A Kashmiri woman reacts as health worker Farzana Manzoor, right, takes a nasal swab sample to test for COVID-19 in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Oct 14, 2020. (DAR YASIN / AP)

JERUSALEM / DUBAI / AMMAN / MELBOURNE / SEOUL / TOKYO / DHAKA / KABUL / KUALA LUMPUR / HANOI / BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN / NUR-SULTAN / NEW DELHI / YANGON / BAGHDAD - India's federal health ministry Wednesday said there has been an unprecedented upsurge in COVID-19 testing and the number of tests has crossed the 90 million mark.

Brunei reported one new imported case of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the national tally to 147

"India has demonstrated an exponential increase in the number of COVID-19 cumulative tests since January 2020," a statement issued by India's federal health ministry said, with a total of over 90 million tests until Wednesday.

"With 1,145,015 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, the cumulative tests now stand at 90,090,122."

India's testing capacities have multiplied manifold with more than 1,900 laboratories set up across the country. Health officials said more than 1.5 million samples can be tested every day in India.

Health officials said very high countrywide testing on a sustained basis has brought down the national positivity rate, an indication that the rate of spread of COVID-19 infection was being effectively contained.

The ministry said 20 states have a positivity rate less than the national average. The cumulative positivity rate is 8.04 percent and is on a continuous decline.

Officials said India is registering new recoveries more than the new cases consistently in the recent days. 

The total recovered cases stand at 63,01,927. The gap between recovered cases and active cases is 54,75,051. With an increasing number of recoveries, this gap is continuously widening.

On Wednesday morning, 63,509 new COVID-19 cases and 730 related deaths were recorded in the country during the past 24 hours, which has pushed the country's COVID-19 tally to 7,239,389 including 110,586 deaths.

Australia

Australia has seen an increasing number of people seeking mental health support amid the pandemic.

More than 1 million Australians have sought professional mental health support during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the data published by the country's Department of Health.

In September and October, 350,884 Victorians sought access to psychiatrists, psychologists and counseling services, three times more than the national average and a 31-percent increase from the same period in 2019.

Australia has recorded 904 coronavirus deaths as of Wednesday afternoon, with five more deaths in Victoria, the hardest-hit state by the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Several coronavirus clusters have emerged in Australia’s two most populous states, officials said on Wednesday, prompting the biggest, New South Wales (NSW), to delay easing some restrictions.

Australia has recorded 904 deaths and around 245 active cases according to official tallies.

Victoria state, the epicentre of Australia’s second wave, logged five deaths and seven new coronavirus cases overnight. A second and third regional flare up is threatening a hoped for easing of harsh lockdown restrictions in place since mid-July.

Afghanistan

The Afghan Ministry of Public Health on Wednesday confirmed 66 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 39,994, including 5,160 active cases.

A total of 318 tests were conducted within the past 24 hours, and 66 were positive in 12 provinces out of 34 Afghan provinces, the ministry said in a statement.

One patient died within the period, taking the death toll to 1,481 since February, the statement added.

Forty-six new recoveries were recorded since early Tuesday.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh reported 1,684 new COVID-19 cases and 16 new deaths on Wednesday, making the tally at 382,959 and death toll at 5,593, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.

The total number of recovered patients in the country stood at 297,449 including 1,576 new recoveries on Wednesday, said the DGHS.

According to the official data, the COVID-19 fatality rate in Bangladesh is now 1.46 percent and the current recovery rate is 77.67  percent.

Brunei

Brunei reported one new imported case of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the national tally to 147.

According to Brunei's Ministry of Health, the case is a 25-year-old female arriving at Brunei on Oct 7 from Nepal. The woman reportedly had coughs since Oct 11 and is currently being treated at the National Isolation Center.

The Ministry of Health has identified a total of three contacts, who have all undergone the COVID-19 swab tests and were confirmed negative. All contacts are undergoing quarantine.

This is the first confirmed case reported in Brunei this month. With the detection of this latest case, a total of six imported cases have been confirmed since the last local infection case on May 6, 2020. At present, Brunei has recorded 161 days without COVID-19 local infection case.

Meanwhile, 337 individuals are currently undergoing mandatory self-isolation at the monitoring centers provided by the government, who have arrived at the country after traveling abroad.

There have been three deaths resulted from COVID-19 in Brunei and a total of 143 patients have recovered.

Indonesia 

COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 4,127 within one day to 344,749, with the death toll adding by 129 to 12,156, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

According to the ministry, 4,555 more people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 267,851.

Israel

Israel's special cabinet for handling the COVID-19 pandemic decided on Tuesday to extend by five days the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown.

The lockdown, which started on Sept 18 and was originally supposed to be lifted on Wednesday, will be extended until midnight on Sunday, a government spokesperson told Xinhua.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in Israel surged to 296,652 on Tuesday after the addition of 2,621 new cases, Israel's Ministry of Health said.

The death toll rose to 2,055, with 34 new fatalities, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 822 to 807, out of 1,462 patients currently hospitalized.

READ MORE: India's COVID-19 graph sees a downward trend

In this July 27, 2020 file photo, Israeli medical workers operate a ventilation machine on a training mannequin during an exercise of the new COVID-19 department at Rambam Hospital in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, Israel. (PHOTO / AP)

Iraq

The Iraqi Health Ministry on Wednesday reported 3,857 new COVID-19 cases, as the total number of deaths exceeded 10,000.

A statement by the ministry said that the new cases brought the total nationwide infections to 413,215.

It also reported 51 deaths during the day, raising the death toll to 10,021, while 3,188 more patients recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 347,396.

Pedestrians in face mask wait to cross the road in Ginza district of Tokyo on Sept 29, 2020. （PHILIP FONG / AFP）

Japan

Japan on Wednesday confirmed 266 new daily infections, bringing the nation's cumulative total to 90,533, not including those related to a cruise ship quarantined near Tokyo earlier in the year.

This compares to 496 new daily infections confirmed a day earlier nationwide.

Of the 266 new cases Wednesday, the Tokyo metropolitan government said that according to its preliminary figures, 177 of the new infections were detected in the capital.

Jordan

Jordan on Tuesday reported 2,054 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily spike in the country so far, raising the tally of infections in the kingdom to 28,127.

The Jordanian Health Ministry reported 18 new deaths from the infectious disease and 142 more recoveries, taking the death toll to 225 and the total recoveries to 6,361.

Jordan will continue a comprehensive curfew on the upcoming weekends. Minister of State for Media Affairs Ali Al-Ayed, who is also the government spokesperson, said that the 48-hour curfew would start on Friday at 1 am local time.

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan plans to cut flights with Ukraine, Germany, Belarus and the United Arab Emirates in the near future, chief sanitary doctor Yerlan Kiyasov told a briefing here on Wednesday.

Kiyasov explained that the decision was made to prevent the spread of imported COVID-19 cases due to the worsening global epidemiological situation.

Kazakhstan had already curbed flights between Turkey, Kiyasov added.

Kiyasov added that Kazakhstan has required all international passengers to provide a PCR certificate with a negative result since Oct 6.

Arrivals without a PCR test will be isolated in a quarantine facility for up to two days for COVID-19 laboratory examination.

ALSO READ: Iran sees record virus death toll for second straight day

Kuwait

Kuwait on Wednesday reported 532 new COVID-19 cases and four more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 113,269 and the death toll to 676 in the country, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

Currently, 7,357 patients are receiving treatment, including 139 in ICU, according to the statement.

The ministry also announced the recovery of 728 more patients, raising the total recoveries in the country to 105,236.

On Sept 14, the Kuwaiti government decided to postpone the fifth phase of a plan to return to normal until further notice. During the fifth phase, theaters and cinemas will be allowed to reopen and all social events permitted to be held.

Lebanon

In Lebanon, the tally of COVID-19 cases increased on Tuesday by 1,245 to 55,869, while the death toll went up by 13 to 479.

Malaysia

Malaysia reported 660 new COVID-19 infections, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday, bringing the national total to 17,540.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press briefing that six of the new cases are imported and 654 are local transmissions.

Four more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 167.

The majority of new cases are from eastern state of Sabah, with 429 of the new cases reported in the state.

Myanmar

Myanmar reported 888 more COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, according to a release from the Ministry of Health and Sports, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 31,325.

A total of 39 more COVID-19 deaths were also reported in the country on Wednesday, bringing the death toll in the country to 732 in total, the release said.

According to the ministry's figures, 13,866 patients have been discharged from the hospitals so far and a total of 451,582 samples have been tested for COVID-19.

New Zealand

New Zealand reported two new imported cases of COVID-19 from managed isolation on Wednesday, with no new cases in the community.

The first imported case arrived on Oct. 7 from Bangladesh, via Brisbane and Doha. The person was taken to a managed isolation facility in Hamilton and tested positive as part of routine day 3 testing, according to the Ministry of Health.

The second case arrived on Oct. 9 from London, via Dubai and was taken to a managed isolation facility in Hamilton. Following their positive result, they have been transferred to Auckland's quarantine facility, said a ministry statement.

People cross a street in Melbourne's central business district on Sept 28, 2020. (WILLIAM WEST / AFP)

Oman

The Omani health ministry on Wednesday announced 563 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the sultanate to 107,776, the official Oman News Agency (ONA) reported.

Meanwhile, 351 people recovered during the past 24 hours, taking the overall number of recoveries to 93,908, while eight others reportedly died, raising the tally to 1,061, according to a ministry statement quoted by ONA.

Palestine

Palestine reported 516 new COVID-19 cases and four more fatalities from the coronavirus, bringing the total infections in the Palestinian territories to 56,467 and the death count to 459. 

Qatar

The Qatari health ministry on Wednesday announced 198 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 128,603, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.

Meanwhile, 211 more recovered from the virus, bringing the overall recoveries to 125,584, while the fatalities remained 220 for the fourth day running as no new deaths were reported, according to a ministry statement quoted by QNA.

South Korea

South Korea reported 84 more cases of the COVID-19 as of midnight Tuesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 24,889.

The daily caseload fell below 100 after recording 102 in the previous day due to small cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province as well as the expansion of imported cases.

Of the new cases, 23 were Seoul residents and 15 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.

The Philippines

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines surged to 346,536 after the Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported 1,910 new daily cases on Wednesday.

Wednesday's daily increase of infections is a new low in more than 20 days. The Philippines logged 1,990 new daily cases on Tuesday, the lowest since Sept 23.

The DOH said that the number of recoveries also rose to 293,860 after 579 more patients recovered. Meanwhile, 78 more patients died from the viral disease, bringing the death toll to 6,449.

The UAE

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday announced 1,431 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 110,039.

Meanwhile, 1,652 more patients recovered from the virus, taking the tally of recoveries in the UAE to 101,659, UAE's Ministry of Health and Prevention said.

It also confirmed two more deaths, pushing the country's death toll to 450.

Turkey

Turkey's Health Ministry reported 1,632 new COVID-19 cases and 63 more deaths on Tuesday, raising the total number of infections to 338,779 and the death toll to 8,957.

A total of 1,314 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, raising the total recoveries to 296,972 in Turkey since the outbreak in March.

Vietnam

Vietnam reported nine new cases of COVID-19 infection on Wednesday, bringing its total confirmed cases to 1,122 with 35 deaths, according to its Ministry of Health.

The latest cases, who are all Indian citizens, have recently entered the country from abroad and were quarantined upon arrival, according to the ministry.

The ministry also announced that three more patients have been given all-clear, raising the total cured cases in the country to 1,029 as of Wednesday.

Meanwhile, nearly 12,500 people are being quarantined and monitored in the country, the ministry said.