as part of measures imposed by Israeli authorities. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)

Israel

Israel will soon impose a full nationwide closure because of the recent jump in COVID-19 morbidity, the state's Interior Minister Aryeh Deri told Channel 12 TV news on Saturday.

Deri added that the Israeli government will decide on Thursday on a date on which the full closure will begin.

The daily number of new coronavirus patients in Israel has approached 3,000 recently, while the number of death cases has crossed 1,000 on Saturday, reaching 1,007.

Israel's COVID-19 project manager Ronni Gamzu said in a press briefing on Thursday that there is a lack of control over the pandemic spread in many Israeli cities and towns.

Before the full closure, on this coming Monday, Israel will impose local closures on places where the morbidity is highest, classified "red" as part of a new "traffic light" program.

In this program, all local authorities in Israel were classified into four colors, red, orange, yellow and green, according to morbidity level, in order to impose separate COVID-19 restrictions.

However, due to the jump in morbidity figures, the government intends to impose a full closure, including in the green places where morbidity is lowest.

Lebanon

Lebanon's number of COVID-19 infections increased on Saturday by 531 cases to 20,011 while the death toll went up by 4 to 187, the Health Ministry reported.

The Health Ministry stressed the importance of quarantine for people who came in contact with the infected patients.

Lebanon has been fighting against COVID-19 since Feb 21. 

Malaysia 

Malaysia reported six new COVID-19 infections, bringing the national total to 9,397, the Health Ministry said on Sunday,

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that three of the new cases are imported and three others are local transmissions.

Another two cases have been released, bringing the total cured and discharged to 9,115 or 97 percent of all cases.

Of the remaining 154 active cases, six are being held in intensive care and three of them are in need of assisted breathing.

No new deaths have been reported, leaving the total deaths at 128.

Myanmar

Myanmar reported one more COVID-19 death on Sunday morning, bringing the death toll in the country to eight, according to a release from the Health and Sports Ministry .

A 46-year-old patient with underlying Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and diabetes tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday and died of acute respiratory failure due to pneumonia at 2:55 pm local time on the same day, the release said.

On Sunday morning, 66 more COVID-19 locally transmitted cases were reported in the country, totaling the number of cases to 1,319 so far, the ministry's figures showed.

According to the release, the newly confirmed cases are from Mandalay, Yangon and Ayeyarwady regions, Rakhine and Kayin states, respectively.

A total of 166,433 samples were tested for COVID-19 so far and 7,766 patients are currently under investigation, the ministry's figures said.

According to the ministry's figures, 371 patients have recovered from the disease so far.

Myanmar reported its first two positive cases of COVID-19 on March 23.

New Zealand

New Zealand reported five new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, said the Ministry of Health in a statement.

Of the five new cases reported, one was an imported case detected in a managed isolation facility. Four were defined as community cases linked to the wider Auckland August cluster, said the ministry.

There were four people with COVID-19 in hospital on Sunday, including one patient in ICU, it added.

According to the ministry, the total number of current active cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand is 116. The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand reached 1,421. The number of COVID-19-related deaths in New Zealand stayed at 24.

A range of operational changes to further strengthen the country's borders against COVID-19 will be implemented from Sunday night including mandatory routine COVID-19 testing for all border workers.

New Zealand will remain at COVID-19 Alert Level 2 until September 16, with extra restrictions in place for its largest city Auckland, announced the government on Friday.

Palestine

Palestine on Saturday recorded seven new death cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of deaths to 199.

In a press statement, Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila said that among the seven new deaths, five were recorded in the West Bank, while two were reported in the Gaza Strip.

She said that her ministry reported 433 new cases infected with the virus, raising the total number of infections to 33,250.

Meanwhile, Hamas-run Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip warned of the increase in the infections "because the residents do not abide by the precautionary instructions."

The government in Gaza is still imposing the full lockdown on the whole strip in order to contain the spread of the virus.

Singapore

Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 34 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 56,982.

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

On Saturday, 93 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 56,267 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, the ministry said.

There are currently 50 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Furthermore, 638 are isolated and cared for at community facilities. These are those who have mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19.

Altogether 27 people have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.  

'Palace guard' members wearing face masks stand for tourists at the main gate of Deoksugung Palace in Seoul on Sept 4, 2020. (JUNG YEON-JE / AFP)

South Korea

South Korea on Sunday reported the smallest rise in coronavirus infections in three weeks, remaining under 200 for a fourth consecutive day as tighter restrictions cap a second wave.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 167 cases of the new coronavirus for the 24 hours through midnight Saturday, down from 168 the previous day.

That brings the country’s total infections to 21,177 with 334 COVID-19 deaths. Success in crushing early outbreaks was partially reversed after a wave infections among members of a church spread when they attended a political rally in mid-August.

Daily infections have hovered below 200 for four days after peaking at 441 in late August, as tougher social distancing curbs have taken effect.

The measures have included unprecedented restrictions on eateries in the Seoul area, where the spread is concentrated, banning onsite dining after 9 pm and limiting coffee and bakery franchises to takeout and delivery all day.

The government on Friday extended the curbs until Sept 13, saying more time is needed to induce sharper drops in new infections.

The Philippines

Philippine police drew criticism from netizens and activists on Sunday for a plan to monitor social media to enforce quarantine rules, with critics accusing the authorities of authoritarianism and double standards.

National Police Lieutenant General Guillermo Eleazar, head of a task force enforcing quarantine protocols, warned of fines and penalties of community service for people violating precautionary measures, while violators of liquor bans will face “additional charges”.

“Police could use public postings on social media as leads, and these will be over and above the police visibility operations we are conducting and will complement tips we get from police hotline,” Eleazar told Reuters by phone.

Manila ended a second round of strict lockdown measures on Aug 19 to boost business activity, but people still must wear masks in public and observe one-meter distancing, while children, the elderly and pregnant women are urged to stay at home.

The plan to monitor social media, announced on Saturday, seems to show the police agency “wants to use the pandemic to turn us into a police state, where every action is being watched by the authorities,” Renato Reyes, secretary general of left-wing activist group Bayan (Nation) said on Twitter.

Critics said the plan shows a double standard after a police chief was allowed to keep his post despite flouting a ban on social gatherings in May.

Photographs on the police force’s Facebook page showed Debold Sinas, chief of the National Capital Region police, celebrating his birthday along with dozens of people without masks sitting close together, with beer cans on their tables despite an alcohol ban. Sinas apologised.

Eleazar said criminal and administrative cases have been filed against Sinas for the incident.

The Philippines has recorded 234,570 coronavirus cases, the highest in Southeast Asia, with 3,790 COVID-19 deaths.

Turkey

Turkey confirmed 1,673 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, raising the total diagnosed patients to 278,228, the Turkish Health Ministry announced.

Meanwhile, 56 people died in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 6,620, according to the data shared by the ministry.

Turkish health professionals conducted 99,497 tests in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall number of tests to 7,682,697.

A total of 984 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, raising the total recoveries to 250,092 in Turkey since the outbreak.

The rate of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients is 7.5 percent and the number of seriously ill patients is 1,091.

A mask-clad worker of the Doha Metro takes a body temperature reading of a passenger at a station in Qatar's capital on Sept 1, 2020. (KARIM JAAFAR / AFP)

Qatar

The Qatari health ministry on Saturday announced 227 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 119,864, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.

Meanwhile, 242 more recovered from the virus, bringing the total recoveries to 116,780, while only one death was reported, raising the fatalities to 202, according to a ministry statement quoted by QNA.

The ministry reiterated the need to take preventive measures, including staying home and observing social distancing.

A total of 654,973 persons in Qatar have taken lab tests for COVID-19 so far.