People wearing face masks visit Nagoya castle in Nagoya, central Japan, Dec 13, 2020. (PHOTO / KYODO NEWS VIA AP)

WELLINGTON / BAGHDAD / SINGAPORE / ANKARA / KUALA LUMPUR / SYDNEY / KATHMANDU / NEW DELHI / ULAN BATOR / ISLAMABAD / NUR-SULTAN / BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN / JERUSALEM / VIENTIANE / MANILA / JAKARTA / YEREVAN / TEHRAN / KABUL / DHAKA / HANOI / MUSCAT / YANGON - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga suspended his signature domestic travel incentive system nationwide for two weeks over the New Year holidays amid record coronavirus infections and a slide in support for his cabinet.

The unexpectedly broad suspension will cover what is usually one of the busiest travel periods of the year, when people head to family gatherings across the country

The government will halt all use of “Go To” travel incentives from Dec 28 to Jan 11, Suga said Monday. The unexpectedly broad suspension will cover what is usually one of the busiest travel periods of the year, when people head to family gatherings across the country. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike in a separate briefing requested restaurants and bars to continue with shortened hours also until Jan 11.

Suga said that policy on the travel program after Jan 11 would depend on the infection situation.

Japan on Monday confirmed 1,677 new cases, bringing the nation's tally to 182,301, excluding those related to the Diamond Princess cruise ship. The death toll stood at 2,648.

Tokyo, the hardest hit prefecture, saw its tally rise by 305 to 47,530.

The western prefecture of Osaka reported 185 new cases, Aichi prefecture saw 114 new cases, while Hokkaido reported 125 new cases.

The nationwide halt poses risks for an economy trying to recover from its worst contraction on record in the second quarter of this year. 

Afghanistan

Afghanistan confirmed 211 new COVID-19 positive cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections to 49,484 in the country, according to a statement released by the Public Health Ministry Monday.

The death toll rose by four to 1,975, according to the statement.

The number of recoveries increased by 26 to 38,410.

Armenia

Armenia on Monday reported 357 new COVID-19 cases, taking its tally to 148,682, the country's National Center for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Data from the center showed that 797 more patients have recovered in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 125,966.

Meanwhile, 17 more people have died, raising the death toll to 2503.

Australia

A work from home order to combat coronavirus in Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) state ended on Monday, a milestone for a country with very low COVID-19 numbers, but many companies plan to keep flexible work arrangements into 2021.

New South Wales (NSW) state said it was going ahead with a plan to lift the public health order that has been in place most of the year as it reported no new local coronavirus infections for a 10th straight day.

But the move appeared to be symbolic since the state’s employers, which include many of the country’s biggest companies, and workers had no plans for an immediate change from work from home arrangements, 10 days from the start of the Christmas holiday period.

The property council said Sydney central business district occupancy was currently 45 percent, compared to more than 90 percent before the pandemic. Two-thirds of property council members expected a “material increase” in CBD occupancy after three months or longer.

Just Victoria state, the second most populous state, now has restrictions on office workers, with a 25 percent attendance limit, while most other states and territories have a general directive for employers to let workers log in from home if they prefer.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh reported 1,799 new COVID-19 cases and 37 additional deaths on Monday, bringing the tally to 492,332 and death toll to 7,089, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.

The total number of recoveries rose by 2,949 to 423,845, said the DGHS.

According to the official data, the COVID-19 fatality rate in Bangladesh is now 1.44 percent and the current recovery rate is 86.09 percent.

Brunei

Brunei reported no new cases of COVID-19 on Monday with the national tally of cases standing at 152.

According to Brunei's Ministry of Health, no more recovery was recorded, maintaining the total number of recovered cases at 148. There is one active case still being treated at the National Isolation Center.

In this Dec 11, 2020 photo, a health worker takes a swab sample from a woman to test for the COVID-19 coronavirus at a testing centre in Srinagar, India. (TAUSEEF MUSTAFA / AFP)

India

The total number of active COVID-19 cases in India stood at 352,586 as of Monday, the lowest in nearly five months, the health ministry said in a statement.

"The share of active cases in the total positive cases has further shrunk to 3.57 percent. This is lowest after 149 days," reads the statement.

As many as 27,071 new cases were added to the country's COVID-19 tally in the last 24 hours, whereas 30,695 cases have recovered in the last 24 hours. The daily recoveries exceeded the new cases over the last 17 days.

"The total recovered cases are nearing 9.4 million, which translates to a recovery rate of 94.98 percent," the statement said, adding that the gap between recovered cases and active cases continues to grow and presently stands at 9,035,573.

In a related development, a COVID-19 cluster has been detected at a premier education institution in south India, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) located in Chennai, capital city of Tamil Nadu state, after 66 students tested positive.

COVID-19 tests are being done on 700 more students and faculty members at the institution.

As a precautionary measure, faculty members and students have been asked to work from home, and all labs shut.

Indonesia

The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 5,489 within one day to 623,309, with the death toll adding by 137 to 18,956, the health ministry said on Monday.

According to the ministry, 5,121 more people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 510,957.

The virus has spread to all the country's 34 provinces.

Specifically, within the past 24 hours, Jakarta recorded 1,506 new cases, Central Java 979, East Java 713, West Java 600 and South Sulawesi 295.

No new positive cases were found Jambi and Maluku.

Iran

Iran's Health Ministry reported 7,501 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, raising the nation's caseload to 1,115,770.

The death toll has risen to 52,447, up by 251 in the past 24 hours, said Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for the ministry during her daily briefing.

Of the newly reported cases, 1,322 were hospitalized, said Lari.

A total of 823,231 patients have been discharged from hospitals after recovery, while 5,711 remained in intensive care, Lari added.

Currently, the risk of infection is high in 12 Iranian counties that are flagged with a red alert, while 288 counties remain in orange alert, and 148 others are at yellow level.

Iraq

The Iraqi Health Ministry reported on Sunday 1,012 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total nationwide infections to 574,634.

It is the lowest daily increase in Iraq since mid-June, as the ministry recorded single-day cases between 2,000 and 5,000 during the period.

The new cases included 242 in the capital Baghdad, 238 in Kirkuk, 109 in Nineveh, and 65 in Duhok, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also reported 14 new deaths and 1,777 more recovered cases, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 12,579 and the total recoveries to 507,446.

Israel

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will enter quarantine until Friday after meeting with a confirmed coronavirus patient.

Netanyahu was tested on Sunday and Monday, and both times the results were negative, according to a statement from his office.

Israel's COVID-19 death toll has risen to 3,003 after 13 more deaths were reported since Sunday evening, the Ministry of Health said Monday.

Another 2,043 new cases were also reported, bringing the tally to 358,293.

The number of patients in serious condition rose from 347 to 383, out of 668 patients who were hospitalized.

The number of recoveries rose by 1,779 to 337,599, while the number of active cases stood at 17,691.

On Sunday night, the Israeli health and transport ministries announced that officials at the customs gates would stop asking passengers arriving from "green" countries with low morbidity questions, in a bid to avoid long queues and gatherings at the airport. 

The Israeli government also said that no more than four planes can dock at one airbridge at the same time, with a maximum of two planes arriving from "red" high morbidity countries.

ALSO READ: S. Korea warns of toughest curbs after 2 days of record cases

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan on Monday reported 747 new COVID-19 cases, taking its total caseload to 142,325, the country's ministry of health reported.

In the last 24 hours, the country's total death toll stood at 2,088. Active cases were at 14,055, with critical cases at 221, and total recoveries have reached 126,182, the ministry said.

Laos

The Lao Ministry of Health reported no new COVID-19 infected cases on Monday, and one more patient has recovered.

Deputy Director General of the Department of Communicable Disease Control under the Ministry of Health Latsamy Vongkhamsao told a press conference in on Monday that one recovered COVID-19 patient is returning home after twice testing negative for the virus.

Malaysia

Malaysia’s Top Glove Corp has reported that a worker died on Saturday due to COVID-19, the first death since the outbreak at its dormitories and factories in October.

The world’s largest glove maker told Reuters in an email that the 29-year-old worker from Nepal had worked at its manufacturing facility in Klang, 40 kilometers west of the capital Kuala Lumpur, for more than two years.

The country reported 1,371 new COVID-19 infections, the health ministry said on Monday, bringing the tally to 84,846.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press briefing that one of the new cases was imported while the rest were locally transmitted.

Four more deaths were also reported, raising the death toll at 419.

Of the remaining 13,830 active cases, 114 were in intensive care, including 62 in need of assisted breathing.

Mongolia

Mongolia reported five more COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, raising its national tally to 912, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Monday.

The latest cases were locally transmitted or reported in the northern Mongolian province of Selenge, Amarjargal Ambaselmaa, head of the surveillance department of the NCCD, said at a daily press conference.

Myanmar

The number of COVID-19 cases in Myanmar has increased to 109,512 as of Monday, according to a release by  the Ministry of Health and Sports.

A total of 1,170 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported in the country.

The death toll reached 2,292 after 24 more deaths were reported, according to the release.

Myanmar is trying to secure vaccine sfor 40 percent of its people in 2021, Soe Lwin Nyein, chairman of National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) told Xinhua on Monday.

The application form for getting a vaccine was already submitted to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, on Dec 7, he added.  

Nepal

Nepal on Monday confirmed 821 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the tally to 249,244, the country's Ministry of Health and Population said.

Another 18 deaths were also reported, raising the death toll to 1,716.

Nepal's steady progress in human development over the last several years could be halted or reversed due to the impact of the pandemic, Nepali government has warned in a report.

According to the report titled "Nepal Human Development Report 2020: Beyond LDC Graduation: Productive Transformation and Prosperity", besides affecting human development, the pandemic could also affect Nepal's plan to graduate the country into a developing country from current least developed status by 2024 and cast doubt on achieving sustainable development goals by 2030.

Jagadish Chandra Pokharel, former vice-chairperson of the National Planning Commision, told Xinhua that steady progress could be at risk as thousands of people have lost jobs and many people have gone down below the poverty line due to the impact of the pandemic.

"With fear of infection in hospitals, pregnant women are increasingly opting for unattended deliveries. More children under the age of five and newborns lack adequate nutrition and emergency health care, leaving them prone to malnutrition, stunted growth and infections," reads the report.

The COVID-19 has severely disrupted education as well, according to the report.

In this Oct 16, 2020 photo, passengers wearing face masks arrive from New Zealand at Sydney International Airport. (DAVID GRAY / AFP)

New Zealand
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday that the cabinet has agreed in principle to allow travel with Australia without quarantine in the first quarter of 2021.

Ardern said this was subject to decisions by Australian governments, and more preparations were still needed to finalise the “travel bubble”, adding that intends to name a date in the New Year once remaining details are determined.

New Zealand reported no new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, either in managed isolation facilities or in the community.

Oman

Oman has recorded 264 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the tally to 126,504, the Omani Health Ministry said Monday.

The country also registered one more death, taking the death toll to 1,472, the ministry tweeted.

Pakistan

Pakistan registered 2,362 new COVID-19 cases and 36 relevant deaths in the past 24 hours, the health ministry reported on Monday.

The country's COVID-19 tally now has reached 440,787, while the death toll mounted to 8,832, said the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination in the latest update.

A total of 2,456 cases remain in critical condition and 384,719 patients have recovered, said the ministry. 

Singapore

Singapore has approved the use of Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE’s coronavirus vaccine and expects the first shipments by the end of the month, by which time it also plans to move into the final phase of its virus curbs.

Other vaccines are expected to arrive in Singapore “in the coming months,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a speech on Monday, adding the country will have enough for everyone by the third quarter of next year. 

Lee said first priority will be given to those who are at greatest risk: Healthcare workers and frontline personnel, as well as the elderly and vulnerable.

Meanwhile, Singapore will further ease restrictions on Dec 28, expanding the number of people allowed to gather from five to eight.

Other concessions include allowing religious organizations to increase their capacity up to 250 persons, while attractions may apply to increase operating capacity from 50 percent to up to 65 percent.

The government will also start a pilot scheme in the first quarter in which migrant workers will be allowed to access the community once a month, subject to some rules including the wearing of contact tracing tokens.

The city-state has reported more than 58,000 confirmed cases and 29 deaths.

A medical staff member wearing protective gear takes a swab from a man to test for the COVID-19 coronavirus at a temporary testing station outside Seoul station in Seoul on Dec 14, 2020. (JUNG YEON-JE / AFP)

South Korea

South Korea ordered schools to close from Tuesday in the capital Seoul and surrounding areas as it battles its worst outbreak of novel coronavirus since the pandemic began, surpassing the previous peak in February.

Schools in the capital region would move classes online until the end of the month, in the latest ratcheting up of social distancing measures which so far have failed to reverse the spike in infections.

The school closure is a step towards the imposition of Phase 3 social distancing rules, a move that would essentially lock down Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said such a step required careful review, as the government comes under mounting pressure to do more to step the rise of infections.

“The government will not hesitate to make the decision to upgrade to Phase 3 if it is considered necessary as it takes into account the opinions of related ministries, local governments, and experts,” he told a meeting of health officials according to a transcript from his office.

South Korea reported a drop in new cases - to 718 - after posting a record of more than 1,000 infections on Sunday. Health authorities announced it was setting up nearly 60 temporary testing centers at subway stations in Seoul to stem the latest spread.

The US Forces Korea (USFK) said on Monday that 14 more US soldiers and two civilians have tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in South Korea between Nov 28 and Dec 11.

The Philippines

The Department of Health (DOH) of the Philippines reported 1,339 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection on Monday, bringing the total number in the country to 450,733.

READ MORE: Indonesia's COVID-19 cases surpass 600,000

A man walks on the deserted Kizilay Square during a general curfew put in place to limit a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, in Ankara on Dec 13, 2020. (ADEM ALTAN / AFP)

Turkey

Turkey reported on Sunday 26,919 COVID-19 cases, including 5,103 symptomatic ones, raising the total number of cases in the country to 1,836,728, its health ministry announced.

The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 218 to 16,417, while the total recoveries climbed to 1,603,780 after 22,215 more recovered in the last 24 hours.

The rate of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients stands at 3.1 percent and the number of seriously ill patients is 5,973 in the country, said the ministry.

UAE

Air traffic between the United Kingdom and Dubai is expected to climb by a third in December as passengers take advantage of the travel corridor.

Bookings for December are “double what we experienced through previous months,” Dubai Airports Chief Executive Officer Paul Griffiths said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

Getting vaccinated won’t be a requirement for passengers to enter the Middle Eastern travel hub, Griffiths said. It’s negative to suggest that being “inoculated is a precursor to travel” but that could change once the vaccine is out there and available for the population, he said.

Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi is planning to reopen for international tourists by early January as it eases restrictive measures, looking to recover from the pandemic. The capital of the United Arab Emirates will allow visitors from a group of countries it deems safe, and that list will be updated every two weeks, according to an official at the Department of Culture and Tourism.

Vietnam

Vietnam reported five new cases of COVID-19 infection on Monday, bringing its tally to 1,402, along with 35 deaths, according to its Ministry of Health.

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

Five more patients have recovered, taking the number of recoveries to 1,246, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, nearly 20,000 people are being quarantined and monitored, the ministry added.