A woman and her daughter wear face masks as a prevention measure against the COVID-19 while and riding a motorbike in Jakarta, September 17, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

KABUL / BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN / NEW DELHI / TEHRAN / BAGHDAD / JERUSALEM / BEIRUT / YANGON / WELLINGTON / RAMALLAH / DOHA / SINGAPORE / HANOI / SEOUL / ANKARA - Indonesia will at the first phase provide the COVID-19 vaccine to 9.1 million people between November and December 2020, the Health Ministry's Disease Control and Prevention Director General Achmad Yurianto said on Monday.

The first phase of vaccination will be carried out on the groups of people with highest risk of COVID-19 infections, namely medical and public service workers including airport employees, soldiers and police personnel.

Yurianto said that the vaccine would only be given to people aged between 18 years old and 59 years old, because clinical trials of vaccine candidates in the world have yet to target categories outside that age range.

The vaccination will be carried out after the Indonesian Drug and Food Supervisory Agency (BPOM) issues an emergency use authorization and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) provides halal certification.

India

India's COVID-19 tally surpassed 7.5 million mark on Monday, reaching 7,550,273, as 55,722 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours, according to the data released by the health ministry.

The total death toll rose to 114,610, as 579 deaths took place across the country due to the pandemic since Sunday morning.

This is the first time in nearly three months when the per day new cases fell below 60,000, and per day deaths below 600.

Still there are 772,055 active COVID-19 cases in the country, even as 6,663,608 people have been successfully cured and discharged from hospitals.

Monday is the third consecutive day when the number of active COVID-19 cases has fallen below 800,000-mark.

A government-appointed panel studying the mathematical progression of COVID-19 numbers in India has said the country has crossed the pandemic peak and will bring it under control by early next year if all health protocols are followed.

Local media reported Sunday that the panel also warned that the onset of winter and upcoming festivals may increase people's susceptibility to the coronavirus infection and laxity at this point can again lead to a case spike.

According to the panel, only 30 percent of the Indian population has developed immunity so far, and health protection measures must continue to be carried out.

"If all protocols are followed, the pandemic can be controlled by early next year with minimal active cases by February end," the panel said.

The 10-member panel estimated that the national tally of infections at the time when the epidemic is over in the country would stand at 10.5 million. At present, the figure is over 7.5 million.

People have a picnic in a park in Melbourne on Oct 18, 2020, as the state government announces a lifting of some restrictions as the city battles a second wave of the COVID-19 coronavirus. (William WEST / AFP)

Australia’s state of Victoria, the epicenter of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, will see more freedom of movement as of Monday after months-long restrictions, but retailers and restaurants must wait longer, making some of the owners unhappy.

After more than 100 days in a strict lockdown that allowed only for two hours of outdoor activity a day, the 5 million people living in Melbourne, Victoria’s capital, will be able to spend as much time exercising outdoors as they wish.

However, people must stay within 25 kilometres of their homes, Premier Daniel Andrews said. Public gatherings will remain tightly limited, and retailers and restaurants must operate only on take-away or delivery orders, with the state government eyeing their reopening by Nov 1.

“I know and understand that not everything everybody wanted is in the announcement I have made today,” Andrews told a news conference. “I have announced today what is safe.”

The head of Melbourne’s Chapel Street Precinct Association, a local marketing body representing around 2,200 commercial entities, said there was a “cloud of anger” from their businesses on Sunday.

“The fact retail and hospitality is still left waiting ‘til potentially November is an unjust joke,” Chrissie Maus, general manager of the Chapel Street Precinct, said in a statement.

Victoria, Australia’s second-most populous state, is home to a quarter of its 25 million people and accounts for 25 percent of economic output, but because of the prolonged lockdown, it makes up now 40 percent of Australia’s effectively unemployed, according to government data.

ALSO READ: India's COVID-19 tally nears 7.5m with 61,871 new cases

Brunei

Brunei reported no new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday with the national tally of cases standing at 147.

According to Brunei's Ministry of Health, no more recoveries were recorded, maintaining the total number of recovered cases at 143. There is still one active case being treated at the National Isolation Center, who was recorded on Oct. 14.

Meanwhile, currently there are 311 individuals who are undergoing mandatory isolation at the monitoring centers provided by the government, who have arrived in the country after traveling abroad.

There have been three deaths that resulted from COVID-19 in Brunei. 

Iraq

The Iraqi Health Ministry reported on Sunday 3,110 new COVID-19 cases, raising the nationwide number to 426,634.

The new cases included 1,062 in the capital Baghdad, 283 in Duhok, 274 in Erbil, 240 in Sulaimaniyah, and 205 in Basra and Nineveh each, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also reported 56 more deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 10,254 in the country, while 3,186 more patients recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 360,477.

Israel

Israeli authorities reported on Sunday that 339 new COVID-19 cases have been diagnosed over the past day, the lowest number of daily cases in the past month.

As Israelis were coming out on Sunday of a month-long nationwide lockdown, the total number of diagnosed people has reached 303,109.

The death toll rose to 2,209, with 19 new fatalities, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 690 to 669, out of 1,199 patients hospitalized.

The total number of recoveries reached 268,093, with 2,648 new ones, while active cases dropped to 32,805.

Lebanon

Lebanon on Sunday added 57 new villages to the lockdown list amid an increase in daily new cases of COVID-19, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.

The move comes as the total number of coronavirus cases in Lebanon increased by 1,002 to 62,286 on Sunday, NNA said.

The country also registered three more fatalities from the virus, raising the death toll to 520.

Myanmar

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Myanmar has increased to 36,025 as of Sunday with 1,150 cases newly reported, according to a Health Ministry release.

The death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic rose to 880 with 42 newly recorded, the ministry said.

New Zealand

New Zealand reported no new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, both at the border and in the community.

"This result is particularly pleasing as it includes the test results that we have back from three close contacts of the case we reported yesterday. That's his one workplace contact and two of his household contacts," according to the Ministry of Health.

A new community case of COVID-19 was reported in New Zealand on Sunday. This case is a man working on ships at the Ports of Auckland and the Port of Taranaki, said a ministry statement.

Routine testing and other stringent measures for border workers have been in place for about two months as the border is an area of risk for more cases of COVID-19 to emerge, it said.

Palestinian men keep a safe distance from each other as they pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque after praying, in the Old City of Jerusalem on Oct 18, 2020, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic crisis. (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)

Palestine

A senior Palestinian official has been moved to an Israeli hospital in Jerusalem after his health deteriorated because of his infection with the novel coronavirus, Palestinian and Israeli sources said on Sunday.

Saeb Erekat, secretary of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), who received treatment at his house in Jericho, has suffered from deterioration in his health condition, Jihad Abu al-Assal, Palestinian governor of the Jordan Valley area, told Xinhua.

Meanwhile, Israeli Public radio reported earlier in the day that Erekat has been taken to Hadassah Ein Keren hospital in Jerusalem after his health condition worsened.

Erekat declared on Friday that he tested positive for COVID-19, adding that he suffered from "difficult symptoms due to lack of immunity resulting from lung transplantation."

Qatar

The Qatari health ministry on Sunday announced 204 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total confirmed number in the Gulf state to 129,431, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.

Meanwhile, 188 more recovered from the virus, bringing the overall recoveries to 126,406, while the fatalities increased by one to 224, according to a ministry statement quoted by QNA.

Singapore

Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported seven new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the country's total tally to 57,911.

Of the new cases, five are imported cases, one is a community case and one is linked with the dormitories of foreign workers.

On Sunday, nine more COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 57,807 patients have fully recovered from the coronavirus epidemic, the ministry said.

There are currently 40 patients being treated in hospital, none of them in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

South Korea

South Korea reported 76 more cases of the COVID-19 as of midnight on Sunday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 25,275.

The daily caseload stayed below 100 for the fourth straight day, but the double-digit expansion continued owing to small cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province as well as imported cases.

Of the new cases, 11 were Seoul residents and 15 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.

Twenty-six were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 3,533.

No more death was confirmed, leaving the death toll at 444. The total fatality rate stood at 1.76 percent.

Turkey

Turkey reported 1,815 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, raising the total confirmed number in the country to 347,493.

Meanwhile, 72 people died in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 9,296, while 1,504 patients recovered in the past 24 hours, raising the total recoveries to 304,003 in Turkey since the outbreak, the Health Ministry said.

READ MORE: Media: India selecting 300m people for COVID-19 vaccine

Maldives

The number of COVID-19 deaths in the Maldives has risen to 36, local media reported here Monday.

According to the Health Protection Agency (HPA), an 80-year-old Maldivian male died while receiving treatment for COVID-19 at the HMF hospital on Sunday afternoon.

The HPA said that 32 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Sunday, raising the country's total to 11,210.

The Maldives has 1,002 active cases and 10,164 patients have fully recovered from the virus.

A total of 348 people are currently in isolation, while 39 have been hospitalized for treatment.

Laos 

Laos has conducted 60,565 tests for the COVID-19 pandemic since January, with 23 of them being positive, according to the Ministry of Health.

Laos has been carrying out tests on a daily basis to detect COVID-19 infections since January, completing 60,565 in total so far, according to a report from the ministry on Monday.

Among the people tested, 23 have been confirmed to be infected with the virus and 22 of the patients have been discharged from hospitals after treatment.

On Sunday, a total of 1,256 people entered Laos through international border checkpoint.

According to the National Taskforce Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, it has been monitoring 2,475 people at 35 accommodation centers across the country.

The Philippines

The Philippines' Department of Health on Monday reported 2,638 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number in the country to 359,169.

The department said 226 more patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 310,303. The death toll climbed to 6,675 after 26 more patients died from the viral disease.

The health department said it had tested over 4.13 million people so far in the country, which has a population of about 110 million.

Thailand 

Thai northwestern province of Tak ordered a temporary halt to all movement of goods across the border with Myanmar from Monday until Oct 25, in an attempt to stem the possible spread of COVID-19 from Myanmar.

The temporary measure was ordered by Tak governor Pongrat Piromrat.

In the past week, three Myanmar cross-border truck drivers and three members of a family of Myanmar migrant workers tested positive for COVID-19 in Tak's Mae Sot district.

The community has been placed under 24-hour watch by village guards to conduct body temperature checks of everyone entering and exiting the location.

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha instructed relevant agencies to stay vigilant of illegal migrant workers sneaking into Thailand.

Cumulative COVID-19 infections in Thailand are currently at 3,686, with 3,481 recoveries and 59 deaths.

Uzbekistan

All public transport users must wear face masks and medical gloves here to prevent the spread of seasonal infectious diseases, effective immediately, the Uzbek transport ministry said in the latest decision.

The ministry also said that disposable gloves will be allocated for free on metro, buses and minibuses after an initial plan on the new requirement came under criticism on social networks over potential fines for not wearing gloves.

Last week, police in the country's far eastern Fergana region announced that they would start using CCTV cameras to record citizens who appear in public places without masks and identify them through a special database.

Those who don't wear masks in public places will face fines of around US$100.

So far, the Central Asian country has registered 63,303 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 527 deaths and 60,401 recoveries. 

Afghanistan 

A total of 87 new COVID-19 cases were registered in Afghanistan over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of the cases in the country to 40,278, said the Public Health Ministry in a statement on Monday.

According to the statement, five more patients died over the period, bringing the number of COVID-19 related deaths to 1,497.

A total of 146 more patients recovered, bringing the number of recovered to 33,760.

Afghanistan witnessed the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in February. 

Iran

Iran's health ministry on Monday reported 337 death cases over the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, marking the highest single-day death toll since the virus outbreak in the country.

Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said during her daily briefing that the total deaths rose to 30,712 in Iran.

Lari noted that the authorities recorded 4,251 new overnight infections on Monday, raising the total confirmed cases in the country to 534,631.

She said that a total of 431,360 people have recovered from the disease and been discharged from hospitals so far, while 4,771 remain in intensive care units.

Malaysia 

Malaysia reported 865 new COVID-19 infections, the Health Ministry said on Monday, bringing the national total to 21,363.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press briefing that seven of the new cases are imported and 858 are local transmissions, 643 of which were reported from the easter state of Sabah.

Three more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 190.

Vietnam 

Vietnam reported six new cases of COVID-19 infection on Monday, raising its total confirmed cases to 1,140 with 35 deaths, according to its Ministry of Health.

The six new cases, who are Vietnamese and French citizens, have recently entered the country and were quarantined upon arrival, said the ministry.

The ministry also announced that 15 more patients have been given all-clear, raising the total cured cases in Vietnam to 1,046 as of Monday.

Meanwhile, nearly 12,400 people are being quarantined and monitored in the country, the ministry said.