Devotees wearing face masks and face shields carry jamara plants used for blessings during the Fulpati procession marking the seventh day of the Nepali Hindu festival 'Dashain' in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Oct 23, 2020. (PRAKASH MATHEMA / AFP)

BAGHDAD / COLOMBO / SINGAPORE / PHNOM PENH / ULAANBAATAR / SYDNEY / SUVA / MANILA / TOKYO / KABUL / DUBAI / KATHMANDU / CANBERRA / HANOI / YANGON / BANGKOK - Total coronavirus infections in Nepal crossed 200,000 on Wednesday, as health workers say the Himalayan nation was facing a "catastrophic" situation.

The government is not prepared to handle the catastrophic situation. There are no community-based isolation centres and ICU beds are limited.

Aayas Luintel, a Nepali doctor

In the last 24 hours there were 2,569 new cases and 26 deaths, according to government data released on Wednesday. That takes the Himalayan nation to a total of 202,329 cases and 1,174 deaths overall.

Nearly half of all cases are reported in the capital Kathmandu and its surrounding areas, home to 4 million of the country's 30 million people. 

Health workers warned the pandemic will only get worse as the winter sets in.

"The government is not prepared to handle the catastrophic situation. There are no community-based isolation centres and ICU beds are limited," said Aayas Luintel, a doctor who has been treating coronavirus patients in Patan Hospital near Kathmandu.

Australia

Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt has said the country was "on track" to deliver coronavirus vaccines to Australians from March next year.

Hunt and Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Nov 5 that the government had signed an agreement to secure 10 million doses of the vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech.

Australia's PM and health minister had said that the government has signed an agreement to secure 10 million doses of the vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech

"I'm also delighted to announce that the Government has secured, as part of its agreement with Pfizer, full cold chain logistics distribution for the Pfizer vaccine," Hunt said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Australia has so far recorded 27,686 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Eight new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, according to the latest figures from the federal health ministry.

Victoria, the hardest-hit state by the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, recorded no new cases.

New South Wales (NSW), Australia's most populous state, reported four new cases, all of which were reported in overseas travelers in hotel quarantine.

Earlier in the day, NSW Minister for Customer Service Victor Dominello said that hospitality venues and businesses in the state must set up a digital registration system to record customers' names and contact details by Nov 23 or risk facing fines.

Iran

A total of 462 people have died in Iran from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, a record daily toll, the health ministry's spokeswoman told state TV on Wednesday.

The number of new cases rose by 11,780 over that period, Sima Sadat Lari added, another daily high in the Middle East's worst-hit country. Among the new cases, 3,339 were hospitalized, Lari said.

Iran's tally and toll now stand at 715,068 and 39,664, respectively .

The risk of infection is currently high in 27 Iranian provinces, Lari said.

Thailand

Thai health authorities on Wednesday said a South Korean soldier who had spent almost a month in Thailand tested positive for COVID-19 upon his return to his homeland.

It remains unclear whether the South Korean soldier contracted the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, while attending an orientation meeting for a military training in Thailand's east coast of Rayong province last week, said Walairat Chaifoo, chief of the Epidemiology Division at the Ministry of Public Health's Department of Disease Control (DDC).

The soldier was among 202 attendees at a planning session, held at Rayong during Nov 3-5, for next year's Cobra Gold military exercise, said Walairat. 

Myanmar

The number of COVID-19 cases in Myanmar has risen to 64,453 as of Wednesday after 1,212 new cases were posted, according to a press release from the Ministry of Health and Sports.

Deaths rose by 19 to 1,480, according to the press release.

Vietnam

Vietnam reported 26 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing its tally to 1,252 with 35 deaths, according to its Ministry of Health.

All the new cases involve Vietnamese citizens who recently entered the country from abroad and were quarantined upon arrival, said the ministry.

It also announced that four more patients have recovered, taking the number of recoveries to 1,091.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan on Wednesday recorded 146 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases after health authorities conducted 555 tests within a day, bringing the country's tally to 42,609.

The Public Health Ministry said in a statement that the new cases were reported in 11 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces.

Another four more deaths were registered, taking the toll to 1,581.

Mongolia 

Mongolia recorded its first domestic coronavirus transmission on Wednesday following hundreds of imported cases, the country's health minister said during a briefing.

Minister Munkhsaikhan Togtmol said a woman in the capital Ulaanbaatar had been infected by her husband, a truck driver delivering goods from Russia who tested positive after 21 days in quarantine.

Another 24 people in close contact with the couple have been put in isolation. The health ministry urged audience members at a concert attended by the couple to get tested.

Mongolia's tally rose to 382 after 14 new cases were recorded in the past two days, including the local case, Mongolia's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said. The country has not recorded any deaths from COVID-19.

Authorities have ordered a three-day lockdown in the capital, with schools also closed. Flights into the country as well as travel in and out of Ulaanbaatar will be banned.

The Philippines

Philippine vaccine czar Carlito Galvez said the nation is still likely to join final-stage human trials for Russia’s COVID-19 shot this year, which developers said Wednesday has 92 percent efficacy rate in preventing infections.

The developer of the Sputnik V vaccine is already in talks with a local clinical research organization so that the tests can start once approved by the country’s Food and Drug Administration, Philippine Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said at a briefing with Galvez on Wednesday.

Galvez said he hopes to reach an agreement with at least four countries this month and get clearance from President Rodrigo Duterte to make partial advance payments to procure vaccines quickly once supply becomes available in the second quarter.

Earlier in the day, the health ministry recorded 1,672 new coronavirus infections and 49 additional deaths, bringing the tally and toll to 401,416 and 7,710, respectively.

Visitors wearing face masks walk through Changdeokgung palace in Seoul on Oct 27, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

Japan

Tokyo on Wednesday reported 317 new COVID-19 cases, the first time the daily tally surpassed the 300-mark since Aug 20, pushing the capital's caseload to 33,377.

The Tokyo metropolitan government said the average daily number of new cases in the city over the previous seven days has exceeded 200.

Hokkaido, which is seeing the highest case numbers as a percentage of population, had 197 cases, taking its tally to 4,578. Bars and restaurants in the prefectural capital of Sapporo have already been asked to close early. Hyogo prefecture, home to the city of Kobe in the center of the country, recorded its highest day of infections yet.

Nationwide, 803 newly confirmed cases were reported, bringing Japan's cumulative total to 111,424, excluding those fromt he Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined earlier in the year.

The national death toll currently stands at 1,866, according to the latest data released on Wednesday.  

Samoa

Seventeen people in Samoa were put under quarantine after servicing a COVID-19-hit container ship that passed through Apia, capital of the island nation last weekend, the Samoan government confirmed on Wednesday.

Among those quarantined, four are staff of the Ministry of Health and the Samoa Port Authority, while the other 13 are stevedoring crew members who helped to dock the Fesco Askold cargo ship and unload containers.

Three of the 17 crew members onboard the ship tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend. Samoa's Director General of Health Leausa Take Naseri said Wednesday the crew members provided negative COVID-19 test results from their previous port Tahiti.

The Samoan government considers the incident as very low-risk event and will not be conducting further contact tracing. Naseri said he was confident that there is no risk of surface transmission of the virus.

Samoa has yet to have any confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Cambodia

An American woman tested positive for COVID-19 a week after arriving in Cambodia from the United States, the Cambodian Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

The 35-year-old woman landed in the capital city of Phnom Penh on Nov 4 via a connecting flight in South Korea, the ministry said in a statement, adding that she tested negative for the coronavirus upon her arrival, and was required to quarantine for 14 days at a hotel in the capital.

Cambodia has so far recorded a total of 301 confirmed cases with no deaths and 288 recoveries, official data show.

The ministry said Tuesday any violators of COVID-19 quarantine rules will face a fine of up to US$250.

The move came after more than 1,100 people have been required to self-isolate at home for 14 days after they have had direct and indirect contact with Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto, who visited Cambodia on Nov 3 and tested positive for the COVID-19 the next day upon his arrival in Thailand.

Iraq

The Iraqi Health Ministry on Tuesday said that the total nationwide COVID-19 infections reached 505,310, after reporting 3,577 new cases.

The ministry reported in a statement 52 new deaths and 2,432 more recovered cases in the country, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 11,432 and the total recoveries to 434,665.

A total of 3,038,467 tests have been carried out across the country since the outbreak of the disease in February, with 18,761 done during the day, according to the statement.

Meanwhile, Ahmed Mulla Talal, spokesman for Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, said in a press conference after the weekly cabinet meeting, that al-Kadhimi discussed the health measures taken by the Health Ministry to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.

"The Health Minister gave a detailed presentation in the cabinet meeting about the ministry's plan and its measures to prevent the spread of the pandemic, especially with the increase in COVID-19 infections worldwide," Talal told reporters.

Talal also said that there is information about a new vaccine, and the Prime Minister directed the Health Ministry to "prepare all storage requirements and other technical issues to prepare for receiving this vaccine."

Iraq has taken a series of measures to contain the pandemic since February when the first coronavirus case appeared in the country.

Sri Lanka

The death toll of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka reached 41 on Tuesday after five more deaths were recorded, the government information department said in a statement.

According to the statement, a majority of deaths reported during the day were from capital Colombo which has seen a surge in COVID-19 patients in recent weeks after two new clusters were detected last month.

The total number of COVID-19 patients reached 14,590 by Tuesday evening after 305 new patients were detected, health ministry statistics showed.

Out of the total cases, 9,537 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospitals.

Over 400 suspected cases are under investigation in hospitals.

Sri Lanka's Health Ministry has made it a law for all citizens to wear face masks and maintain all health guidelines, and anyone caught defying these rules will be fined and jailed.

ALSO READ: Iran to double coronavirus tests to 100,000 per day

Turkey

Turkey introduced on Tuesday more restrictions on the mobility of elderly citizens in the capital Ankara as COVID-19 cases continue to surge in the country.

People who are over 65 years old are not allowed to leave their homes in principle except between 10 am and 4 pm local time, according to Ankara's authorities.

Turkey's daily COVID-19 patients increased by 2,529 on Tuesday, raising the total number in the country to 399,360, the Turkish Health Ministry announced.

Meanwhile, 87 people died in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 11,059.

A total of 2,215 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, raising the total recoveries to 342,501 in Turkey since the outbreak.

The rate of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients is 4.2 percent and the number of seriously ill patients is 3,001.

A total of 146,198 tests were conducted in the past day, bringing the overall number of tests to 15,419,420. 

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia recorded 471 new coronavirus infections and 17 more deaths on Tuesday, taking the tally of cases in the kingdom to 351,455 and the total deaths to 5,576.

The tally of recoveries in Saudi Arabia increased by 493 to 338,281, while 794 patients were treated in the intensive care units.

Jordan

Jordan set a new record in daily spike of COVID-19 cases with 5,996 new infections confirmed, leading the tally of infections in the kingdom to 120,982. The death toll in Jordan climbed by 91 to 1,386, the Jordanian Health Ministry said.

Kuwait

Kuwait reported 903 new COVID-19 cases and five more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 133,381 and the death toll to 821 in the country.

The Kuwaiti health ministry also announced the recovery of 842 more patients, taking the total recoveries in the country to 124,156.

Qatar

The Qatari health ministry on Tuesday confirmed 230 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 134,663.

The total death count in Qatar rose by one to 233, while the tally of recoveries increased by 243 to 131,733, the ministry said.

Oman

Omani Health Ministry reported 381 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the sultanate to 118,884.

The death toll in Oman went up by six to 1,316, while the tally of recoveries rose by 362 to 109,330, according to a ministry statement.

READ MORE: Israel tests travelers from Denmark for new mutated virus

Lebanon

In Lebanon, 1,552 new COVID-19 cases and 17 more fatalities were confirmed on Tuesday, leading the tally of infections to 96,907 and the death toll to 749.

Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced a decision to impose a nationwide lockdown for two weeks starting Saturday, in hopes to curb the spread of COVID-19 and avoid an imminent disaster in the country.

Israel

Israel said on Monday it would test people arriving from Denmark for a new mutated strain of coronavirus stemming from Danish mink farms, and ask them to self-isolate.

The health ministry issued the statement after unconfirmed reports by N12 News and other media that three Israelis returning from Denmark were suspected of having been infected with the new strain.

Israel’s borders have largely been closed to foreign nationals since the coronavirus outbreak. It began easing its second national lockdown last month.

With a population of nine million, Israel has so far reported more than 300,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 2,674 deaths.

Vanuatu 

Vanuatu reported on Wednesday its first confirmed COVID-19 case, who is a 23-year-old man.

According to a statement by Vanuatu's Ministry of Health on Wednesday, the man arrived in the island nation on Nov. 4 from the United States, via Sydney and Auckland. He, who was asymptomatic, was confirmed with COVID-19 on Tuesday during routine day 5 testing while in quarantine in Port Vila, capital of Vanuatu.

Vanuatu's Prime Minister Bob Loughman said on Wednesday that contact tracing was underway and all close contacts of the man would be put into quarantine.

He stressed that there was no need for a lockdown at this stage but people are advised to be on high vigilant.

In March this year, Vanuatu closed its borders to prevent the virus from entering the island nation but it allowed in strictly controlled repatriation flights recently. 

Pakistan

Pakistan's COVID-19 fatalities reached 7,021 amid the country's hard battle against the second wave of the pandemic, the country's health ministry said on Wednesday.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has risen to 348,184 in Pakistan, with 1,708 new cases and 21 deaths being reported in the last 24 hours, the ministry said.

Overall, there are 21,098 active cases in Pakistan and 320,065 people have recovered, which is 91.9 percent of the total confirmed cases.

Pakistan has resorted to "smart lockdowns" of the COVID-19 hotspots in order to curb the rapid spread of the second wave of the disease.

Addressing a video conference on COVID-19 response on Tuesday, Pakistani Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood said that Pakistan has been "resolutely and successfully" confronting COVID-19 and taking all possible measures to strengthen the existing health system, according to a statement issued by the country's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.

Indonesia 

Indonesia reported 3,770 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, taking its total number of cases to 448,118, according to the country's COVID-19 task force.

It also reported 75 more deaths, taking total fatalities to 14,836.

Malaysia

Malaysia's health ministry reported 822 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, raising the total to 42,872 infections.

The Southeast Asian country also recorded two more deaths, taking the toll to 302.

Airlines in Malaysia could take three years to bounce back from the pandemic, depending on the outbreak in the country and abroad, the transport ministry said.

The remarks came after the Malaysian Aviation Commission said in its revised projections for passenger traffic this year that it expects passenger numbers to shrink as much as 75.6 percent to 26.6 million, compared with the 109.2 million passengers recorded in 2019.