Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during his visit to the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem on Sept 8, 2020. (ALEX KOLOMOISKY / POOL PHOTO VIA AP)

DAMASCUS / ANKARA / JERUSALEM - The Japanese government decided to exclude overseas spectators from attending the Tokyo Olympics, Kyodo reported, citing officials with knowledge of the matter. The government concluded that fans from abroad aren’t possible given concerns about the virus and different variants detected in other countries.

Japan plans to cap the number of daily arrivals into the country at around 2,000 and allow exceptions to the ban on international travellers after the COVID-19 state of emergency is lifted in Tokyo ahead of the Olympics, Nikkei reported on Monday.

The newspaper report added that the proposed number will include Japanese nationals returning to the country, citing individuals familiar with the matter.

Japan has temporarily suspended exemptions allowing foreign athletes to train in the country ahead of the Games as it closed its borders to contain a surge in COVID-19 cases. The state of emergency in the capital has been extended until March 21.

Tokyo reported 290 new daily COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the capital's tally since the outbreak of the pandemic here to 113,861, although city and health officials said the number of critically ill patients were at the lowest level since Nov. 20.

More than 70,000 people - including athletes, coaches and media representatives - are expected to enter the country for the Games, Nikkei reported earlier, citing estimates in Japan.

Test events for the Olympics are to start in April. The Games are scheduled to begin on July 23.

Isreal

The Hungarian and Czech prime ministers will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to discuss policies to fight COVID-19 as a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic sweeps central Europe.

“The main topic of the meeting will be the effort to curb the pandemic,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s press chief said in a statement.

Netanyahu, who has said 90 percent of eligible Israelis have either received at least one dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine or recovered from the virus, has made Israel’s vaccination programme a showcase of his campaign for re-eection on March 23.

Last week Israel, Austria and Denmark said they would set up a joint research and development fund, and possibly production facilities for COVID-19 vaccines, to ensure they had long-term supplies for booster shots or to contend with virus mutations.

Hungary imposed tough new lockdown measures on Monday to curb a rise in COVID-19 infections and has accelerated its vaccination campaign.

Orban’s government has closed all schools and most shops in his country of 10 million.

Malaysia

Malaysia reported 1,280 new COVID-19 infections, the health ministry said on Tuesday, bringing the national total to 316,269.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that two of the new cases are imported and 1,278 are local transmissions.

Another nine deaths have been reported, pushing the death toll to 1,186.

Vietnam

Vietnam recorded two new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, including one imported and one locally transmitted cases, according to its Ministry of Health.

With the new infections, the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has risen to 2,526 in the Southeast Asian country, said the ministry.

The imported case is a Vietnamese citizen who recently returned from abroad and was quarantined upon arrival. The community case, a contact of a previously confirmed patient, was reported in the northern Hai Duong province, the country's largest COVID-19 hotspot at the moment.

Singapore

Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported six new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the country's total tally to 60,052.

The new infections are all imported cases.

On Tuesday, five more patients were discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 59,905 patients have fully recovered from the coronavirus epidemic, the ministry said.

Kyrgyzstan 

The COVID-19 situation has been stable in Kyrgyzstan over the past two months, a public health official said Tuesday.

The number of cases has been decreasing, with 20 to 40 new cases being registered daily, Ainura Akmatova, head of the Public Health Department of the Ministry of Health of Kyrgyzstan, told a briefing.

 "The effective reproductive number has been below one in the last two months. But, despite the stable epidemiological situation, there are new cases of coronavirus infection," Akmatova said.

Bangladesh 

Bangladesh reported 912 new COVID-19 cases and 13 new deaths on Tuesday, making the tally at 552,087 and death toll at 8,489, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.

The official data showed that 17,775 samples were tested in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh.

The total number of recovered patients in the country stood at 505,349 including 1,229 new recoveries on Tuesday, said the DGHS.

Myanmar

Myanmar reported 14 more COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the tally in the country to 142,059, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health and Sports.

No new death was reported on Tuesday and the death toll of COVID-19 has registered 3,200 in the country so far, the statement said.

According to the ministry's figures, a total of 131,702 patients have been discharged from hospitals and over 2.5 million samples have been tested for COVID-19 so far.

Laos

The Lao Ministry of Health on Tuesday urged people to be highly vigilant against COVID-19.

Deputy Director General of the Department of Communicable Disease Control under the Lao Ministry of Health Latsamy Vongkhamsao told a press conference in Lao capital Vientiane that authorities and people countrywide must continue their efforts in implementing preventive measures and adapt to the new normal to stop the spread of the virus.

On Monday, a total of 2,437 people entered Laos through international border checkpoints.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is in discussions with Russian authorities to purchase the Sputnik V vaccines as the country is in the midst of a mass COVID-19 vaccination program, an official said here Tuesday.

General Manager of Sri Lanka State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC) Dinusha Dassanayake told Xinhua that the SPC is in discussions with Russia after Sri Lanka's National Medicines Regulatory Authority approved the Sputnik V vaccine for emergency use in the island country.

Indonesia 

Indonesia cleared AstraZeneca Plc’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, a second shot made available by the government to bolster its inoculation drive amid concern over an influx of new virus variants.

“We need to accelerate the vaccination program to achieve herd immunity as soon as possible,” Penny Lukito, head of the country’s food and drug regulator said in a virtual briefing Tuesday. The office, known as BPOM, first granted approval for Sinovac Biotech Ltd’s vaccine in January.

Southeast Asia’s largest economy expanded movement restrictions to three provinces starting next week to curb the pandemic spread, while trying to recover an economy that last year contracted for the first time in two decades. Nearly 1.4 million people tested positive for Covid-19 so far, including six confirmed cases of the UK COVID variant. More than 35,000 have died from the virus, according to the latest data on March 8.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is deemed safe for people aged above 18 years old, as well as elderly, with an efficacy rate after the second dosage of 62.1 percent, Lukito said. BPOM, she added, is currently assessing an emergency approval for Moderna Inc. vaccine through a rolling submission, as the country sought to kick off private vaccination program in March.

President Joko Widodo’s administration expected the arrival of 15 millions of Sinopharm Group Co Ltd vaccine in the first half and 5.2 millions of Moderna’s in the second half. Indonesia targets to inoculate 1.5 million residents per day in July.

The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 6,389 within one day to 1,392,945, with the death toll adding by 210 to 37,757, the country's health ministry said on Tuesday.

According to the ministry, 7,496 more people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 1,210,877.

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

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea (PNG) health authorities were scrambling to contain a surge of COVID-19 infections, with official case numbers nearly doubling in the past five weeks.

Official figures released Monday showed 87 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded the day before, taking the country's total cases to 1,670 and 16 known deaths.

The cases were reported across four provinces, with the highest number in the National Capital District (NCD) with 46 cases, on top of 12 in West Sepik, 20 in Morobe and nine in the Eastern Highlands.

PNG's total cases have almost doubled in the past five weeks which officials have described as alarming, however, no intention was revealed to implement a lockdown in the capital.

Cambodia

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen late on Monday ordered the temporary closure of state's civil institutions for at least one week as COVID-19 cases continue to rise.

But all armed forces and healthcare workers still work as usual.

"It's really turbulent at this time because there are infections among police officers, civil servants and artists, so the temporary closure of the institutions, not close completely but reduce the number of people at workplaces by at least 90 percent, is necessary," he said in an audio message sent to the public.

Cambodia restricted travel to and from the Chrey Thom populated area in southern Kandal province's Koh Thom district on Tuesday after a spike in COVID-19 cases there in recent days.

Kandal provincial governor Kong Sophorn said in a statement that at least five foreigners staying in the area had tested positive for the virus so far.

"To prevent the transmission of COVID-19 into the community, foreigners are temporarily banned from traveling to and from the Chrey Thom populated area in Koh Thom district's Sampov Poun commune," he said in the statement.

China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective with no serious side effects in Cambodia, the country's Health Ministry secretary of state and spokeswoman, Or Vandine, said on Tuesday.

The Southeast Asian nation has begun a COVID-19 vaccination campaign with the Sinopharm vaccine since Feb. 10 after receiving the first shipment of the vaccine from China.

As of Monday, some 171,073 people in the priority groups had been inoculated with the vaccine, according to an official data.

Thailand 

Thailand needs to completely waive quarantine for vaccinated foreign travelers and provide COVID-19 shots to tourism workers for quick recovery of the industry, according to the Thai Hotels Association.

“Not being able to welcome tourists for over a year now, we’re urgently requesting the government to reduce the lockdown days,” President Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi said in a Bloomberg TV interview Tuesday. Foreign tourists could be screened and tracked during their stay in Thailand to help alleviate concerns of virus spread, the group said.

Thailand on Tuesday confirmed 60 cases of coronavirus infection, mostly domestic, according to a report of the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

Syria

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma al-Assad were tested positive for COVID-19, state news agency SANA reported on Monday.

After experiencing some symptoms, the president and his wife took the PCR test and the result came positive even though they are in good and stable health, SANA said.

Assad and the first lady will be observing a quarantine between two to three weeks while continuing to carry out their work.

The president urged the people to observe safety measures to protect against the COVID-19 epidemic.

This comes at a time the COVID-19 cases in Syria are heading up amid warnings by medical staff that this wave is a strong one.

Syrian Health Ministry placed the overall number of infections since last March at 15,981 on Sunday, including 10,374 recoveries and 1,063 deaths. However, medical staff say the number is much higher as many people get the virus without doing the test.  

Turkey

Turkey has administered more than 10,121,000 COVID-19 vaccine jabs nationwide, its health ministry announced on Monday.

More than 7,630,000 people have got their first doses of the vaccine, while more than 2,491,000 people have received their second doses.

The country started mass vaccination against COVID-19 on Jan. 14 after the authorities approved the emergency use of the Chinese CoronaVac vaccine.

Turkey on Monday reported 13,215 new COVID-19 cases, including 767 symptomatic patients, as the total number of positive cases in the country reached 2,793,632, according to its health ministry.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman approved a range of initiatives aimed at assisting firms and individuals operating in support of Islamic pilgrimages, Saudi state news agency SPA said late on Monday.

The initiatives are aimed at mitigating the financial and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic across the sector that provides support for the haj and umrah pilgrimages, SPA said.

They include exempting accommodation facilities from the annual fees for municipal commercial activities’ licenses in the cities of Mecca and Medina, where the Islamic pilgrimages take place.

Facilities working in the sector will also be exempted from working expatriates’ fees for six months, and can renew the Ministry of Tourism’s licenses for accommodation facilities free of charge in the two cities for a year, which can be extended.

For expatriates working in activities related to haj and umrah, the collection of residency renewal fees will be postponed for six months, provided that the amounts are paid in instalments over a year, SPA said.

Bus licenses operating in facilities transporting pilgrims will remain valid without charge for a year, and the collection of customs duties for new buses will be postponed for the upcoming haj season for three months. They will be paid in instalments over a period of four months from the due date.

Israel

Israel’s El Al airlines launched a pilot programme at its Tel Aviv airport check-in counters on Monday to test unvaccinated passengers for COVID-19 before allowing them to board a non-stop flight to New York.

Just before stepping up to the counters, 112 of the 280 passengers on flight 003 were required by El Al to undergo a nose swab - a rapid antigen test, with results within 15 to 20 minutes, that detects protein fragments specific to the coronavirus. All 112 passed the test.

Airlines have for months been lobbying governments for such measures to prevent people from having to go into quarantine on arrival.

With some 40 percent of Israelis over the age of 16 already fully vaccinated after their second dose of Pfizer /BioNTech’s vaccine, most of those tested at the airport were children, who under current health guidelines are not given the shots.

Israel's Ministry of Health reported 3,130 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, raising the tally of confirmed cases in the country to 804,591.

The death toll from the COVID-19 in Israel reached 5,915 after 26 new fatalities were added, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 712 to 689, out of 1,109 hospitalized patients.

Lebanon

Lebanon registered on Monday 2,283 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections to 397,871, the Health Ministry reported.

Meanwhile, the number of deaths from the virus went up by 43 to 5,089.

Lebanon continues to roll out its vaccination drive, which is implemented by the health ministry. 

Jordan

Jordan on Monday reported 7,413 new COVID-19 cases and 52 more deaths, bringing the overall number of cases to 435,130 with 4,987 deaths in the country, the government announced.

According to a joint statement issued by the Prime Ministry and the Ministry of Health, there are currently 58,689 active COVID-19 cases in Jordan.

A total of 432 COVID-19 patients were admitted to hospitals on Monday, taking the number of patients currently receiving treatment in hospitals to 2,248, the statement said.

The statement added that 4,139 recoveries were registered in hospitals and home quarantine on Monday, bringing the total number of recoveries to 371,454.

Kuwait

Kuwait reported on Monday 1,326 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 201,898.

The Kuwaiti Health Ministry also announced six more deaths, taking the death toll to 1,133. The tally of recoveries nationwide rose by 935 to 187,122, while 13,643 coronavirus-related patients are receiving treatment.

Kuwait started on March 7 to impose a partial curfew, from 5 pm local time (1400 GMT) to 5 a.m. until April 8, as part of its efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Qatar

The Qatari Health ministry on Monday announced 468 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 167,417, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.

Meanwhile, 298 more people recovered from the virus, bringing the overall recoveries to 156,299, while the fatalities increased by one to 263, according to a ministry statement quoted by QNA.

A total of 1,585,232 persons in Qatar have taken lab tests for COVID-19 so far.  

Oman

The Omani health ministry on Tuesday announced 427 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 144,831, the official Oman News Agency (ONA) reported.

Meanwhile, 321 people recovered during the past 24 hours, taking the overall recoveries to 135,005, while three deaths were reported, pushing the death toll up to 1,597, according to a ministry statement quoted by ONA.

Mongolia 

Mongolia on Tuesday started intensifying its efforts to vaccinate at least 60 percent of its 3.3 million population against the novel coronavirus.

"Vaccination against the COVID-19 is being intensified in the capital city Ulan Bator, the country's hardest hit region, starting from Tuesday, and 16,000-20,000 adult residents of the city a day will be vaccinated against the virus," Deputy Prime Minister Sainbuyan Amarsaikhan told a press conference convened by the State Emergency Committee on Monday.

Mongolia registered 36 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Tuesday.

Among the new cases, 33 were detected in the country's capital Ulan Bator, and the remaining three were reported in the central province of Tuv, the center said.

New Zealand

New Zealand reported four new cases of COVID-19 in managed isolation on Tuesday with zero new cases in the community.

The four new imported cases came from India and Britain, and have remained in managed isolation facilities in Auckland, according to the Ministry of Health.

India

India's federal health ministry Tuesday said the central government is regularly monitoring the availability of vaccine supply in all states.

"The central (federal) government is regularly monitoring availability of vaccine supply in all states and providing the doses as per their requirement and consumption pattern," said a statement issued by the health ministry.

India's COVID-19 tally rose to 11,244,786 on Tuesday as 15,388 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 157,930 as 77 COVID-19 patients died since Monday morning.

There are still 187,462 active cases in the country, while 10,899,394 people have been discharged from hospitals after medical treatment. There was a decrease of 1,285 active cases during the previous 24 hours, while the northern state of Punjab saw an increase of 523 cases.

South Korea

South Korea reported 446 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Monday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 93,263.

The daily caseload was up from 346 the previous day, staying above 300 since mid-February.

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, 98 were Seoul residents and 181 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.

Nineteen cases were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 7,207.

The Philippines

The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported on Tuesday 2,668 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 600,428.

The death toll climbed to 12,528 after seven more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH said. It added 171 more patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 546,078.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque reported during a televised public meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte late on Monday night that the number of cases rose in Metro Manila and other regions across the country.

Duque said two cities in Metro Manila are at "critical-risk level" and three cities are at "high-risk level.

Brunei 

Brunei reported one new imported case of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing its total tally of the COVID-19 infections to 191.

According to Brunei's Ministry of Health, the new confirmed case is a 43-year-old man who arrived from Bangladesh via Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 24. The contact tracing for this case is underway.

The new patient is currently being treated at the National Isolation Center along with four other active cases. All of them are in a stable condition.