Four youngster riding on one scooter roll down a popular street, in Ankara, Turkey, Nov 18, 2020. (BURHAN OZBILICI / AP)

SUVA / SEOUL / ANKARA / YANGON / SYDNEY / ULAN BATOR / DHAKA / HANOI / KUALA LUMPUR / TEHRAN / KATHMANDU - Turkey will sign a contract within days to buy some 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from China’s Sinovac Biotech, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told parliament.

The government is also in talks to buy a vaccine from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech, the state-run Anadolu news agency quoted Koca as saying late on Wednesday.

“We will be able to procure at least 10 million doses of the Chinese vaccine in December. We want to increase this number. It will be just as much in January, too,”

“This figure can easily double, probably. A contract will be signed on this in one or two days,” he said at his ministry’s budget presentation in parliament.

The government is also in talks to buy a vaccine from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech, the state-run Anadolu news agency quoted Koca as saying late on Wednesday.

Turkey's COVID-19 patients increased by 4,215 on Wednesday, raising the total number in the country to 425,628, the Turkish Health Ministry announced.

Meanwhile, 116 people died in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 11,820.

A total of 2,592 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, raising the total recoveries to 361,655 in Turkey since the outbreak.

Australia

One of Australia’s strictest lockdowns began on Thursday with outdoor gatherings, weddings, funerals, takeaway food all coming to a standstill as authorities try to stifle the latest flare-up of the novel coronavirus.

Images on social media showed empty streets in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia state, on day one of the state-wide lockdown. Residents flocked to supermarkets to load up with supplies until late on Wednesday.

The state, home to about 1.8 million people, has recorded 23 cases from the latest cluster.

There were no new infections to report on Thursday while 3,200 close contacts of the infected were in quarantine, the state’s chief public health officer, Nicola Spurrier, told a news conference.

Authorities have imposed the six-day lockdown to stamp out what the state premier described as a highly contagious outbreak of the coronavirus linked to a traveller who returned from Britain.

“We’ve had to take this extreme action, this important intervention, to put a circuit breaker in place to deal with this disease,” Premier Steven Marshall told national broadcast ABC.

A woman walks in a street in Adelaide during day one of total lockdown across the state on Nov 18, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

Samoa 

Samoa reported on Thursday its first COVID-19 case, a sailor who arrived in the island nation on a repatriation flight from Auckland, New Zealand last Friday, with mixed testing results.

Samoa's Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi announced in a press conference early Thursday that the man in a quarantine facility tested positive for the virus on Wednesday night, but a second test on Thursday morning had returned a negative result.

The man has been isolated at Tupua Tamasese Motootua hospital in the capital city of Apia.

"After four days in quarantine, tests were conducted and a sailor was tested positive and he was immediately isolated, as per usual procedures and the police are stationed there for safety reasons," the prime minister said.

"A second test was conducted at 6:00 am local time (Thursday) and it came out negative and these things happen, hence the press conference to inform the public over this matter."

Tuilaepa urged people to keep calm and to heed advisories from the National Emergency Operations Center and the Ministry of Health.

South Korea

South Korea kicked off a special two-week coronavirus prevention period on Thursday as the country’s daily infections tallies continued to mount ahead of highly competitive annual college entrance exams.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported 343 new coronavirus cases by Wednesday midnight, bringing the country’s total infections to 29,654, with 498 deaths.

The daily tally has topped 200 for five consecutive days and surpassed 300 on Wednesday for the first time since August after a large outbreak at a church political rally.

Rising COVID-19 case numbers have fuelled worries among students and parents ahead of the annual college entrance exam, which plays a huge role in students’ education and career prospects.

Almost 500,000 high school seniors will sit for this year’s exam on Dec 3, the education ministry told Reuters.

The ministry called on all high schools nationwide to return to offline classes a week prior to the exam and said it will temporarily disclose names of any cram schools and study cafes that experience an infection during the period.

The ministry has secured at 120 hospital beds in 29 medical facilities for students with COVID-19 ahead of exam day.

For students in quarantine, including those who had contacted COVID-19 patients, the ministry has secured at least 113 test centres and 754 individual test rooms enough to accommodate 3,800.

The ministry said it will not disclose the exact number of high school seniors with COVID-19 to prevent fear among the test-takers.

Nine more US soldiers in South Korea tested positive for COVID-19, the US Forces Korea (USFK) said Thursday.

The USFK said in a statement that the nine USFK service members were confirmed to be infected with COVID-19 after arriving in South Korea between Nov 3 and Nov 13.

Eight service members arrived at Osan Air Base on US government-chartered flights from the United States on Nov 3 and Nov 6. The Osan Air Base is located in Pyeongtaek, 70 km south of Seoul.

One service member arrived at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on an international commercial flight on Nov 13.

The confirmed cases have been transferred to designated isolation facilities at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek.

ALSO READ: M'sia in deal with China for COVID-19 vaccine development

Iraq

The Iraqi Health Ministry on Wednesday reported 2,349 new COVID-19 cases, warning "a full or partial curfew" could return amid the surge in cases.

"If we notice an increasing number of infections, then we will have to re-impose a full or partial curfew," said Riyadh Abdul-Amir, head of the ministry's Public Health Department, said in a press release, as the country's total number of cases has reached 526,852.

The ministry carried out many awareness campaigns but the citizens always failed to adhere to health protective measures, he noted.

Among the new 2,349 COVID-19 cases, 725 were detected in the capital Baghdad, 262 in Nineveh, 221 in Kirkuk, 204 in Diyala, and 200 in Duhok, the ministry said in a separate statement.

The ministry also reported 43 new deaths and 2,151 more recovered cases, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 11,795 and the total recoveries to 455,176.

Myanmar

Myanmar has reported 1,560 new cases of COVID-19 with 26 more deaths in the past 24 hours, according to a release from Health and Sports Ministry on Thursday.

With newly confirmed cases, the number of infections has risen to 74,882 while its death toll increased to 1,676.

Jordan

Jordan confirmed record 7,933 new cases and 60 more deaths, pushing the tally of infections to 163,926 and the death toll to 1,969. The total recoveries in the kingdom rose to 94,896.

"If we notice an increasing number of infections, then we will have to re-impose a full or partial curfew," said Riyadh Abdul-Amir, head of the ministry's Public Health Department, as the country's total number of cases has reached 526,852.

The ministry also reported 43 new deaths and 2,151 more recovered cases, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 11,795 and the total recoveries to 455,176.

Israel

Israel's Ministry of Health reported 663 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 326,200.

The number of death cases rose to 2,738, with two new fatalities, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 330 to 308, out of 539 patients hospitalized. The number of recoveries rose to 315,314, with 663 new ones, while the active cases stand at 8,148.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israel reopened the tourist areas in the Dead Sea and the southernmost resort city of Eilat, two months after a full lockdown over the high COVID-19 morbidity in the country.

READ MORE: Southeast Asia's virus hotspot counts on early vaccine rollout

Kuwait

Kuwait reported 452 new COVID-19 cases and nine more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 138,337 and the death toll to 857 in the country.

The Kuwaiti health ministry also announced the recovery of 798 more patients, taking the total recoveries in the country to 129,839.

Qatar

The Qatari health ministry announced 219 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 136,441.

Meanwhile, 256 more people recovered from the virus, bringing the overall recoveries to 133,473, while the fatalities remained 235 for the third day running as no new death was reported.

Lebanon

In Lebanon, the number of COVID-19 cases reached 110,037 with 2,084 new infections, while the death toll increased to 852, with 13 new deaths.

Lebanon has cancelled all kinds of national celebrations on the occasion of the country's 77th Independence Day due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a statement by the Presidential office said Wednesday.

India

India's COVID-19 tally reached 8,958,483 on Thursday as 45,576 new cases were registered across the country in the past 24 hours, according to the latest data released by the federal health ministry.

With 585 deaths since Wednesday morning, the total death toll in the country due to the pandemic mounted to 131,578.

There are currently 443,303 active COVID-19 cases in the country, while 8,383,602 people have been cured and discharged from hospitals so far.

The Indian government's focus has been on ramping up COVID-19 testing facilities.

Mongolia

Mongolia confirmed 13 more locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Thursday afternoon, according to the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases.

The national tally has risen to 518, including 93 locally transmitted cases so far.

The Philippines

The Philippines plans to cut the approval time for coronavirus vaccines already approved by other nations, fast tracking their emergency use among high-risk individuals in the Southeast Asian hotspot.

President Rodrigo Duterte will issue an order for the nation’s Food and Drug Administration to cut the approval process to three weeks from six months, his spokesman Harry Roque said Thursday. Duterte has also agreed to pay vaccine makers in advance after initially opposing it, Roque said, adding that the private sector has pledged to buy at least 1 million doses.

Philippine authorities earlier said the nation may join clinical trials for vaccines from Russia and China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd this year. The Philippines has the second-worst coronavirus outbreak in Southeast Asia, with over 412,000 infections as of Wednesday.

The Department of Health (DOH) of the Philippines reported 1,337 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the national tally to 413,430.

New Zealand

The New Zealand government has confirmed an in-principle agreement to purchase up to 5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Janssen Pharmaceuticals after clinical trials and regulatory approval.

"This agreement forms part of our portfolio approach to ensure that we have the ability to access a range of vaccine options, if and when a suitable vaccine is developed and approved," Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods said in a statement on Thursday.

It is an initial agreement with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and a formal advance purchase agreement is expected to be finalized in coming weeks, Woods said.

The agreement with Janssen would see the first doses of up to 2 million delivered from the third quarter of 2021, with the option to purchase up to 3 million additional doses, which would be delivered throughout 2022, she said.

Cambodia

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen has allowed the reopening of all schools, museums, cinemas, and weddings after about 1,420 people in contact with an earlier COVID-19-infected visitor were cleared of the coronavirus.

Hun Sen made the announcement on the reopening in an audio message released publicly late on Wednesday.

Hun Sen ended a 14-day self-quarantine at home after his final test conducted on Wednesday showed a negative result.

Schools in Phnom Penh and southern Kandal province as well as cultural and entertainment venues across the kingdom have been closed in order to contain the spread of the virus.

Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said in a statement on Thursday that following the prime minister's announcement, all academic institutions will be allowed to reopen on Nov 23.

Meanwhile, Culture Minister Phoeurng Sackona also issued a statement, saying that museums, cinemas, and arts performing venues were allowed to reopen from now on. 

Bangladesh

Bangladesh reported 2,364 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 30 more deaths on Thursday, making the tally at 441,159 with 6,305 deaths, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.

Vietnam

Vietnam reported four new cases of COVID-19 infection on Thursday, bringing its total confirmed cases to 1,304 with 35 deaths from the disease so far, according to its Ministry of Health.

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

Malaysia

Malaysia reported 1,290 new COVID-19 infections, the Health Ministry said on Thursday, bringing the national total to 51,680.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that five of the new cases are imported and 1,285 being local transmissions.

The majority of the new cases are from eastern state of Sabah, with 660 of the new cases reported in the state.

Four more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 326.

Iran

Iran announced on Thursday 13,223 new COVID-19 confirmed infections in the past 24 hours, raising the total number to 815,117 cases.

Spokeswoman for the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education Sima Sadat Lari said that 2,938 of the newly infected required hospitalization at her daily briefing.

Between Wednesday and Thursday, 476 people died due to COVID-19 infection, taking the total toll of the epidemic in Iran to 43,417, she said.

Nepal

The Nepali government has reopened Lumbini, the birth place of Lord Buddha, for tourists, since Wednesday, nearly eight months after its closure, said a senior official of Lumbini Development Trust.

Nearly two weeks after the Nepali cabinet decided to reopen tourism-related services such as cable car, adventure tourism, jungle safari and museum, the trust, an autonomous body under the government formed to preserve and develop the Lumbini area, decided to reopen one of the important religious and tourist sites of the Himalayan country.

A man wearing a face mask gets off train in Tokyo on Nov 19, 2020. (PHOTO / AP)

Japan

Japan’s capital raised its COVID-19 alert to the highest of four levels, as daily infections topped 500 for the first time. Governor Koike urged people to wear masks but stopped short of asking businesses to close their shops early.

Despite the higher alert level, harsh lockdown measures aren’t expected. The government lacks the legal means for such actions and has shown it can keep the virus under control without them. In addition, the capital and its neighboring prefectures account for about a third of the nation’s gross domestic product, so any limitations on businesses would have an outsize effect on the economy.

Japan reported 2,208 new daily COVID-19 cases on Thursday, renewing a record number of daily infections for a second consecutive day, according to the latest figures from the health ministry and local authorities.

The latest rise in cases brought the nation's total cases to 125,752, not including those connected to the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined near Tokyo earlier in the year.