Vendors register to be vaccinated for COVID-19 coronavirus at the Tanah Abang textile market in Jakarta on Feb 17, 2021. (ADEK BERRY / AFP)

WELLINGTON / SYDNEY / DUBAI / JAKARTA - Indonesia extended movement curbs in several areas after signs that the measures helped contain the coronavirus outbreak.

The restrictions are extended until March 8 in dozens of cities and regencies across Java and Bali, said Airlangga Hartarto, coordinating minister for economic affairs. People can’t leave affected areas after 8 pm, offices and restaurants are limited to a maximum of 50 percent capacity and schools will continue to hold online classes.

Australia

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said authorities will start giving vaccinations from next week.

“We’re ready to go,” Morrison posted on Facebook early Saturday. “Our vaccine program is on track and the rollout starts Monday.”

Hotel quarantine and healthcare workers will be the first cohort to be inoculated at 16 Pfizer vaccination hubs across the nation, alongside older Australians at aged care facilities.

Cambodia 

Cambodia on Saturday confirmed a new community COVID-19 outbreak in capital Phnom Penh, with 32 cases detected, Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen announced.

"Just more than 10 hours, we had found up to 32 cases in a large-scale community transmission," Hun Sen said in a special speech live broadcast on the national television of Cambodia (TVK).

"This is the largest-ever local transmission in our country, and is a very bad situation for us," he said.

The outbreak was confirmed after a person applied for a "COVID-19-free" health certificate with the Ministry of Health before going abroad and was tested positive for the virus.

READ MORE: Indonesia makes COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory

India

India's COVID-19 tally rose to 10,977,387 on Saturday, as 13,993 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 156,212 as 101 COVID-19 patients died since Friday morning.

There are still 143,127 active cases in the country, while 10,678,048 people have been discharged so far from hospitals after medical treatment.

The restaurant and bar area of Wynyard Quarter, normally busy with America’s Cup crowds, is deserted as the city enters a level 3 lockdown in Auckland on Feb 15, 2021. (DAVID ROWLAND / AFP)

Iran

The first fully automatic molecular diagnostics laboratory in Iran was inaugurated in capital Tehran with a capacity to process over 10,000 PCR tests per day, local media reported on Friday.

The laboratory has been created by private entrepreneurs with an investment of US$2 million, according to the report.

Also on Friday, Iranian health authorities detected 8,017 new COVID-19 cases, raising the country's overall count to 1,558,159 so far, said the spokeswoman for Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Sima Sadat Lari.

And 77 new deaths related to the coronavirus were registered between Thursday and Friday, raising the death toll in Iran to 59,341, she said.

As of Friday, 1,331,162 COVID-19 patients have recovered or been released from Iranian hospitals, but 3,669 others are still in intensive care units.

Iraq

The Iraqi Ministry of Health reported Friday 4,024 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily record in 2021, bringing the total nationwide infections to 661,477.

It also reported 12 new deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 13,232, while 1,802 cases recovered, bringing the total recoveries to 614,529.

Israel

Israel's Ministry of Health reported 2,924 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, raising the tally of confirmed cases in the country to 744,513.

The death toll from the COVID-19 in Israel reached 5,526 after 25 new fatalities were added, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 903 to 872 out of 1,330 hospitalized patients.

Japan

AstraZeneca Plc plans to produce vaccines in Japan and will begin local distribution as soon as it receives government approval, national broadcaster NHK reported, citing an interview with an official at the drugmaker’s Japan unit.

The Japanese government signed a contract with the company to procure enough vaccines for 60 million people, NHK said. AstraZeneca applied to the health ministry for vaccine approval earlier this month, the Nikkei reported.

Kuwait

Kuwait reported on Friday 976 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 182,460.

The Kuwaiti Health Ministry also announced seven more deaths, taking the death toll to 1,034.

Lebanon

Lebanon recorded on Friday 2,255 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections to 351,048, the Health Ministry reported.

Meanwhile, the number of deaths from the virus went up by 51 to 4,257.

Mongolia 

Mongolia registered 35 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, raising the nationwide tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 2,586, the National Center for Communicable Diseases said on Saturday.

Meanwhile, 27 more patients were discharged from hospitals after making full recovery, taking the national count of recoveries to 1,846, the center said in a statement.

The Asian country has so far recorded six COVID-19-related deaths. 

New Zealand

New Zealand started its official rollout of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine on Saturday, while Australia finalized plans to begin inoculations on Monday, a new phase in tackling the virus that both countries have kept largely contained.

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

The two new cases of COVID-19 reported were recent returnees tested positive upon arrival, with no new case in the wider community, nor any linked to the Auckland February cluster, said the ministry.

The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 51 and the COVID-19 tally reached 1,994, according to the statement.

Qatar

The Qatari health ministry on Friday announced 465 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number in the Gulf state to 159,518. Meanwhile, 289 more recovered from the virus, bringing the overall recoveries to 149,320, while the death toll remained at 256.

ALSO READ: S. Korea PM vouches for safety of AstraZeneca vaccine

South Korea

South Korea reported 446 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Friday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 86,574.

The daily caseload was down from 561 in the previous day, falling below 500 in four days.

The daily number of infections hovered above 100 since Nov. 8 owing to small cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province as well as imported cases.

Of the new cases, 119 were Seoul residents and 161 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.

Thirty-two cases were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 6,869.

The Philippines

The Department of Health (DOH) of the Philippines reported on Saturday 2,240 new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 559,288.

The death toll climbed to 12,068 after 239 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH said. Saturday's reported daily death is the highest since September 14 last year, which stood at 259.

It added that 504 more patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 513,120.

Turkey

Turkey aims to procure 105 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of April, its health minister said on Friday, adding Ankara would also receive some 800,000 doses of the shots developed by Pfizer and BioNTech this month.

Ankara started a nationwide vaccination programme last month that has so far administered a first dose to some 5.5 million people. More than a million people have received the second dose of the vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd, according to health ministry data.

Speaking to the Sabah newspaper, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Turkey planned to procure a further 105 million doses by the end of April, but did not specify which vaccines would be obtained. He said Turks would be given the option to choose between the Sinovac and BioNTech shots once both are available.

Turkey on Friday reported 7,419 new COVID-19 cases, including 638 symptomatic patients, taking the total number of positive cases in the country to 2,624,019.

The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 82 to 27,903, while the total recoveries climbed to 2,511,548 after 7,498 more cases recovered in the last 24 hours, according to the Turkish Health Ministry.