A man wears a face mask amid concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus at the main entrance of the departure hall at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang on Sept 7, 2020. (MOHD RASFAN / AFP)

AMMAN / SYDNEY / DUBAI / NEW DELHI / KARACHI / KUALA LUMPUR / DHAKA - Malaysia’s health authorities reported 62 new coronavirus cases on Monday, the sharpest spike since early June, just as the government began barring long-term immigration pass holders from countries with high infection numbers.

From Monday, Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy imposed a ban on pass holders from 23 countries that have reported more than 150,000 COVID-19 cases, in a bid to clamp down on imported cases. Countries on the ban list include the United States, Britain and France.

Of the total new cases reported on Monday, 50 were detected in an existing cluster in Sabah state on Malaysian Borneo, stemming from the detention of two undocumented migrants two weeks earlier, the health ministry said.

The others were detected in a new cluster in the northern state of Kedah and six arrivals from Turkey, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Egypt, the ministry said in a statement.

Monday’s new infections were the largest since June 4, when 277 cases and one death were reported.

Malaysia has so far avoided the kind of contagion seen in neighbors the Philippines and Indonesia, which have 238,727 and 196,989 cases respectively. Indonesia death toll of 8,130 is the region’s highest.

Malaysia currently has 9,459 confirmed coronavirus infections, of which 128 led to deaths.

Australia

Australia on Monday said it will receive the first batches of a potential COVID-19 vaccine in January 2021, as the country’s virus hotspot said the number of new daily infections has fallen to a 10-week low.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his government has struck a manufacturing deal with CSL Ltd to produce an AstraZeneca and Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine, with 3.8 million doses to be delivered in January and February 2021.

The agreement came as Australia’s Victoria state said 41 cases of COVID-19 have been detected in the past 24 hours, down on the 63 cases reported one day earlier and the lowest one-day rise since June 26.

Known as AZD1222, the AstraZeneca vaccine is undergoing late-stage clinical trials in Britain, Brazil and South Africa.

A health official (left) collects a nasal swab sample from a child (center) for a coronavirus test at a primary health center in Siliguri on Sept 7, 2020. (Diptendu DUTTA / AFP)

Bangladesh

Bangladesh reported 2,202 new COVID-19 cases and 37 new deaths on Monday, making the tally at 327,359 and death toll at 4,516, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.

The official data showed that 15,412 samples were tested in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh.

India

India, the world’s new COVID-19 epicenter, surpassed Brazil as the second-worst hit country. The country’s virus curve is showing no signs of flattening out, reporting more than 90,000 cases for a second day, as the pandemic threatens to overwhelm an already-overworked health-care system.

India has fast become the world’s new virus epicenter, and experts predict it will ultimately surpass the US as the worst outbreak globally.

Unlike the US and Brazil, India’s case growth is still accelerating seven months after the reporting of its first infection on Jan 30. The pathogen has only just penetrated the vast rural hinterland where the bulk of its 1.3 billion population lives, after racing through its dense mega-cities.

Separately, India's Southern city of Bengaluru has reported its first re-infection case of COVID-19 after a 27-year-old woman discharged in July was confirmed to have been reinfected with the virus, a statement by a local private hospital said Monday.

READ MORE: India reports global daily record of new coronavirus cases

Indonesia

Indonesia reported 2,880 new coronavirus infections and 105 more coronavirus-related deaths on Monday, data issued by the country’s COVID-19 task force showed.

It was the lowest rise in daily infections in six days and brought the Southeast Asian country’s total cases to 196,989, while fatalities rose to 8,130.

Iran

Iran’s health ministry on Monday reported 2,152 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the highest daily increase in 10 days, bringing the country’s nationwide tally of infections to 388,810.

Iran’s death toll from the novel coronavirus rose by 117 to 22,410, health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari told state TV.

Iran began the new school year on Saturday despite concerns by medical professionals and many parents over increased spread of the novel coronavirus in the country, one of the countries worst-hit by the pandemic in the Middle East.

ALSO READ: India closes in on Brazil as COVID-19 infections cross 4m

Iraq

The Iraqi health ministry reported 3,651 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total nationwide infections to 260,370.

It also reported 90 deaths during the day, raising the death toll to 7,512, while 3,301 more patients recovered in the day, bringing the total number of recoveries to 198,560.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Hassan al-Tamimi said in a press release that Iraq will be one of the first countries to import the vaccine if approved by the World Health Organization.

Israel

Israel's Ministry of Health reported 1,708 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the nationwide tally to 130,644.

The death toll rose to 1,019 with 12 new fatalities, while the number of patients in serious condition rose from 439 to 453, out of 922 patients currently hospitalized.

Japan

Tokyo on Monday reported 77 new daily COVID-19 cases, marking the first time the daily tally has dropped below the 100-mark since Aug 24.

According to the Tokyo metropolitan government, the capital's cumulative total of infections now stands at 21,849, the highest among Japan's 47 prefectures.

Jordan

Jordan reported 58 new coronavirus cases, including 53 local infections, raising the caseload to 2,411 including 16 deaths.

King Abdullah II of Jordan said the COVID-19 crisis represents an opportunity to promote self-reliance and develop local industries despite the challenges it has posed.

At a meeting with key local figures, the Jordanian king highlighted the value of public awareness and cooperation since the outbreak of the pandemic, according to a Royal Court statement.

A Syrian man rides a bicycle past a mural painted as part of an awareness campaign by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO) intitative, bearing instructions on protection from COVID-19 in the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli of Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on Aug 16, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

Kuwait

Kuwait on Monday reported 805 new COVID-19 cases and two more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 90,387 and the death toll to 546, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

Currently, 8,804 patients are receiving treatment, including 90 in ICU, according to the statement.

Lebanon

Lebanon's number of COVID-19 infections increased by 415 cases to 20,426 while the death toll went up by four to 191, the Health Ministry reported.

Parliament member Mohammad Kabbara said 20 percent of the people infected with the virus are in Tripoli, urging people in the Lebanese city to take proper precautionary measures.

Kabbara also urged caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan to secure COVID-19 tests and needed equipment for public and private hospitals in the city.

Oman

Oman will restart international flights on Oct 1, state news agency ONA said on Twitter, after they were suspended in March as part of coronavirus precautions.

The Omani health ministry announced 692 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the sultanate to 87,072.

Meanwhile, 579 people recovered during the past 24 hours, taking the overall number of recoveries to 82,406, while 23 new deaths were reported, raising the death toll to 728.

Pakistan

Schools in Pakistan will begin reopening in phases from next week following a fall in new coronavirus case numbers, officials said, ending a long closure that led to exam cancellations and threw students’ grades into chaos.

Higher education institutions and senior school classes will reopen on Sept 15, class six till eight will open again on Sept 23, and on Sept 30 primary classes will reopen, Shafqat Mahmood, Federal Minister for Education, told a news conference.

The South Asian country has recorded 298,903 cases of COVID-19 and nearly 6,345 deaths but has seen a slowing of numbers since June, when it recorded nearly 7,000 infections and 118 deaths in single day.

On Sunday, 394 people tested positive for COVID-19 and three deaths were reported.

Explaining there is a need to lessen the density of students in classes, Faisal Sultan, the prime minister’s health adviser, said that if there are 40 students in a class, it should be divided in equal batches attending school on alternate days.

The education minister warned punitive action against educational institution not following precautionary measures.

Early last month, Pakistan opened gyms, salons and restaurants dine-in for the first time in five months after being closed down to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Maldives 

The number of COVID-19 cases in the Maldives had crossed the 8,500 mark, local media reported here on Monday.

Maldives' Health Protection Authority (HPA) said that 98 new cases of COVID-19, including 72 locals and 26 foreigners, were confirmed on Sunday, pushing the country's total cases to 8,584.

Meanwhile, local media reported that the Maldives parliament has passed the Public Health Emergency Bill, which grants paid leave for workers in quarantine or unable to travel across islands due to the restrictions set in place by the Director General of Public Health.

Myanmar

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi pulled out of the first event of her election campaign on Monday, citing a worsening outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the country.

Myanmar reported 45 more new COVID-19 confirmed cases on Monday morning, according to a release from the Ministry of Health and Sports.

The newly-confirmed cases brought the total number of infections in the country to 1,464.

 Due to the recent increasing number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in the country, the Myanmar government late Sunday announced only half of its staff to attend the offices on a rotational basis starting from Wednesday.

New Zealand

New Zealand confirmed four new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, which included two imported cases detected in managed isolation facilities.

The first imported case was a boy and the second one was a woman in her 20s -- both arrived from India on Aug. 23 and both of them had close contact with previously confirmed cases, according to the Ministry of Health.

Qatar

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced 513 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 73,984.

Meanwhile, 2,443 more patients have recovered from the virus, taking the tally of recoveries in the UAE to 66,095, UAE's Ministry of Health and Prevention said. 

Palestine

Palestine reported four new fatalities from the coronavirus, raising the death toll in the Palestinian territories to 203.

It recorded 762 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number to 34,012 including 22,927 recoveries since the outbreak in March.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia announced 756 new cases and 32 more deaths, raising the tally of confirmed infections to 320,688 and the death toll to 4,081.

The kingdom also reported 895 more recovered patients, taking the total recoveries to 296,737.

Singapore

Singapore will allow larger exhibitions and conferences with up to 250 participants to take place, an increase from the current maximum of 50, as the country continues its gradual reopening.

The move came as its health ministry reported 22 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, the city-state’s lowest daily count since mid-March.

Earlier in the day, Singapore identified three new clusters of foreign-worker dormitories that are linked to earlier COVID-19 cases, the ministry said in a statement. That brings to 12 the number of clusters found in the last week in dormitories previously declared clear of the virus, the Straits Times reported. 

Dorms housing the low-paid foreign workers that underpin Singapore’s construction and services sectors have made up the vast majority of the Southeast Asian country’s cases.

South Korea

South Korea reported 119 infections, the lowest tally of new coronavirus infections in more than three weeks on Monday, but officials are weighing whether to extend social distancing curbs ahead of one of the country’s biggest holidays this month.

Thousands of trainee doctors appeared set to end a two-week protest strike against government healthcare reforms after they agreed to go back to work from Tuesday.

Daily cases have dropped steadily since a late August peak of more than 400. By midnight on Sunday, 119 more cases took the national tally to 21,296, with 336 deaths, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Authorities stopped short of widespread lockdowns in a bid to avert economic damage, but unprecedented measures, such as curbs on coffee shops and eateries, and mandatory masks in public, have been extended in the Seoul area until Sunday.

Syria

More than 200 UN staff members have been infected by COVID-19 in Syria as the global body steps up its contingency plans to combat the fast spread of the pandemic in the country, medical workers and UN officials said.

UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, Imran Riza, last Tuesday told UN heads of agencies in a letter to distribute to staff that the UN was in the final stages of securing a medical facility for treatment of cases.

“More than two hundred cases have been reported among UN staff members, some of whom have been hospitalized and three who were medically evacuated,” the top UN official in Syria said in the letter, which was leaked to Reuters from an infected local staff member.

Humanitarian workers and medics said the real number of cases is considerably higher, including the hundreds of staff employed by NGO partners working for the dozen UN agencies that oversee the country’s largest humanitarian relief operations.

Riza said there had been a ten-fold spike in infections in Syria in the two months since he last briefed staff, referring to health ministry figures that say there have been 3,171 cases and 134 deaths since the first case was reported on March 23.

The Philippines

The Philippines will meet with Australian manufacturers for a COVID-19 vaccine being developed by the University of Queensland as the Southeast Asian nation expands its search for supplies to combat the region’s biggest outbreak.

The Philippines reported its lowest number of new daily coronavirus cases in nearly eight weeks on Monday, but officials sought to temper optimism and warned of a prolonged battle as the pandemic rages on.

The health ministry confirmed 1,383 new infections, bringing total cases to 238,727, the highest in Southeast Asia, but the least since July 14. It reported 15 new deaths, taking total fatalities to 3,890.

Officials warned against complacency as the economy reopens.

Turkey

Turkey confirmed 1,578 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total diagnosed patients to 279,806, the Turkish Health Ministry announced.

Meanwhile, 53 people died in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 6,673.

A total of 1,013 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, raising the total recoveries to 251,105 in Turkey since the outbreak.