Commuters wearing face masks wait for their trains at a subway station in Seoul, South Korea on Feb 23, 2022. (AHN YOUNG-JOON / AP)

DUBAI / HANOI / JAKARTA / SINGAPORE / MANILA / NEW DELHI / COLOMBO / BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN / SEOUL / SYDNEY / ULAN BATOR - South Korea will temporarily lift a requirement for vaccine passes or negative COVID-19 tests at a number of businesses to ease the strain on testing centers, authorities said on Monday, as the country faces a wave of Omicron infections.

The move will allow public testing and health facilities to devote more resources to battling the wave of new cases, Interior Minister Jeon Hae-cheol told a COVID-19 response meeting.

Officials also said they would shelve plans to require vaccine passes for children aged 12-18, citing controversy and court cases over the measures, Yonhap news agency reported.

In recent weeks South Korea has reported average daily per-capita infection rates that have exceeded some of the peaks in hard-hit countries such as the United States and Britain.

Death rates in highly vaccinated South Korea have remained at a fraction of the rate seen in those countries.

More than 86 percent of the country's 52 million people are fully vaccinated, with more than 61 percent having received booster shots.

South Korea reported 139,626 new coronavirus cases as of midnight Sunday, as cases dropped from a record high of 171,442 on Wednesday. Serious cases have risen, however, and daily deaths hit a record 114.

Overall South Korea has reported 8,058 deaths since the pandemic began, and more than 3.1 million cases.

Staff offer flowers to passengers upon their arrival at the Sydney International Airport on Feb 21, 2022, as Australia reopened its borders for fully vaccinated visa holders, tourists, and business travelers. (SAEED KHAN / AFP)

Australia

The state of Western Australia (WA) recorded its highest number of COVID-19 cases on Monday, while the state prepares to reopen its border.

WA recorded 1,136 new local COVID-19 cases, the highest daily spike throughout the pandemic, which also marks the fourth day in a row the state has surpassed 1,000 daily cases.

Monday's figures bring the state's total number of active COVID-19 cases to 5,540, and 11 cases are in hospitals.

The state has remained relatively unscathed since the pandemic has begun, as it has maintained hard borders to the rest of the country. Only approved travelers can enter WA.

However, it has started to gradually relax some of its border restrictions since last month.

Already-enrolled international students are allowed to enter WA from Feb 15, and the state plans to fully open its border from March 3.

Meanwhile, Australia reported more than 15,000 new COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths on Monday, including six in New South Wales (NSW), three in Victoria and one each in Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and South Australia.

According to Department of Health data, there were 1,995 COVID-19 cases in Australia being treated in hospitals on Sunday, including 137 in intensive care units.

Over the past week, there have been an average of 23,082 new cases reported each day.

Workers wearing protective suits spray disinfectant at Suri Seri Begawan Raja Pengiran Anak Damit Mosque in an effort to counter the spread of the COVID-19 in Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei on March 17, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

Brunei

Brunei reported 3,962 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total tally to 59,447.

As a country of 420,000 people, Brunei saw its daily cases exceeding the 3,000 mark for six consecutive days since Tuesday - also the latest in a series of record-breaking days for COVID-19 infections in the Southeast Asian country.

The newly recorded cases were all local infections, the health ministry said.

Health Minister Haji Mohd Isham said earlier at a press conference that the country will not re-impose strict restrictions on social and economic activities.

A health worker administers COVID-19 vaccination to a girl, in New Delhi, India, Jan 28, 2022. (MANISH SWARUP / AP)

India

Commercial international flights to and from India shall remain suspended until further orders, officials said Monday.

According to a circular issued by the country's civil aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday, the restriction shall not be applicable for international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by DGCA.

"The competent authority has decided to extend the suspension of scheduled international commercial passenger services to and from India till further orders," said the notice issued by DGCA. "However, flights under air bubble arrangement will not be affected."

Commercial flights were suspended when the country imposed a complete nationwide lockdown late in March 2020 to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

India's COVID-19 tally rose to 42,924,130 on Monday, as 8,013 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry's latest data.

Health workers in protective suits spray disinfectant after carrying the body of a COVID-19 victim in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, on July 15, 2021. (FIRDIA LISNAWATI / AP)

Indonesia

The Indonesian government will conduct a trial on receiving international travelers without quarantine in the country's resort island of Bali beginning March 14 under certain conditions, a senior minister said on Sunday.

The trial may be launched before March 14 if the government sees positive development in the next one week for the continued downward trend in the COVID-19 cases in Bali, Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Binsar Panjaitan told a virtual press conference.

Foreign visitors have to show proofs of hotel booking payments for at least four days if they want to enter Bali, while Indonesians who arrive in the holiday island from abroad are required to show proofs of domicile in the Goddess island, said Panjaitan, who is also coordinator of the public mobility restrictions (PPKM) policy for Java and Bali.

The international travelers who want to enter Bali should have been fully vaccinated or received booster jabs of the COVID-19 vaccine, besides conducting entry PCR tests and waiting at hotels for negative test results, he said.

Indonesia confirmed 34,976 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, raising the total tally to 5,539,394, the Health Ministry said.

According to the ministry, the death toll from COVID-19 rose by 229 to 148,073.

Mongolia

Mongolia has reported 166 new infections of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the lowest since Jan. 3 when 138 daily cases were reported, the country's health ministry said Monday.

The total number of COVID-19 infections in the Asian country has risen to 465,270, said the ministry.

No more COVID-19 related deaths were recorded in the past day, with the nationwide death toll remaining at 2,096, the ministry said.

A health worker (right) walks past people queueing up for coronavirus swab tests outside a gymnasium in Manila on Jan 7, 2022. (STR / AFP)

Philippines

The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported 951 new COVID-19 infections on Monday, the lowest since Dec 29, 2021, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 3,661,997.

The DOH said 50 more people died from COVID-19 complications, pushing the country's death toll to 56,451 with five testing laboratories failing to submit data.

The DOH reported under 2,000 new cases since Feb 19 as the Omicron wave, which peaked in mid-January, ebbed.

Meanwhile, the Philippines is expecting more tourists to visit the country after the government relaxed COVID-19 restrictions, the tourism department said on Monday.

Pandemic rules in Metro Manila and 38 other areas across the Southeast Asian country will shift to alert level 1, the lowest on a scale of 5, starting March 1 to allow more economic activities.

Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat said easing the restrictions will boost tourism and make it easier for foreign and domestic travelers to visit the country's tourist spots.

Sri Lanka Army medic inoculates a woman with a booster shot of the Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine at a vaccination center in Colombo on Feb 1, 2022. (ISHARA S. KODIKARA / AFP)

Sri Lanka

Fully vaccinated travelers do not need to take a PCR or Rapid Antigen test, to determine the COVID status before traveling to Sri Lanka from March, said the country's Health Ministry Sunday.

According to the guidelines issued by the ministry, a traveler who has received both doses of a two-dose vaccine, or a recommended combination of them, is considered a fully vaccinated person. Moreover, a person who has taken an approved one dose vaccine, is also considered as fully vaccinated.

Children of 18 years and below, who have obtained at least a single dose of a recognized vaccine, will be considered as fully vaccinated if they leave for Sri Lanka two weeks after completion of vaccination, the Health Ministry said.

A person who was infected with COVID-19 between seven days and six months before arriving in Sri Lanka, with at least a single dose of a two-dose vaccine, will also be exempted from taking a COVID-19 test before departure.

However, travelers with a history of COVID-19 infection more than six months before the date of departure with a single dose of a two-dose vaccine and other travelers who are not fully vaccinated, need to carry a negative pre-departure COVID-19 test report when entering the country, the Health Ministry said.

Travelers wearing face masks wait behind the departures screens at Dubai International Airport on February 21, 2022. (KARIM SAHIB / AFP)

United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates, the Middle East tourism and commercial hub, over the weekend ended a requirement to wear face masks outdoors and obligatory quarantine for COVID-19 contact cases.

Fully-vaccinated passengers arriving in the country will no longer require PCR tests, said the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority in updated guidance that went into effect on Saturday.

"For economic and tourist sectors, physical distancing has been cancelled while mask-wearing in closed places is still mandatory," it said.

The capital Abu Dhabi also dropped a border entry requirement for a negative PCR test for those coming from other UAE emirates.

Daily coronavirus cases in the country have fallen to some 600 from close to 3,000 in January.

A man passes walks past a billboard on the coronavirus in Ho Chi Minh City on Dec 4, 2021. (NHAC NGUYEN / AFP)

Vietnam

Vietnam registered another record high of daily COVID-19 infections on Sunday, with 86,990 cases, up 9,008 cases from Saturday, according to its Ministry of Health.

The new infections, logged in 61 localities nationwide, included 86,966 domestically transmitted and 24 imported.

Vietnamese capital Hanoi remained the epidemic hotspot with 11,517 cases on Sunday, also its new daily record, followed by the northern Quang Ninh province with 5,997 cases, and the northern Lang Son province with 4,960 cases.