Hospital workers handle coffins outside the morgue of Thammasat Hospital, in Pathum Thani province just north of Bangkok on July 17, 2021, as Thailand reaches a record high of 141 new Covid-19 fatalities and a record high of 10,082 new cases over the past 24 hours. (PHOTO / AFP)

ANKARA / JERUSALEM - Thailand on Sunday announced an expansion of coronavirus restrictions that include travel curbs, mall closures and a night-time curfew to three more provinces after the country reported a third consecutive day of record case numbers.

The country reported 11,397 infections and 101 deaths on Sunday, bringing the cumulative total to 403,386 cases and 3,341 fatalities, the vast majority from an outbreak since early April that is being fuelled by the highly transmissible Alpha and Delta COVID-19 variants.

Shopping malls will be closed and a 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew will be imposed from Tuesday onwards in Chonburi, Ayutthaya and Chachoengsao provinces, an announcement on the official Royal Gazette on Sunday showed.

Bangkok and nine other provinces have already been under these restrictions, the toughest in more than a year, since last Monday, as the country battles its longest-running and most severe outbreak so far.

South Korea

South Korea will ban private gatherings of more than four people outside greater Seoul area starting Monday, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum.

The government decided to tighten the restrictions after a surge in cases in recent days, Yonhap said. Most regions outside the capital area have been under “Level 2” rules, where gatherings of more than eight were banned, according to Yonhap.

Bangladesh 

Bangladesh has received two new commercial batches of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, boosting the country's inoculation drive.

According to a handout of the country's Health and Family Welfare Ministry, one batch of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine reached Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at around 11:00 pm local time Saturday while the other batch arrived at around 3:00 a.m. local time on Sunday.

As part of a commercial deal, Bangladesh had earlier received two batches of Sinopharm vaccine.

Bangladesh last month resumed administering the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in parts of the country thanks to the China-donated Sinopharm vaccines at a crucial time.

The country suspended administering the first dose of the vaccine on April 26 after India halted export due to a supply crunch. Subsequently, the country's drug regulator authorized emergency use of China's Sinopharm vaccines.

Iran 

Iran reported on Saturday 15,139 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's total infections to 3,501,079.

The pandemic has so far claimed 86,966 lives in Iran, up by 175 in the past 24 hours, the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education said in a briefing published on the ministry's official website.

A total of 3,118,348 people have recovered from the disease or been discharged from hospitals across the country, while 4,237 remain in intensive care units, the ministry said.

By Saturday, 5,891,385 people have received coronavirus vaccines in the country, while 2,252,021 have taken two doses.

Earlier in the day, the spokesman for Iran's national headquarters fighting COVID-19, Alireza Raisi, said the Delta variant of the coronavirus is the predominant variant in the country, and it has spread in all Iranian provinces, official news agency IRNA reported.

Myanmar

A total of 3,000 tons of liquid oxygen from China arrived in Myanmar's second largest city Mandalay on Saturday, according to a release from the Chinese Embassy to Myanmar.

The liquid oxygen purchased by Myanmar public welfare organizations was transported through the China-Myanmar border port, in efforts to help Myanmar fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic in Myanmar is getting worse, and the demand for liquid oxygen and other materials is urgent," the release said, adding the Chinese Embassy to Myanmar and China's Yunnan Province are working to ensure more anti-pandemic materials can enter Myanmar through border ports.

According to the figures by the Health and Sports Ministry, the country had reported a total of 218,739 COVID-19 positive cases with 4,536 related deaths as of late Friday.

Australia

Australia's two largest states on Sunday reported slight declines in new COVID-19 infections, prompting authorities to say it could be days before tough lockdown measures showed progress in containing the spread of the Delta variant.

The country's most populous city, Sydney, and all of Victoria state - totaling nearly half the country's 25 million population - are under stay-home orders after a flare-up of the highly infectious virus strain began last month. read more

New South Wales (NSW) state, of which Sydney is the capital, reported 105 new cases in the previous day, down from 111 the day before, while Victoria logged 16 new cases, down from 19.

NSW also recorded an additional death from the virus, taking the total to four since the start of the year and the national total to 914 since the pandemic began.

Turkey 

Turkey on Saturday registered 7,666 new COVID-19 cases, raising its tally of infections to 5,522,039, according to its health ministry.

The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 38 to 50,488, while 5,490 more people recovered in the last 24 hours, it said.

Turkey started mass COVID-19 vaccination on Jan. 14 after the authorities approved the emergency use of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine.

More than 38.86 million people have received their first doses of the vaccine, while over 20.35 million had their second doses. Turkey has so far administered over 62.81 million doses including third booster jabs.

Israel

Israel's Ministry of Health reported 837 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, bringing the tally in the country to 850,941.

The number of active COVID-19 cases in Israel increased by 595 to 6,563, the highest since April 2. The death toll from the virus in Israel rose by two to 6,446, said the ministry.

The total recoveries from the disease climbed to 837,932 after 240 newly recovered cases were added.

India

India's federal health ministry said on Saturday there was not enough scientific evidence to link COVID-19 with increase in Tuberculosis (TB) in the country.

"Due to the impact of COVID-19 related restrictions, case notifications for TB had decreased by about 25 percent in 2020 but special efforts are being made to mitigate this impact through intensified case finding in OPD settings as well as through active case finding campaigns in the community by all states," the ministry said.

"Moreover, there is not enough evidence currently to suggest that there has been an increase in TB cases due to COVID-19 or due to increased case finding efforts."

The ministry refuted local media reports alleging that a sudden rise in cases of TB has been noticed among patients who were infected with COVID-19 recently.

Vietnam 

Vietnam reported a new high of 3,718 new COVID-19 infections on Saturday, surpassing the previous record of 3,416 cases registered on Thursday, according to the country's Ministry of Health.

The new infections included 3,705 locally transmitted and 13 imported cases, bringing the total tally to 47,904 with 225 deaths, the ministry said.

Among the community cases, 2,786 were reported in the southern Ho Chi Minh City, 180 in the southern Dong Thap province, and 134 in the southern Long An province.

Nationwide, as many as 10,312 COVID-19 patients have so far recovered, up 292 from Friday.

Fiji 

Fiji reported 1,180 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours and five new deaths from July 13 to 16, according to the health authorities on Saturday.

Permanent Secretary for Health James Fong said there have now been 85 deaths from COVID-19 in the country, with 83 of them reported during the outbreak that started in April this year.

There had been 159 new recoveries since the last update which means that there are now 12,975 active cases.

A total of 16,401 cases have been reported during the outbreak that started in April 2021.

Malaysia 

Malaysia recorded a fresh high of 138 single-day death toll from COVID-19 on Saturday, bringing the total deaths to 6,866, according to the Health Ministry.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement another 12,528 new COVID-19 infections were reported, of which 19 are imported and 12,509 are local transmissions, bringing the national total to 905,851.

The official added that 98.2 percent of the fresh cases are asymptomatic or mild with the remainder being more serious cases.

Of the remaining 119,814 active cases, 908 cases are being held in intensive care units and 425 of those are in need of assisted breathing.

Indonesia 

The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 51,952 within one day to 2,832,755, with the death toll adding by 1,092 to 72,489, the Health Ministry said on Saturday.

According to the ministry, 27,903 more people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 2,232,394.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has decided to extend the emergency public activity restrictions, known locally as PPKM Darurat, to July 31 amid the ongoing surge in COVID-19 transmissions, Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy said on Friday as reported by state-news agency Antara.

The emergency restrictions initially imposed on the country's most populated island of Java and the resort island of Bali were set to end on July 20. The policy was later expanded to 15 regions outside the two islands as surges in new COVID-19 cases were found in those regions.