Residents hold a man as a health worker (right) collects a swab sample from him to test for COVID-19 at a community gym centre on the outskirts of Hyderabad, India on Oct 8, 2020. (NOAH SEELAM / AFP)
JERUSALEM / SYDNEY / BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN / PHNOM PENH / TEHRAN / KUWAIT CITY / BEIRUT / RAMALLAH / SINGAPORE / ANKARA / DUBAI - India continued on a trajectory to overtake the US as the country with the most cases. More than 2.75 million migrants have been stranded due to restrictions on mobility.
India added 70,496 cases for a total of 6.91 million total as of Friday, according to government data, with COVID-19-related deaths increasing to 106,490 after 964 fatalities were recorded in the past 24 hours.
However, the virus has largely been contained in Mumbai’s biggest slum.
The southern state of Tamil Nadu has become the second state in the country to have surpassed the death toll of 10,000, after the southwestern state of Maharashtra.
People visit Bondi beach in Sydney on Oct 5, 2020. (DAVID GRAY / AFP)
Australia
Australia reported its second straight day without any COVID-19 deaths on Friday, the longest stretch without any fatalities from the virus in three months.
Australian states and territories reported 16 cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, down from 28 on Thursday, and no deaths for two days, the first time Australia has gone 48 hours without a COVID-19 death since July 11.
Authorities in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) have warned both the public and businesses against becoming complacent, following a spike of locally acquired COVID-19 infections in Sydney.
The city recorded five new instances of local transmission on Friday largely in the southwestern suburbs, in addition to eight the day before, which followed close to two weeks of no community spread.
All of the cases reported on Friday were linked to known clusters, however several venues and public transport services were flagged as being exposed to the virus. Anyone displaying symptoms, particularly those in the vicinity of known cases, was told to get tested.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh reported 1,278 new COVID-19 cases and 17 new deaths on Friday, making the tally at 375,870 and death toll at 5,477, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.
The official data showed that 11,256 samples were tested in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh.
The total number of recovered patients in the country stood at 289,912 including 1,596 new recoveries on Friday, said the DGHS.
Cambodia
Cambodia on Thursday confirmed one new imported COVID-19 case, raising the total number of infections in the kingdom to 281, the health ministry said in a statement.
The latest case was found on a 26-year-old Indonesian man, who arrived in Cambodia on Tuesday from Indonesia via a connecting flight in Singapore, the statement said.
The testing result showed on Wednesday that he was positive for COVID-19, according to the statement, and "currently, the patient is undergoing treatment at an isolation ward in the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital in Phnom Penh."
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Iran
Iran's health ministry reported 4,142 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, raising the total confirmed cases in the country to 492,378.
The pandemic has so far taken 28,098 lives in Iran, up by 210 in the past 24 hours, said Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, during her daily briefing.
Iraq
The Iraqi Health Ministry reported on Friday 3,214 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the nationwide infections to 397,780.
The new cases included 1,381 in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, 333 in Duhok, 299 in Sulaimaniyah, and 206 in Erbil, while the other cases were detected in the other provinces, the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry also reported 52 more deaths, raising the death toll from the virus to 9,735 in the country.
Indonesia
The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia increased by 4,094 in the last 24 hours to 324,658, with the death toll adding by 97 to 11,677, the Health Ministry said on Friday.
According to the ministry, 3,607 more people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recoveries to 247,667.
Iran
Iran reported 4,142 new coronavirus cases overnight, down about 5.6% from the record number of infections the day before. The health ministry also recorded 210 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the country’s total tally to 492,378 cases and 28,098 fatalities.
Earlier Friday, the health ministry banned the hospitalization of non-emergency patients to address the high volume of coronavirus patient admissions, deputy minister Iraj Haririchi said, as worries mount over bed shortages.
Pedestrians, mask-clad due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, walk past a dental clinic in Israel's Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv on Oct 8, 2020. (EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP)
Israel
Only 5.5 percent of Israel's population have developed antibodies to COVID-19, according to a national serological survey released by the state's Ministry of Health on Thursday.
The survey, conducted in July-September, aimed to estimate the number of people who were exposed to the virus and developed antibodies against it, including people who showed no symptoms nor tested for the virus.
The survey included about 55,000 subjects living in hundreds of cities and towns nationwide, with 3.8 percent detected with antibodies, reflecting 5.5 percent of the whole Israeli population.
It was also found that the antibodies rate among men was 4.9 percent, compared with 3.1 percent among women, while young people in the 10-18-year old age group showed the highest antibody rate (8.1 percent).
According to the ministry, the findings show that the rate of exposure to COVID-19 in Israel is way far from "herd immunity," and moreover, high level of antibodies in the blood does not necessarily indicate long-term immunity.
The ministry added that it will conduct further surveys to learn about the population's exposure to the virus during the current wave of morbidity.
Israel's Ministry of Health reported 3,855 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the tally of infections to 285,336.
The death count rose by 40 to 1,864, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 866 to 865, out of 1,592 patients currently hospitalized, it said.
Kuwait
Kuwait on Thursday reported 698 new COVID-19 cases and three more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 109,441 and the death toll to 642, the Health Ministry said in a statement.
Currently, 7,485 patients are receiving treatment, including 129 in ICU, according to the statement.
The ministry also announced the recovery of 538 more patients, raising the total recoveries in the country to 101,314.
A tuk tuk driver waits for a customer at a near-empty Khao San Road in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept 2, 2020 (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)
Lebanon
Lebanon's total number of COVID-19 cases approached the 50,000 mark on Thursday after 1,367 new infections were reported.
The COVID-19 tally rose to 49,744, while the death toll from the coronavirus went up by six to 439, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.
Caretaker Lebanese Health Minister Hamad Hassan announced on Thursday that 90 percent of COVID-19 patients in Lebanon are asymptomatic, while 10 percent need hospitalization and 3-4 percent require treatment in the intensive care unit.
The Lebanese Interior Ministry has imposed lockdown in 111 villages until Oct 12, in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Malaysia
Malaysia reported 354 new COVID-19 infections, the Health Ministry said on Friday, bringing the national total to 14,722.
Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press briefing that two of the new cases are imported and 352 are local transmissions. The majority of new cases are from the easter state of Sabah, with 274 new cases reported.
Six more deaths were reported, bringing the death toll to 152.
New Zealand
New Zealand reported two new cases of COVID-19 from managed isolation on Friday, and there are no new cases in the community.
Both cases being reported arrived from India on Sept. 26. The people have been in managed isolation and have returned a positive test result from their routine test around day 12. They have both now been transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility, according to the Ministry of Health.
Oman
Oman will reinstate a curfew starting Oct 11 for two weeks to better contain the outbreak of the coronavirus. The sultanate has registered a spike in virus cases at the beginning of the month, reaching as high as 2,600 in a single day.
Palestine
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Friday he was suffering “difficult” symptoms after contracting coronavirus, but that things were “under control”.
Erekat, 65, a lawmaker from Jericho in the occupied West Bank, said on Twitter that he was in isolation and receiving medical treatment at home one day after he confirmed that he had caught the virus.
Palestine on Thursday reported 416 new cases infected with the novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections in the Palestinian territories to 54,355.
In a press statement, Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila said that out of the 54,355 cases, 39,505 were recorded in the West Bank, 11,099 in East Jerusalem and 3,751 in the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian health ministry recorded four fatalities from the COVID-19, raising the total number of deaths to 422, the minister noted.
Singapore
Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower has introduced night clinics at three regional medical centers to facilitate better access to medical services for migrant workers, the government said in a statement.
Employers and dormitory operators can make bookings through an agent in charge of the dormitory’s region and transport to night clinics will be arranged for the workers.
The Assurance, Care and Engagement Group will monitor the response to the clinics and assess if they should be continued or expanded.
Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported nine new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 57,849.
Of the new cases, five are imported cases, and there are no case in the community today.
A woman crosses the street during a heavy rain fall at Eminonu district in Istanbul on Oct 8, 2020. (OZAN KOSE / AFP)
South Korea
South Korea reported 54 more cases of the COVID-19 as of midnight Thursday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 24,476.
The daily caseload stayed below 100 for two straight days, but the double-digit growth continued due to small cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province.
Of the new cases, 17 were Seoul residents and nine were people residing in Gyeonggi province.
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The Philippines
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines surged to 334,770 with an additional 2,996 reported by the Health Ministry on Friday.
Of the 2,996 newly confirmed infections, the ministry said that 2,554 or 85 percent occurred "within the recent 14 days" from Sept. 26 to Oct. 9.
The ministry said that the number of recoveries rose to 275,307 after 1,045 more patients recovered. Meanwhile, 83 more patients died from COVID-19, bringing the total death toll to 6,152.
The UAE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday announced 1,089 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 102,929.
At the same time, 1,769 more patients have recovered from the virus, taking the tally of recoveries in the UAE to 93,479, UAE's Ministry of Health and Prevention said.
It also confirmed two more deaths, pushing the country's death toll to 438.
Thailand
Thailand is in talks with several Chinese, Russian and UK vaccine developers to secure viable inoculations against the coronavirus as soon as they became available -- a key element in the country’s effort to reopen its tourism-reliant economy.
The Southeast Asian nation, which has contained the outbreak after becoming the first outside China to detect the virus, also expects to reach agreements with the University of Oxford and Covax, a World Health Organization-backed initiative, by the end of October, according to Nakorn Premsri, director of Thailand’s National Vaccine Institute. The government aims to secure the first batch of doses within three to six months of a vaccine becoming available, he said.
“We need to be proactive and look for every way we can to secure the vaccine quickly,” Nakorn said in a phone interview Thursday. “We have a huge risk for an outbreak because we don’t have a large number of cases,” leaving the population vulnerable if infections start to spread.
Thailand has been largely free of community transmission of the deadly virus, with only two known cases since the end of May. It has so far logged about 3,600 cases since it first detected the virus in January. But its economy has been battered by the hit from the pandemic to its exports and tourism sectors, its two key economic drivers.
Turkey
Turkey announced 1,615 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 330,753.
In addition, 58 people died from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 8,667, while 1,398 more patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 290,352, according to the Turkish Health Ministry.
Turkish health professionals conducted 117,101 tests in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall number of tests to 11,278,047.
Vietnam
Vietnam reported five new cases of COVID-19 infection on Friday, bringing its total confirmed cases to 1,105 with 35 deaths from the disease, according to its Ministry of Health.
The latest cases were all Indian citizens, aged from 31 to 66, who have recently entered the country from abroad and were quarantined upon arrival, according to the ministry.
