This file photo taken on Aug 11, 2020 shows a person out exercising in Melbourne amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. (WILLIAM WEST / AFP)

SYDNEY / JERUSALEM / DUBAI / ANKARA - Australia’s Victoria-state won’t ease virus-related restrictions as quickly as had been planned, after the region reported 14 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours. No deaths were reported for the third straight day on Saturday. 

The country’s second-most populous state, which has been dealing with a resurgence of community transmission in Melbourne, will announce some easing of measures in the city on Oct 18, though Premier Daniel Andrews said that’s unlikely to include a major relaxation of current curbs, which include limits on movement and public gatherings. Australia’s New South Wales-state reported two new locally-transmitted cases.

Cambodia 

Cambodia on Saturday confirmed a new imported COVID-19 case, raising the total number of infections in the country to 283, the Ministry of Health (MoH) said in a press statement.

The latest case was found on a 33-year-old French woman, who arrived in Cambodia on Thursday from France via a connecting flight in South Korea, the statement said.

"The result of her samples' test showed (on Friday) that she was positive for the COVID-19," MoH's secretary of state and spokeswoman Or Vandine said in the statement.

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India

India's COVID-19 tally continues to rise and is close to 7 million, as 73,272 new cases in the past 24 hours took it to 6,979,423 on Saturday, said the latest data released by the federal health ministry.

With as many as 926 deaths since Friday morning, the total death toll rose to 107,416.

Still there are 883,185 active COVID-19 cases in the country, while 5,988,822 people have been successfully cured and discharged from hospitals.

Iraq

The Iraqi Health Ministry reported 3,214 new cases, bringing the nationwide infections to 397,780. It also reported 52 more deaths, raising the death toll from the virus to 9,735 in the country.

The ministry said 4,282 more patients recovered during the day, which is higher than the number of infected cases during the same period, taking the total number of recoveries to 328,097, or 82.5 percent of the total infections.

Israel

Israel's Ministry of Health reported 2,522 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total to 287,858.

The number of death cases reached 1,886, with 22 new fatalities, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 865 to 860, out of 1,524 patients currently hospitalized.

Kuwait

Kuwait reported 635 new COVID-19 cases and seven more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 110,076 and the death toll to 649, the Health Ministry said in a statement. Currently, 7,403 patients are receiving treatment, including 125 in ICU, according to the statement.

The ministry also announced the recovery of 710 more patients, raising the total recoveries in the country to 102,024.

Lebanon

Lebanon's number of COVID-19 cases increased on Friday by 1,426 to 51,170 while the death toll went up by 11 to 450, the Health Ministry said.

Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan said private hospitals will soon open departments for the fight against COVID-19 to offer needed services to an increasing number of infected patients according his agreement with President of the Syndicate of Private Hospitals Suleiman Haroun.

Myanmar

Myanmar reported 1,461 new infection cases of COVID-19 and 31 more deaths on Friday, according to a daily release from the Health and Sports Ministry.

The number of infection cases has increased to 23,906 and the death toll reached 566 as of Friday, the ministry's release said.

A total of 372 patients were allowed to be discharged from hospitals on Friday and 6,738 patients have been discharged from hospitals so far.

New Zealand

New Zealand reported four new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, said the Ministry of Health in a statement.

All cases reported on Saturday were imported cases detected in the managed isolation facilities, it is said. Two cases arrived from South Africa via Dubai on Sept. 29 while the other two arrived from Iran via Dubai on Monday.

The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported to the World Health Organization has reached 1,514.

Pakistan

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday called for a strong and coordinated response to help developing countries recover effectively from the COVID-19 crisis, according to the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan.

Qureshi made the remarks while addressing a virtual ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

Qureshi said the COVID-19 pandemic revalidated the importance of NAM's founding principles rooted in solidarity, international cooperation and respect for multilateralism, and urged the NAM members to reaffirm collective commitment to these values which are more relevant today than ever before.

Palestine

Palestine reported 498 new cases infected with the novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections in the Palestinian territories to 54,853. The death toll hit 431.

Qatar

The Qatari health ministry announced 206 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 127,600.

The ministry said 232 more recovered from the virus, bringing the overall recoveries to 124,559, while the fatalities increased by one to 219.

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Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia reported 407 new coronavirus cases and 24 more deaths, pushing the tally of COVID-19 cases in the kingdom to 338,539 and the death toll to 4,996. The total recoveries increased to 324,282 with the addition of 513 new recoveries.

Singapore

Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 10 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 57,859.

Of the new cases, nine are imported cases, and there are no cases from  the community.

South Korea

South Korea Saturday reported 72 more cases of the COVID-19, raising the total number of infections to 24,548.

The daily caseload stayed below 100 for three straight days, but the double-digit growth continued due to small cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province.

Of the new cases, 23 were Seoul residents and 24 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.

The Philippines

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines surged to 336,926 after the Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported 2,249 new daily cases on Saturday.

The DOH said that the number of recoveries also rose to 276,094 after 842 more patients recovered. Meanwhile, 87 more patients died from the viral disease, bringing the death toll to 6,238.

The Philippines' capital Metro Manila topped the regions in the country with the highest number of daily confirmed cases on Saturday with 651.

The UAE

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday announced 1,075 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 104,004.

At the same time, 1,424 more patients have recovered from the virus, taking the tally of recoveries in the UAE to 94,903, UAE's Ministry of Health and Prevention said.  Enditem

Turkey

Turkey announced 1,629 new COVID-19 infections and 55 more deaths, raising the total confirmed cases to 332,382 and the death toll to 8,722.

The total number of recoveries increased to 291,754, according to the Turkish Health Ministry.