Travelers wearing face shields and masks sit on a bench at the departure hall of Gimpo airport in Seoul on Sept 29, 2020 ahead of the annual Chuseok festival holiday. (PHOTO / AFP)

NEW DELHI / YANGON / JERUSALEM / ANKARA - South Korea on Sunday announced a new five-tier social-distancing regulations, replacing the existing three-tier scheme in a bid to minimize the closedown of shops and restaurants that hit hard the owners of microbusinesses and ordinary people.

South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said in a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters that the government redesigned anti-virus measures in a tailored way to enhance effectiveness from the previous regulations under which the uniform closedown was ordered with no consideration of situation in each facility.

Chung said facilities would be simply grouped into "priority" and "regular" ones in terms of the application of anti-virus regulations, noting that wearing mask, which had been mandatory in "high-risk" sites, would be applied to all facilities.

The daily number of COVID-19 cases here stayed above 100 for the fifth consecutive day through Sunday, raising the combined figure of infections to 26,635.  

Australia 

Australia on Sunday recorded its first day with no local cases of coronavirus transmission since June even as a growing number of other countries impose renewed measures to stem the resurgent pandemic.

The milestone, announced by Health Minister Greg Hunt on Twitter, comes as state governments ease domestic travel restrictions and as Melbourne, the nation’s second-largest city, emerges from a three-month lockdown that shuttered business and largely confined residents to their homes.

The state of Western Australia, which shut its borders to the rest of the nation starting in March, has announced it intends to start allowing travelers to enter from Nov 14.

Queensland will re-open its border to regional visitors from New South Wales beginning Nov 3, though residents of Australia’s largest-city Sydney, and those from the state of Victoria won’t be allowed to enter for now.

Australia is on track to reach Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s goal of a country without domestic border restrictions by Christmas, Hunt said on Sunday, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Iranians wear face masks as a COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic precaution, in Iran's capital Tehran on Oct 19, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

Iran

Weddings, wakes and conferences will be banned in the Iranian capital until further notice as the Middle East’s hardest-hit nation battles a third wave of COVID-19, police said on Saturday.

President Hassan Rouhani meanwhile announced new restrictions that will take effect on Wednesday in 25 of Iran’s 31 provinces for 10 days.

The official IRNA news agency said Tehran police had extended by one week the closure of businesses including beauty salons, teahouses, cinemas, libraries and fitness clubs.

Police will make unannounced visits to other high-risk businesses, and those that violate health protocols will be shut down, IRNA quoted police official Nader Moradi as saying.

Deputy Health Minister Alireza Raisi said in a televised press briefing that the new restrictions from next week in the 25 provinces and 89 counties will include include the closure of institutions such as schools, universities, libraries and mosques.

Rouhani said in televised remarks that strict health protocols should be observed when holding weddings and funerals in those provinces and counties.

Iranian authorities have blamed a sharp increase in cases on people failing to follow restrictions, and Rouhani said an operations headquarters will be set up to ensure compliance with the health protocols.

Total COVID-19 deaths rose by 386 over the past 24 hours to reach 34,864, health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari told state TV on Saturday, adding total cases rose by 7,820 to 612,772.

India

Local government in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu on Saturday announced that local movie theatres and education institutions will reopen from Nov. 10 and 16 respectively.

The announcement was made by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.

"Considering the representations received from theatre owners, all theatres, including multiplexes and theatres at shopping malls having more than one screens are allowed to operate with 50 percent capacity from Nov. 10," the Chief Minister said.

Schools (classes, 9, 10, 11 and 12), colleges, research institutions and other education institutions will reopen from Nov 16.

Likewise, religious congregations, social, political, entertainment, cultural and academic functions are allowed to resume from Nov. 16 in the state, with a maximum number of 100 people.

Amusement parks, auditoriums, assembly halls, zoos, museums are allowed to operate from Nov. 10.

The government said lockdown restrictions will continue in containment zones. Swimming pools, beaches and tourism spots will remain out of bounds for people.

Palaniswami said the public should avoid gathering in huge numbers during the festive season.

Tamil Nadu is the fourth most-affected state in India amid the COVID-19 pandemic with 722,011 confirmed cases including 11,091 deaths.

Earlier this week India's federal home ministry said guidelines regarding relaxation in COVID-19 restrictions issued on Sept 30 will continue to remain in force up to Nov. 30.

India's COVID-19 tally reached 8,184,082 on Sunday as 46,963 new cases were detected across the country in the past 24 hours, said the latest data released by the federal health ministry.

With 470 deaths since Saturday morning, the total death toll in the country due to the pandemic reached 122,111, added the ministry's data.

ALSO RAED: Health ministry: India's COVID fatality rate falls below 1.5%

Myanmar

The death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic in Myanmar has risen to 1,237 out of a total of 52,706 confirmed cases as of Saturday, showed latest data by the health ministry.

The ministry said in a release on Saturday that 18 more patients died from the coronavirus epidemic and 1,210 new confirmed cases were reported in the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, 1,444 more patients have been discharged from hospitals, bringing the number of recoveries to 32,774 so far.

As of Saturday, 688,159 samples have been tested for the COVID-19 infection since the first case was confirmed in Myanmar on March 23.

Israel

Israel's Ministry of Health reported 721 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, bringing the total to 314,422.

The number of death cases rose to 2,539, with 25 new fatalities, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 429 to 409, out of 714 patients currently hospitalized.

The number of recoveries rose to 301,241, with 1,419 new ones, while active cases dropped to 10,641.

On Sunday, students from grades one to four across Israel will be allowed to return to their schools, as part of the second stage of the exit plan from the ongoing full lockdown

The exit plan, approved by the Israeli Corona Cabinet, also eased some restrictions on service sectors and houses of worship. 

Turkey

Turkey's Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu were tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday.

"I have reached the final stage in the coronavirus treatment, and I had it with mild symptoms. I'm fine right now," Kalin tweeted earlier in the day.

Soylu and his family are under treatment in a hospital after being tested positive for COVID-19, the minister tweeted on Saturday. They are under treatment on doctor's advice after feeling sick on Monday, according to Soylu.

Turkey reported 2,213 new COVID-19 patients on Saturday, raising the tally in the country to 375,367.

In addition, 75 people died in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 10,252, while 1,506 more patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 323,971, according to the Health Ministry.

The rate of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients is five percent while the number of seriously ill patients is 2,075, the ministry said.

Turkey conducted 124,109 tests in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall number of tests to 14,001,814.

READ MORE: Indonesia's confirmed COVID-19 cases surpass 400,000

Iraq

The Iraqi Health Ministry reported on Saturday 1,997 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the nationwide infections to 472,630.

The new cases included 629 in the capital Baghdad, 301 in Duhok, 214 in Erbil, and 174 in Sulaimaniyah, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also reported 48 new deaths and 2,414 more recoveries in the country, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 10,910 and the total recoveries to 399,655.

A total of 2,862,007 tests have been carried out across the country since the outbreak of the disease in February, with 12,672 done during the day, according to the ministry statement.

It is worth noting that the clear decline in new COVID-19 cases on Saturday came with a drop in the number of tests during the day, which is nearly half of the routine number in recent weeks.

The ministry had attributed the increase of COVID-19 infections to lack of public compliance with the health instructions and a stronger testing capacity after the increase of labs in Baghdad and other provinces.

Singapore

Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 12 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, which are all imported cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 58,015.

On Saturday, four more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 57,913 have recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, the ministry said.

There are currently 42 confirmed cases who are still in hospitals. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Furthermore, 32 infected people are being isolated and cared for at community facilities. These are those who have mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19.

Altogether 28 people have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.

Afghanistan 

Afghanistan on Sunday reported 76 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases after health authorities conducted 307 tests within a day, bringing the number of total cases in the country to 41,501, the Ministry of Public Health said.

"During the past 24 hours, 76 positive COVID-19 cases were recorded in 13 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces," the ministry said in a statement.

Up to 1,536 deaths have been recorded since the outbreak of the pandemic in February, and no COVID-19 related death was recorded since early Saturday.

Out of the total infected people, 34,326 patients have recovered, including five who showed improvement and were discharged from hospitals during the period.

New Zealand

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

The two new cases were both international returnees arrived in October. Both cases were detected during routine isolation and testing processes and were now at the Auckland quarantine facility. There was no new community case in the country, said the ministry.

The total number of active COVID-19 cases in New Zealand was currently 77 and the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases now reached 1,603, it is stated.