General view of the deserted Ortakoy square, during a night-time curfew aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, in Istanbul, on Nov 28, 2020. (OZAN KOSE / AFP）

NEW DELHI /  BEIRUT / BAGHDAD / PHNOM PENH / JERUSALEM / DUBAI / SEOUL / ANKARA - 

Coronavirus deaths in Turkey rose to a record for the seventh consecutive day on Sunday and the number of new cases remained high despite efforts by President Tayyip Erdogan’s government to contain a second wave of infections.

Turkey is expected to report this week that its economy bounced back from a sharp coronavirus-induced slump earlier this year. But that recovery, key to Erdogan’s sustained political support, could be threatened by the new outbreak.

The government introduced tighter measures a week ago including nightly curfews at weekends, restrictions on movements of people of non-working age, a move to online schooling and limiting restaurants and cafes to takeaway services.

However the moves have done little to halt a remorseless rise in cases and fatalities, with Sunday’s toll of 185 dead 45 percent above the peak of the first wave in April, and the number of new cases behind only the United States, India and Brazil - all countries with far larger populations than Turkey.

Nepal

Nepal may be required to spend over US$500 million to procure COVID-19 vaccines once they are available, a senior official of Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population said.

Jageshwor Gautam, spokesperson at the country's health ministry told Xinhua last week that the ministry has estimated the cost of bringing the COVID-19 vaccines at around 60 billion Nepali Rupees (US$505 million), including the cost for storage and other facilities required to keep the vaccine safe.

Sri Lanka

As many as 606 prisoners convicted on minor charges will be pardoned to ease congestion in Sri Lanka's prisons amid a COVID-19 outbreak, state media reported on Monday.

Prisoners over the age of 65, convicts who have completed half of their sentences for minor offenses, and convicts who have completed over 25 years in a life sentence, are all eligible for the general amnesty, Prisons Commissioner General Thushara Upuldeniya said.

State Minister of Prison Reforms and Prison Rehabilitation Sudarshini Fernandopulle said prisoners convicted of serious crimes related to drugs, rape, and child abuse will not be released.

Over 1,000 cases of COVID-19 have been detected among inmates in Sri Lanka's prison system.

The number of COVID-19 patients in Sri Lanka topped the 23,000 mark on Monday after over 400 new cases were detected on Sunday night, official figures from the Health Ministry showed here.

Till Monday morning, the total number of infected patients reported was 23,484, out of which 17,002 patients had recovered and been discharged from hospitals.

India

The recovery rate of COVID-19 patients in India Sunday increased to 93.71 percent, the country's federal health ministry said.

"Till now 8,802,267 patients have been cured and 453,956 patients are under active medical supervision," the ministry said. "The national recovery rate is now 93.71 percent."

During the last 24 hours, 41,810 fresh positive cases and 496 deaths were reported in the country. 

Over 70 percent of the daily new cases are contributed by eight states.

The Serum Institute of India Ltd. denied allegations that a trial volunteer in India suffered serious side effects from a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca Plc and Oxford University, and said it would take legal action over the claims.

India's western state of Rajasthan has decided to close schools, colleges, cinema and entertainment parks until Dec. 31 in wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, officials said Monday.

India has progressively maintained a low Case Fatality Rate  (CFR) compared to the global average. The national CFR has fallen to 1.45 percent on Sunday.

The financial grant of around US$121 million under the mission dedicated towards development of COVID-19 vaccines would be utilized in research and development of Indian COVID-19 vaccines, an official statement said Sunday.

Meanwhile,  Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Monday directed a price cut for RT-PCR tests for COVID-19.

Australia

The first international students to arrive in Australia since it shut its borders to control the coronavirus pandemic will land in the remote northern city of Darwin on Monday. Australia’s A$38 billion (US$28.1 billion)-a-year international education industry has been smashed by the pandemic. The nation, which has recorded about 28,000 infections and now has an estimated 68 active cases, closed its borders to non-residents in March and requires anyone entering to quarantine in hotels or other designated facilities.

ALSO READ: Indonesia reports record jump in new COVID-19 cases

Mongolia

Mongolia extended its COVID-19 lockdown for 10 days through Dec 11, according to a livestream on the government’s Facebook page.

Authorities said that measures will be eased somewhat, with restrictions to remain in place at Ulaanbaatar and two provinces until 6 am on Dec 11. Alcohol will remain partially restricted during lockdown, prohibiting sales of beverages above 17 percent alcohol.

Mongolia confirmed seven more COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing the national tally to 791, according to the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD).

The latest confirmed cases were locally transmitted, said the NCCD in a statement.

Mongolia has so far reported 359 domestically transmitted cases, notably in the country's capital Ulan Bator and the provinces of Selenge, Darkhan-Uul, Govisumber, Orkhon, Dornogovi and Arkhangai.

Iran

Iran's Health Ministry reported 13,321 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, raising the total nationwide infections to 962,070.

The pandemic has so far claimed 48,246 lives in Iran, up by 371 in the past 24 hours, said Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, during her daily briefing.

A total of 668,151 people have recovered from the disease and been discharged from hospitals, while 5,852 remain in intensive care units, Lari added.

Lebanon

Lebanese caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan announced on Sunday that lockdown measures will be lifted gradually starting Monday to allow businesses to compensate for their losses ahead of the festive season of Christmas and New Year, the National News Agency reported.

Meanwhile, Hassan urged the Lebanese to behave responsibly while continuing to take proper precautionary measures to prevent further increase in COVID-19 cases in the country.

The minister added that lockdown measures imposed in the past few days were only successful at a rate of 50 percent.

Businesses will start operating again on Monday while the curfew will continue from 11 p.m. until 5 pm and pubs and nightclubs will remain closed. Restaurants will only receive clients at 50 percent of their capacity.

Lebanon's number of deaths from COVID-19 on Sunday reached 1,004 while the number of infections went up by 1,266 to 126,944.  

People wear face masks as they stand along a sidewalk in Siliguri on Nov 20, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

Iraq

The Iraqi Health Ministry reported on Sunday 1,614 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the nationwide infections to 550,435.

It also reported 24 new deaths and 2,366 more recovered cases in the country, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 12,224 and the total recoveries to 480,903.

The ministry also said that Health Minister Hassan al-Tamimi and Education Minister Ali Hamid visited a primary school in the capital Baghdad to oversee the implementation of the health-protective measures on the first day of the new school year, as more than 10 million students went to classrooms across the country.

Cambodia

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said eight more people tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of infected people in the first-ever community transmission to 14.

The country once again closed all cinemas, arts performing venues and museums after the community transmission.

On Sunday, the country had decided to close again all private schools across the kingdom for two weeks after a local family of six people tested positive for the COVID-19.

Ministry of Health spokeswoman Or Vandine said on Sunday that the government also closed down the Aeon Mall 1, the Phnom Penh Hotel, and the Chak Angre branch of American Intercontinental School in Phnom Penh to trace people who had connections with the patients.

In a voicemail sent to the public late on Sunday, Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said that two more people, who had contact with the infected family, had tested positive for the virus.  

Israel

The Israeli government has approved a plan to strengthen Israel's industry amid the coronavirus crisis, the prime minister's office and the Ministry of Economy and Industry said on Sunday.

The program is intended to increase the competitiveness of the business sector, and to encourage public procurement of Israeli products in a way that does not contradict Israel's international obligations in agreements and conventions.

The plan includes a duty to prioritize Israeli products in tenders issued by public corporations and local authorities, and in procurement agreements executed for the health system.

Under the program, small and medium-sized businesses will receive government assistance to conduct online commerce.

The plan also includes a reduction in customs duties on textile inputs to reduce production costs, as well as grants to increase productivity and assimilate advanced manufacturing technologies in the Israeli industry, along with grants to exporters.

A publicity campaign will also be carried out to encourage the public to buy products from the Israeli industry. 

Myanmar

Myanmar reported 1,509 more confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday, according to a release from the Ministry of Health and Sports.

The newly confirmed cases brought the number of infections of COVID-19 in the country to 89,486 in total.

A total of 31 more COVID-19 deaths were also reported in the country on Sunday, bringing the death toll in the country to 1,918 in total, the release said.

Myanmar's authorities announced on Monday further extension of the restriction for operating international air services at the Yangon International Airport until Dec. 31.

The operator of the airport, the Yangon Aerodrome Company Limited (YACL), made the announcement in a notice, saying the extension was meant to support Myanmar's effective efforts to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Asian country.

Indonesia

Indonesian President Joko Widodo ordered the home minister to warn local leaders to step up health protocol enforcement. Movement restrictions in cities bordering Jakarta were extended until Dec. 23, the head of West Java Task Force Daud Achmad said in a statement.

The Indonesian Medical Association of doctors is urging the government to shorten or scrap the year-end holiday entirely to prevent a resurgence in coronavirus infections.

Students in Indonesia are expected to resume school as of January 2021 amid the lingering COVID-19 pandemic.

Indonesian Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim said the school reopening is based on the level of risk of COVID-19 spread, the schools' readiness, and the orderly health protocols.

Every student or teacher coming to school has to wear mask when he or she has a temperature of fewer than 38 centigrade, and wash hands with soaps frequently.

Students would take turns coming to school, as 50 percent of them would be allowed in the class to maintain the distance protocol, while the rest would learn at home.

The confirmed COVID-19 cases in Indonesia increased by 4,617 in the past 24 hours to 538,883, with the death toll adding by 130 to 16,945, the Health Ministry said on Monday.

According to the ministry, 4,725 more patients were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recoveries to 450,518.

READ MORE: Iran's COVID-19 cases top 900,000

Special Task Force (STF) personnel deploy at Mahara prison on the outskirts of Colombo on Nov 30, 2020 a day after a prison riot over the surge of coronavirus infections. (PHOTO / AFP)

Malaysia

Malaysia will extend its movement control order on Top Glove Corp.’s worker dormitories in Klang by two weeks to Dec. 14 because of rising coronavirus cases there, according to Defense Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob at a media briefing Monday.

The movement control at at the company’s dormitories started on Nov. 17 and was supposed to end Monday, but there are still many new positive cases via second screening, he said. The government has tested 5,805 workers and 3,406 are found positive for the virus, he added.

Malaysia on Monday reported 1,212 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, bringing the national total to 65,697.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said at a press briefing that nine of the new cases were imported, and 1,203 were local transmissions.

Three more deaths were recorded in the country, bringing the death toll to 360 from the coronavirus epidemic.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh reported 1,788 new COVID-19 cases and 29 new deaths of the disease on Sunday, bringing the tally at 462,407 and death toll at 6,609, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.

The official data showed that 13,737 samples were tested in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh.

The total number of recovered patients in the country stood at 378,172 including 2,287 new recoveries on Sunday, said the DGHS.

According to the official data, the COVID-19 fatality rate in Bangladesh is now 1.43 percent and the current recovery rate is 81.78 percent.

Vietnam

Vietnam reported two new cases of COVID-19 infection on Sunday, bringing its total confirmed cases to 1,343 with 35 deaths from the disease so far, according to its Ministry of Health.

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

Afghanistan

Afghanistan reported 252 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday, raising its national tally to 44,215, including 7,418 active cases, the country's Ministry of Public Health said.

"Laboratories conducted 1,387 tests during the past 24 hours, out of the total tests 252 were positive COVID-19 cases in eight provinces of Afghanistan's 34 provinces," the ministry said in a statement.

Laboratories across Afghanistan have completed 147,800 tests since the country's outbreak of COVID-19 in February.

In the latest efforts to contain the pandemic, the ministry has recently ordered closure of wedding halls across the country for one month.

New Zealand

New Zealand reported four new cases of COVID-19 in managed isolation and no new community cases on Monday.

Of the cases in managed isolation, one person arrived from Ethiopia via Dubai and Kuala Lumpur on Nov 14. The person tested positive at day 11 on Friday, according to the Ministry of Health.

Two people arrived from the United States on Nov 23. They tested at day 5 as a person in their bubble had previously tested positive, said a ministry statement.

Another person arrived from the United States and tested positive at routine day 3 testing, it said.

One previously reported case has now recovered, bringing the total number of active cases to 72. The country's total number of confirmed cases is now 1,700, according to the ministry. 

South Korea

South Korea’s ruling party has called for the country to buy millions of additional coronavirus vaccine doses after a spike in infection numbers raised concerns about the government’s existing plans.

South Korea already plans to secure enough doses to vaccinate 30 million people, or about 60% of the population, but Democratic Party lawmakers said they would appropriate funds to buy doses for at least 44 million people.

“The party plans to allocate an additional 1.3 trillion won (US$1.2 billion) to next year’s budget,” an official with Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Nak-yon’s office told Reuters.

South Korea is battling one of its largest waves of coronavirus infections yet, fuelled by small outbreaks in the densely populated capital city of Seoul and surrounding areas.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 438 new coronavirus cases as of midnight Sunday, bringing the country’s total to 34,201 cases and 526 deaths.

The government’s current vaccine purchase plan puts it well ahead of a World Health Organization (WHO) goal for the early purchase of supplies for 20 percent of most vulnerable people, and the minimum of 40 percent agreed by European Union nations, Britain and EU partners for their populations.

Korean authorities have said they are not in a rush to procure large numbers of vaccines quickly because the country has succeeded in keeping infection rates at controllable levels, preferring to wait and see which vaccines worked best.

Securing more vaccines of different types is also necessary because their safety has yet to be guaranteed, the KDCA said on Monday.

The KDCA has said they do not expect to start vaccinating the public until the second quarter of 2021.

Thailand

Thailand was racing to track down about 200 people in its northern provinces on Monday to stop a potential coronavirus outbreak, after three Thai nationals entered the country illegally from Myanmar and tested positive days later.

Three women bypassed immigration checks and entered via natural border crossings last Tuesday and Friday, skipping the mandatory quarantine for new arrivals, Chiang Rai provincial governor Prachon Pratsakul said.

There were 356 people in Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai provinces potentially exposed, among them staff and customers of a hotel, shopping mall, cinema, restaurants and passengers in a van and taxi, Prachon told a news conference.

Fiji

Fijian President Jioji Konrote on Monday urged Fijians not to give up the health practices and habits adopted this year in preventing the COVID-19 infection, and voiced confidence in the Pacific nation's recovery.

   When opening the 2020-2021 parliament session here Monday, Konrote said it has been more than 220 days since the last case of COVID-19 among the public, and that together Fijians potentially saved thousands of lives.

The Philippines

The Department of Health (DOH) of the Philippines on Monday reported 1,773 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection, bringing the total number in the country to 431,630.

The DOH said 44 more patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 398,658. The death toll climbed to 8,392 after 19 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH added.

The DOH reported 2,076 new cases on Sunday, breaking 19 straight days of less than 2,000.

Vietnam

Vietnam reported three new cases of COVID-19 infection on Monday, bringing its total confirmed cases to 1,346 with 35 deaths from the disease so far, according to its Ministry of Health.

The new cases, all Vietnamese citizens, recently entered the country from abroad and were quarantined upon arrival, said the ministry.

It also announced that 1,179 patients in the country have been given all-clear as of Monday.

Meanwhile, over 16,200 people are being quarantined and monitored, the ministry said.