People wearing face masks as a precaution against the coronavirus walk along on a nearly empty shopping street in Seoul, South Korea, Dec 5, 2020. (PHOTO / AP)

KUALA LUMPUR / ANKARA / MELBOURNE / SEOUL / TOKYO - South Korea imposed stricter social-distancing measures, including a ban on gatherings at high-risk venues such as karaoke bars, as the daily caseload was the highest in over nine months since March 2. 

South Korea reported 631 more cases of the COVID-19 as of midnight Saturday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 37,546.

The social-distancing alert for the greater Seoul area was raised to 2.5 from 2, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said on Sunday. All gatherings of more than 50 people will be banned, and restaurants will continue to be prohibited from serving customers after 9 p.m. and can do only takeouts and deliveries. In addition, no spectators will be allowed into sporting events.

“The situation in the greater Seoul area is serious,” Chung said at a Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures meeting in Seoul City Hall. “The 2.5 level will be maintained for the next three weeks until the end of the year.”

Australia

Australian state police were to blame for two German nationals avoiding mandatory hotel quarantine upon arrival in Sydney before they took a flight to Melbourne.

New South Wales Police reviewed the circumstances of the incident and identified they “had incorrectly allowed the two travelers to proceed to Melbourne,” the force said in a statement Sunday. “Police practices and systems at the airport have also been reviewed and strengthened as a result of this incident.”

Australia’s Victoria state eased COVID-19 restrictions on Sunday after the country’s pandemic hotspot recorded 37 days without any new coronavirus infections, moving toward a “COVID-safe” holiday season. 

From midnight on Sunday, up to 100 people will be able to attend public gatherings such as weddings, with density rules of one person per two square metres remaining in place, while 50 percent of office workers will be able to return to workplaces by Jan. 11, up from 25 percent now, the state’s premier said.

READ MORE: S. Korea urges vigilance as virus clusters emerge in 3rd wave

Fiji

Fiji reported on Sunday two more confirmed COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of active COVID-19 cases to 11 in the island nation.

In a statement on Sunday, Fiji's Ministry of Health said two members of a shipping vessel have now been isolated at the Navua Hospital, about 30 km from the capital city of Suva after testing positive for COVID-19.

The two sailors, non-Fiji citizens, arrived in Fiji's Lautoka port on Wednesday onboard the freighter MV Island Chief to deliver cargo. The freighter then proceeded on to the Suva port.

India

Pfizer India has applied to India’s drug regulator for emergency-use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine, after the company’s parent received clearance for the treatment from Britain and Bahrain, Press Trust of India reported.

The company is seeking to import the vaccine for sale and distribution in India without the requirement for clinical trials on local people, in accordance with the special provisions under the New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019, the news agency said, citing an unidentified official. Pfizer is the first drugmaker to seek the approval in India and submitted the application on Dec. 4, the report said. 

India's COVID-19 tally reached 9,644,222 on Sunday as 36,011 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours, said the latest data from the federal health ministry.

According to the data, the death toll mounted to 140,182 as 482 COVID patients died since Saturday morning.

Delhi has been one of the most COVID-affected places in the country. As many as 3,419 new cases and 77 deaths were registered in the national capital during the past 24 hours, with 26,678 active cases.

There are still 403,248 active cases in the country, while 9,100,792 people have been discharged from hospitals after medical treatment, added the ministry's latest data.

Iran

The COVID-19 epidemic has claimed 50,016 lives in Iran as of Saturday, and the total confirmed cases hit 1,028,986 in the country, according to the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education. 

In the past 24 hours, 12,151 new COVID-19 infections and 321 new deaths were reported, said the ministry's spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said at a daily briefing.

As of Saturday, 719,708 COVID-19 patients have recovered or been released from Iranian hospitals, but 5,817 others are currently in critical condition, she added.

Iranian President Hasan Rouhani said the country has witnessed a significant decrease in COVID-19 infection levels, after restrictions were announced two weeks ago.

Iraq

The Iraqi Ministry of Health reported 1,898 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total nationwide infections to 562,520.

It also reported 24 new deaths and 1,885 more recovered cases in the country, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 12,411 and the total recoveries to 491,657.

A total of 3,639,831 tests have been carried out across the country since the outbreak of the disease in February, with 30,365 done during the day, according to a ministry statement.

Meanwhile, a separate statement by the ministry warned of a possible increase in infections and deaths from COVID-19 despite the latest daily decline in infections and deaths.

ALSO READ: Philippines police threaten social distancing violators with caning

Israel

Israel's Ministry of Health reported 1,564 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the tally to 343,665.

The number of deaths reached 2,901 with five new fatalities, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 323 to 314 out of 552 patients hospitalized.

The total recoveries in Israel rose to 327,710, while the active cases stand at 13,054.

On Sunday, the gradual reopening of schools in Israel will be completed with the return to school of seventh to tenth graders.

The opening of schools in Israel began on Nov. 1, with the return of first and second grades, and other classes have since been resumed.

Japan

Japan’s government is considering the resumption of inbound tourism on a limited basis from the spring as Tokyo prepares to host a delayed summer Olympics, the Asahi newspaper reported on Sunday.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s administration is leaning toward allowing small tour groups from Asian countries where coronavirus infections are well under control, such as China and Taiwan, the Asahi reported without citing sources.

Jordan

Jordan reported 3,160 new cases, taking the tally to 237,513, and 50 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 3,010. The total number of recovered cases reached 182,463.

Kuwait

Kuwait reported 247 new COVID-19 cases and three more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 144,164 and the death toll to 889 in the country.

The Kuwaiti Health Ministry also announced the recovery of 462 more patients, taking the total recoveries to 139,610.

Kyrgyzstan 

The government of Kyrgyzstan took a decision to resume the entry of foreigners from all countries, the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Saturday.

From Dec 4, foreign citizens can enter Kyrgyzstan by regular flights via the country's three international airports in compliance with the requirements to prevent the importation and spread of COVID-19, the ministry said.

A men cycling next to coils of barbed wire near Top Glove factory hostel in Shah Alam, Malaysia, Nov 25, 2020. (PHOTO / AP)

Malaysia

The Malaysian government said Saturday that it will extend the movement control order in several areas till Dec 20 in order to control the spread of COVID-19.

Defense Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who coordinates the implementation of COVID-19 restrictions in the Asian country, announced at a press briefing the extension of restrictions already in place in Kuala Lumpur, the adjacent Selangor state and the eastern state of Sabah.

Meanwhile, the restrictions in other areas including Putrajaya, south of Kuala Lumpur, will be lifted, he said.

On Saturday, Malaysia's Health Ministry reported 1,123 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, bringing the national total to 71,359.

Maldives 

The government of the Maldives plans to provide COVID-19 vaccines free of charge to citizens of the island country, local media reported on Saturday.

The report cited President Ibrahim Solih as saying during a speech made in the southern town of Gan that it would be the government policy to administer a COVID-19 vaccine to every citizen free of charge.

Health Emergency Operation Centre (HEOC) spokesperson Fathimath Nazla Rafeeq has said that 20 percent of the South Asian country's population will get vaccines under the COVAX program, which is a global initiative to give its participating countries equal access to COVID-19 vaccines.

The COVID-19 vaccines are expected to arrive in the Maldives in early 2021. The country is currently working with the help from international development agencies to prepare for the vaccine distribution. 

Mongolia 

Mongolia confirmed seven more COVID-19 cases on Sunday after 14,019 tests have been carried out in the past 24 hours, said the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD).

The latest confirmed cases were locally transmitted or people who had close contact with previously confirmed cases, the NCCD said in a statement.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country reached 849, including 417 locally transmitted cases.

Myanmar 

Myanmar on Saturday reported 1,527 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, bringing its total tally to 98,047.

The Myanmar's health ministry also said the death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic rose to 2,081 with 22 new deaths recorded in the past 24 hours.

A total of 76,382 recovered patients have been discharged from hospitals.

Palestine 

Palestine confirmed 1,422 new cases, taking the total number of infected cases to 109,702, and the total registered death cases hit 905. The number of registered recoveries totaled 83,839. 

Qatar

The Qatari health ministry announced 140 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 139,783.

Meanwhile, 188 more recovered from the virus, bringing the overall recoveries to 137,060, while the fatalities remained 239 for the fourth day running.

Saudi Arabia

In Saudi Arabia, 190 new cases were reported, bringing the tally to 358,526. It also registered 14 deaths, raising the death toll to 5,954. The total recoveries increased to 348,562.

The Philippines

The number of COVID-19 infections in the Philippines has risen to 439,834 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 1,768 new cases on Sunday.

The DOH said 9,062 more patients have recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 408,634. The death toll climbed to 8,554 after 29 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH added.

Turkey

Turkey has entered its first full weekend lockdown since May as deaths from coronavirus more than doubled in less than three weeks to hit record highs, with daily infections now among the highest numbers recorded globally.

The daily death toll rose to a record high of 196 on Saturday, bringing the total since the beginning of the pandemic to 14,705. Official daily deaths were in the 70s at the end of October.

Opposition politicians have expressed scepticism however about whether the official death toll reflects the true picture in the country of 83 million people. They have questioned how the numbers in Istanbul could be almost as high as those reported for the whole nation.

On Saturday Turkey recorded 31,896 new cases, including asymptomatic ones, down from Friday’s 32,736, the highest daily number reported by Ankara since the beginning of the pandemic in March.

Vietnam

Vietnamese capital city of Hanoi has confirmed two cases of COVID-19 infection on Saturday, including one retesting positive for the virus.

A new case is a Lybian diplomat who was working in Vietnam. He has recently traveled to Turkey and then back to Vietnam on Nov. 19 with his family. He was quarantined at home upon arrival, Vietnam News Agency reported.

This new case brings the tally in Vietnam to 1,366 as of Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, another man tested positive on Thursday after recovering from COVID-19 and being discharged from hospital on Tuesday, said the news agency, adding that he is being treated at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases.