A woman wearing a face mask shops in a mall in Mumbai, India, Dec 18, 2020. (PHOTO / AP)

JERUSALEM / CAIRO - India exceeded 10 million infections of the new coronavirus on Saturday, much later than predicted only a month ago as the pace of infections slow, despite many in the country giving up on masks and social distancing.

After hitting a peak of nearly 98,000 cases in mid-September, daily infections have averaged around 30,000 this month, helping India widen its gap with the United States, the world’s worst affected country with more than 16 million cases.

India reported 25,152 new infections and 347 deaths in the past 24 hours, data from the health ministry showed. The virus has so far killed 145,136 people in the country. India took 30 days to add the last million cases, the second slowest since the start of the pandemic.

The country expects to roll out vaccines soon and is considering emergency-use request for three shots, developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer and local company Bharat Biotech.

But some health experts say the fall in cases suggests many Indians may have already developed virus antibodies through natural infection.

“Herd immunity is a huge part of it ... which is helping us to break the transmission,” said Pradeep Awate, a senior health official in India’s worst-hit state of Maharashtra, home to Mumbai.

India’s richest state was in dire straits back in September when its daily cases averaged 20,000 and hospitals ran out of beds and oxygen. It is now reporting fewer than 5,000 cases.

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Australia

Health officials in Australia will tighten restrictions next week on foreign international flight crew amid concern that infected airline workers may spread the virus. The changes include weekly COVIDtesting and accommodating crew in dedicated quarantine hotels with government oversight, Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said.

“Because we are seeing that significant increase in the numbers of cases around the world, and we’re starting to see airline crew become positive so the risk has increased,” Young told reporters in Brisbane on Saturday. “That’s why we think it’s timely to introduce it.”

Australia’s New South Wales recorded 23 COVID-19 cases that were acquired in the community in the 24 hours through 8 pm Friday, state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.

Of the new cases, 21 are part of a known cluster of cases related to Sydney’s Northern Beaches area that will enter a limited period of lockdown.

Israel

In Israel, 2,519 new COVID-19 cases were recorded, taking the tally of infections to 370,152.

The death toll of the virus in Israel increased to 3,057 with seven new fatalities, while the total recoveries rose to 344,372 after 1,560 new recovered cases were added.

Israel will begin a campaign on Sunday to vaccinate the population with the Pfizer vaccine.

According to Israel's Ministry of Health, medical staff throughout the country will first be vaccinated. Later next week, the vaccination of people aged 60 and over as well as at-risk populations, who suffer from severe or chronic diseases, will begin as well.

Iran's Health Ministry reported 7,121 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, raising the total nationwide infections to 1,145,651.

Singapore

Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported nine new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 58,386.

All of the new cases are imported cases.

On Friday, 13 more cases of COVID-19 infection were discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 58,265 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, the ministry said.

There are currently 36 confirmed cases who are still in hospitals. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in critical condition in the intensive care units.

Furthermore, 56 are isolated and cared for at community facilities. These are those who have mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19.

Altogether 29 people have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.

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Turkey

Turkey's total number of COVID-19 cases surged to 1,982,090 on Friday, after the registration of 26,410 new ones including 4,103 symptomatic patients. Meanwhile, Israel's total infections from the coronavirus exceeded 370,000.

The death toll of COVID-19 cases in Turkey, the worst-hit country in the Middle East, climbed by 246 to 17,610, while the total recoveries increased to 1,753,552.

South Korea

South Korea reported 1,053 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Friday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 48,570.

The daily caseload stayed above 1,000 for four straight days, hovering above 100 for 42 days since Nov. 8 due to small cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province as well as imported cases.

For the past week, the daily average number of infections was 976.4.

The cluster infections were linked to religious facilities, nursing homes and workplaces, as well as gatherings among families and acquaintances.

Of the new cases, 382 were Seoul residents and 264 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.

Twenty-four were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 5,057.

Fourteen more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 659. The total fatality rate stood at 1.36 percent.

Thailand 

Thailand reported 13 new locally transmitted coronavirus cases linked to a seafood market. Officials conducted contact tracing on about 4,000 people in the seaside province of Samut Sakhon after a 67-year-old fish merchant tested positive for the virus on Thursday.

The new cases take to 16 the total number of infections tied to the market after three were confirmed earlier Friday.

Armenia 

Armenia on Saturday reported 920 new COVID-19 cases, taking its total to 153,173, according to the country's National Center for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC).

Data from the center showed that 718 patients have recovered and 20 have died in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries and deaths to 131,931 and 2,616, respectively.

The Philippines

The Department of Health (DOH) of the Philippines on Saturday reported 1,491 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection, bringing the total number in the country to 458,044.

The DOH said 436 more patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 421,086. The death toll climbed to 8,911 after 36 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH added.

The DOH said it had tested over 6 million people so far since the disease emerged in the country in January. The Philippines has a population of about 110 million.