Vendors wearing protective face masks prepare noddle at a food stall in Mangwon Market in Seoul, South Korea, Feb 9, 2021. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)

MELBOURNE / TOKYO / PHNOM PENH / NEW DELHI / JAKARTA / DUBAI / BAGHDAD / JERUSALEM / KUWAIT CITY / BEIRUT / ULAN BATOR / YANGON / WELLINGTON / ISLAMABAD / DOHA / SEOUL / BANGKOK / MANILA / CAIRO - South Korea is relaxing its social distancing rules, allowing nightclubs to reopen and extending the operating hours of other businesses in an effort to ease the struggle of mom-and-pop stores.

Starting Monday, South Korea will apply level 2 social distancing rules for Seoul and surrounding Gyeonggi province, a half notch lower from the previous 2.5 level, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said at a briefing. For the rest of the country, the level 1.5 social distancing rules will be applied, also a half notch lower.

“We took people’s fatigue into consideration,” the prime minister said. “We are relaxing the rules for small businesses and self-employed.”

The adjustment will allow restaurants, coffee shops and gyms in Seoul and its metropolitan area to remain open until 10 pm, instead of 9 pm. Outside Gyeonggi, those types of businesses will be allowed to operate all day, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said in a statement.

Nightclubs, karaoke facilities and other late-night entertainment bars such as room salons, which had been shut down since Nov 24, will be permitted to reopen as long as they stick to rules, such as mask-wearing and closing at 10 pm.

After-school private academies, libraries, movie theaters and other types of businesses will no longer have restrictions on their hours of operation, the government said. 

South Korea reported 362 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Friday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 83,199.

Australia

Australia’s second most populous state Victoria entered a five-day lockdown on Saturday as authorities raced to prevent a third wave of COVID-19 cases sparked by the highly infections UK variant.

One new locally acquired case was confirmed in the past 24 hours, health authorities said on Saturday, taking the number of cases tied to a quarantine hotel at Melbourne airport to 14 and total active cases in the state to 20.

International flights to Melbourne will be stopped through Wednesday, after five en-route, with about 100 passengers, land on Saturday.

All 14 cases in the airport cluster are due to the highly infectious UK variant of the novel coronavirus. So far only direct contacts of workers at the hotel have tested positive.

Cambodia

Cambodia officially approved the emergency use of China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, the country's Health Minister Mam Bunheng said on Friday.

"Taking into account of the pandemic of COVID-19, with a view to protecting life and health of Cambodian people, the Ministry of Health of the Kingdom of Cambodia has decided to grant Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine for the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) in Cambodia, he said in a statement.

Cambodia on Friday confirmed one new imported COVID-19 case, bringing the total number of infections in the kingdom to 479, said a Ministry of Health (MoH) statement.

ALSO READ: Melbourne in new five-day snap COVID-19 lockdown

India

India's COVID-19 tally rose to 10,892,746 on Saturday as 12,143 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours, said the latest data from the federal health ministry.

According to the official data, the death toll mounted to 155,550 as 103 COVID-19 patients died since Friday morning.

There are still 136,571 active cases in the country, while 10,600,625 people have been discharged from hospitals so far after medical treatment.

Indonesia

The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 8,844 within one day to 1,210,703, with the death toll adding by 280 to 32,936, the Health Ministry said on Saturday.

According to the ministry, 11,919 more people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 1,016,036.

Iran

Iran declared 10 southwestern communities as high-risk COVID-19 “red” zones as a consignment of 100,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine arrived on Friday, Iranian media reported.

Iran launched a vaccination drive on Tuesday, two weeks after declaring there were no “red” cities left in the hardest-hit country in the Middle East. The inoculation focuses on hospital intensive care personnel as authorities await enough vaccines for the general population.

But Ahvaz, capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province and nine other cities and towns were declared “red” zones after a rise in cases and health authorities ordered non-essential businesses to close, the semi-official news agency ISNA said.

Iraq

The Iraqi Health Ministry reported on Friday 2,530 new COVID-19 cases, the highest daily record in 2021, bringing the total tally in the country to 639,438.

The new cases included 817 in the capital Baghdad, 340 in Najaf, 326 in Karbala, 191 in Qadisiyah, and 176 in Dhi Qar, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also reported 13 new deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 13,157, while the total recoveries climbed by 1,008 to 604,822.

Israeli health workers monitor Covid-19 patients an isolation ward at Ichilov Medical Centre in Tel Aviv, on Feb 11, 2021. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)

Israel

Israel's Ministry of Health reported 4,690 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, raising the tally of confirmed cases in the country to 718,746.

The death toll from the COVID-19 in Israel reached 5,304 after 75 new fatalities were added, while the number of patients in serious condition increased from 992 to 1,002, out of 1,534 hospitalized patients.

Japan

As Japan gears up for a COVID-19 vaccination drive, a cheerful cartoon dog chatbot is doing its bit to reassure a notoriously vaccine-sceptical population and answer any questions they might have.

Trust in vaccines in Japan is among the lowest in the world, a study by the Lancet medical journal showed. Only half the population want to take a COVID-19 vaccine, a poll by national broadcaster NHK found last month.

It is among the last major economies to begin its COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

A Japanese health panel on Friday night recommended approval of Pfizer Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine - the first in the country - as Japan tries to tame a third wave of infections in the run-up to the Summer Olympics.

The government will aim to give final approval as early as Sunday, Health Minister Norihisa Tamura told reporters.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has said vaccinations will begin from the middle of next week, starting with some 10,000 health workers. The government hopes to secure enough supplies for the whole populace by mid-year.

About 400,000 doses arrived at Narita International Airport, near Tokyo, on Friday aboard a flight from Brussels, Kyodo reported.

This picture taken on Jan 26, 2021 shows a staff member (center) speaking as he presents a video game fighting match at the Mikado game center in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo. (PHILIP FONG / AFP)

Kuwait

Kuwait reported on Friday 1,021 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 176,052.

The Kuwaiti Health Ministry also announced seven more deaths, taking the death toll to 992.

The tally of recoveries in Kuwait rose by 642 to 164,537, while 10,523 coronavirus patients were receiving treatment, it said.

Kuwait has banned the entry of non-Kuwaitis to the country for two weeks starting on Feb. 7, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Lebanon

Lebanon registered on Friday 2,934 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections to 334,093, the Health Ministry said.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the virus went up by 49 to 3,915.

Mongolia

Mongolia reported 46 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking its national tally to 2,293, the National Center for Communicable Diseases said Saturday.

"A total of 30,287 polymerase chain reaction tests were conducted across the country in the last 24 hours, and 46 of them were positive," the center said in a statement.

The latest cases were detected in the country's capital Ulan Bator, which is the hardest hit by the outbreak in the country, it said.

Myanmar

Myanmar reported 21 more COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the tally in the country to 141,543, according to a release from the Ministry of Health and Sports.

Four more COVID-19 deaths were reported on Friday, bringing the death toll to 3,188 in total, the release said.

New Zealand

New Zealand reported two new cases of COVID-19 at the border, said the Ministry of Health in a statement on Saturday.

According to the ministry, the two new cases were detected in managed isolation, while no new case was found in the wider community.

Pakistan

Two 11-week-old white tiger cubs that died in a Pakistani zoo last month appear to have died of COVID-19, officials said.

The cubs died in the Lahore Zoo on Jan 30, four days after beginning treatment for what officials thought was feline panleukopenia virus, a disease that zoo officials said is common in Pakistan and targets cats’ immune system.

But an autopsy found the cubs’ lungs were badly damaged and they were suffering from severe infection, with pathologists concluding they died from COVID-19.

Although no PCR test for the new coronavirus was conducted, zoo deputy director Kiran Saleem told Reuters the zoo believes the cubs were the victims of the pandemic that has killed 12,256 people in Pakistan.

Pakistan on Friday approved China’s CanSino Biologics Inc’s (CanSinoBIO) COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, Health Minister Faisal Sultan said, the fourth candidate authorized in the South Asian nation of 220 million.

Pakistan, largely reliant on the GAVI/WHO COVAX initiative for poorer nations, has also allowed private companies to import coronavirus vaccines and has agreed to exempt such imports from price caps.

A medical attendant prepares to vaccinate health workers with Chinese-made Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination centre in Lahore on Feb 3, 2021. (ARIF ALI / AFP)

Qatar

The Qatari health ministry on Friday announced 450 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 156,351, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.

Meanwhile, 212 more people recovered from the virus, bringing the overall recoveries to 147,939, while the fatalities remained 254 for the second day running, according to a ministry statement quoted by QNA.

A total of 1,455,165 people in Qatar have taken lab tests for COVID-19 so far.

READ MORE: Israel health ministry pushes law requiring shot or test in jobs

Thailand

Thailand on Saturday confirmed 126 new cases of COVID-19, mostly domestic, the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said.

Of the new cases, 116 were domestic while 10 others were imported, the CCSA said.

The domestic cases included 79 which were confirmed via active testing. Most of them were foreign migrants and Thai nationals in Samut Sakhon province, the CCSA said.

The Philippines

The Department of Health (DOH) of the Philippines reported on Saturday 1,960 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 547,255.

The death toll climbed to 11,507 after 12 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH said. It added 133 more patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 500,781.

Turkey

The number of people who have received their first doses of China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines topped 3 million on Friday across Turkey, Turkish Health Ministry announced. 

The Turkish Health Ministry also revealed that more than 300,000 health care workers have got their second shots since Thursday.

On Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on his social media accounts that he also took his second dose.